There is widespread ignorance in the West over the FSU (former Soviet Union) countries and their Russian populations. I was recently asked to shine some light on the subject of who the FSU countries are and what is their ethnic make-up.
Without going into too much detail, and keeping it focused on Russian populations, here are some stats:
Russia (no surprises) is where the majority of ethnic Russians are. Russia has an estimated population of around 142million, with 80% of these considered "ethnic Russian".
Ukraine has a population of around 50million. About 17% of those are ethnic Russian, equating to about 8.5million people.
Kazakhstan has a population of around 15million, with about 23% ethnic Russian, or about 3.5million people.
Uzbekistan has a population of around 26million, with about 5% ethnic Russian, or about 1.3million people.
Belarus has a population of around 10million people, with about 11% ethnic Russian, or about 1.1million people.
Latvia has a population of around 2.3million people, with about 28% ethnic Russian, or about 0.6million people.
Kyrgyzstan has a population of around 5million people, with about 10% ethnic Russian, or about 0.5million people (a number that has dropped significantly since independence).
The other FSU countries have ethnic Russian populations of less than 0.5million. These are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan.
This raises an interesting question. If the vast majority of Russians are in Russia, is it worth considering potential Russian wives outside of Russia? Clearly the Russian population in Ukraine and Kazakhstan is quite considerable, but should they (and the others) be a focus?
Ukraine in particular deserves some additional insight, not only for it's population size, but for other attributes. The most notable is that the imbalance between males and females in Ukraine is even higher than the other nations, with only around 88 males per 100 females. Of course that's just a raw statistic. More importantly is the staggering imbalance between "available" and "marriage ready" men and women, let-alone "marriage worthy" men (in the eyes of the women, who are generally very keen for marriage/family, so will often compromise much of their dreams if they have to). This is the major reason that you will see a high number of ladies from Ukraine on introduction or dating sites.
Back to my question - should they be considered? Absolutely! In fact, possibly more so.
I would also argue that overall, ladies from more "remote" areas can most often be a better proposition. That doesn't mean you have to go to the mountains of Kazakhstan to find a bride, but keep in mind that you're probably more likely to find the "ideal Russian bride" OUTSIDE of the major cities of Russia, especially Moscow.
Many Western men thinking of a Russian bride often think the obvious thing to do is go to Moscow to "have a look", but I think it is actually the worst thing you could do.
Having said all this, let me explain that I am not saying choose a girl by location. In fact, I am largely saying the opposite. More, choose a girl, and ignore the location. In other words, find the right girl with an open mind to exactly where she is or why she lives there (or any ideas that location brings to mind from your current, perhaps limited, knowledge).
Yes, Moscow is the easiest place to fly into from everywhere else, but perhaps that's not such a good thing. Think about it.
For the more perceptive, this surely raises more interesting questions in your mind!
More on this subject later - both the countries and "big city girls v. remote region girls".
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