Cities with over a million residents — cities in Russia where the number of registered inhabitants exceeds one million. Based on the results of the 2021 All-Russian Census, Rosstat confirmed the existence of 16 such cities in the country — four more than in the 2010 census: Voronezh, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, and Perm joined the ranks.[1] This number has held steady since: as of January 1, 2024, there are still 16 million-plus cities, with another twenty cities having populations between 500,000 and one million.[2] Nizhny Novgorod is one of the country's longest-standing million-plus cities: it joined their ranks by 1967 and currently holds seventh place among them.[3][4]
List
In terms of the number of million-plus cities, Russia ranks fourth in the world — as of 2010 data, it ranked fifth.[2]
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow | 13,274,285 |
| 2 | Saint Petersburg | 5,652,922 |
| 3 | Novosibirsk | 1,637,266 |
| 4 | Yekaterinburg | 1,548,187 |
| 5 | Kazan | 1,329,825 |
| 6 | Krasnoyarsk | 1,211,756 |
| 7 | Nizhny Novgorod | 1,198,245 |
| 8 | Ufa | 1,190,254 |
| 9 | Chelyabinsk | 1,176,770 |
| 10 | Krasnodar | 1,154,885 |
| 11 | Samara | 1,154,223 |
| 12 | Rostov-on-Don | 1,143,123 |
| 13 | Omsk | 1,101,367 |
| 14 | Voronezh | 1,041,722 |
| 15 | Perm | 1,028,000 |
| 16 | Volgograd | 1,012,219 |
How the composition has changed
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Russia had two million-plus cities: according to the 1897 census, Saint Petersburg had 1.265 million residents and Moscow had 1.039 million.[4] The next additions came only seven decades later: by 1967, Gorky and Novosibirsk had joined their ranks.[4]
By 1974, there were six million-plus cities — Kuybyshev and Sverdlovsk had been added; by 1979, Omsk and Chelyabinsk joined, and by 1989 the list had grown to thirteen with the addition of Kazan, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, and Volgograd.[4]
The composition of the list does not only grow. Volgograd was a million-plus city in 1989–1998 and 2002–2003, lost that status, and regained it in 2010.[4] The 2021 census added four at once — Voronezh, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, and Perm; at that time, 35.7 million people lived across the sixteen city districts.[1]
| Milestone | Cities |
|---|---|
| 1897 | Saint Petersburg, Moscow |
| by 1967 | Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), Novosibirsk |
| by 1974 | Kuybyshev (Samara), Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) |
| by 1979 | Omsk, Chelyabinsk |
| by 1989 | Kazan, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Volgograd — 13 in total |
| 2021 census | Voronezh, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm — 16 in total[1] |
Nizhny Novgorod's place in the rankings
Nizhny Novgorod's position in the list has been slowly declining: million-plus cities in the Volga Region and Siberia grew faster. According to the 1989 census, the city was the third largest in Russia with a population of 1,403,000; by 2025, it had dropped to seventh place.[3]
The cause is natural population decline. In 2024, the city's population fell by 6,500 people, and the gap between births and deaths grew from 6,800 to 7,000.[5] Across the Nizhny Novgorod Region as a whole, fewer than 3.04 million residents remained by the start of 2025.[6]
Merger with the Kstovo District
On April 1, 2025, the Regional Legislative Assembly passed, in two readings, a law merging the Nizhny Novgorod city district with the Kstovo municipal district; the bill was introduced by Governor Gleb Nikitin.[7] A ninth district — the Kstovsky District — was added to the city, the number of City Duma deputies increased from 35 to 39, and elections to the new Duma were held in autumn 2025.[7]
The city's population grew by approximately 120,000 people: at the start of 2025, Nizhny Novgorod had more than 1,222,000 residents, while the Kstovo had approximately 121,300.[7][6] The city's area increased from 466 to approximately 1,732 square kilometers, making Nizhny Novgorod the third largest city in the country by territory, after Moscow (2,561 square kilometers) and Saratov.[6]
Tens of thousands of people moved to us. Yet Nizhny Novgorod remains their place of work.
How the city grew
| Year | Residents | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1621 | 15,000 | according to the cadastral book: 2,364 occupied households and izbas |
| 1897 | 90,000 | seventh largest city in Russia[3] |
| 1926 | 222,000 | first All-Union census |
| 1989 | 1,403,000 | third largest city in Russia[3] |
| 2025 | 1,198,245 | seventh among million-plus cities[3] |
| 2025, after merger | approximately 1,343,000 | including the Kstovo District[6] |
See also
Sources
- RBK — Rosstat confirms four new million-plus cities in Russia
- Gazeta.Ru — Largest cities in Russia
- mag.russpass.ru — RUSSPASS Magazine — Million-plus cities of Russia — 2025: a complete guide to 16 cities
- RIA Novosti — Russia's million-plus cities. Reference
- Kommersant (Volga Region) — Kommersant (Nizhny Novgorod) — Fewer than 3.04 million residents remain in Nizhny Novgorod Region as of early 2025
- Biznes News. Vremya Zarabatyvat — Business News — Nizhny Novgorod becomes Russia's third largest city by area after merger with Kstovo (November 20, 2025)
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Nizhny Novgorod officially merged with the Kstovo District (April 1, 2025)