Population of Moscow in 2026: how many people live in the capital according to Rosstat
On 1 January 2025, Moscow had 13,274,285 inhabitants. This is the latest official Rosstat estimate: figures for 1 January 2026 are not yet available on the website. In 2024 the city added 124,482 residents, almost entirely due to newcomers, and grew that year faster than in any year since 2018. Moscow accounts for 9.1% of Russia's population, and together with Moscow Oblast 15.1%.
Below is the population by year and by censuses, Moscow's rank among million‑plus cities, births, deaths and migrations, age and ethnic composition. The charts can be opened on the website in interactive form.
How many people live in Moscow by year
Population as of 1 January, thousand people. The row has been recalculated by Rosstat based on the results of the 2020 census.
| Year | Thousand people |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 9,932.9 |
| 2005 | 10,726.4 |
| 2010 | 11,382.2 |
| 2013 | 11,849.5 |
| 2016 | 12,372.9 |
| 2019 | 12,827.7 |
| 2020 | 12,946.6 |
| 2021 | 12,979.4 |
| 2022 | 13,015.1 |
| 2023 | 13,104.2 |
| 2024 | 13,149.8 |
| 2025 | 13,274.3 |
Since 2000 Moscow has grown by 3.34 million people, by a third. The fastest growth was in the early 2000s: in the five years from 2000 to 2005 the population increased by almost 800 thousand. In the 2010s the increase became steadier, from 100 to 190 thousand per year.
Then growth almost stalled. From the beginning of 2020 to the beginning of 2022 the city added only 68.5 thousand people in two years, although earlier it gained more in a single year. In 2023 the increase was 45.6 thousand, and only in 2024 did the growth rise again to 124.5 thousand.
The average annual population for 2024, which is used for per‑capita calculations, is 13,212,044 people.
Open the population of all regions since 2000 →
How many were counted by the censuses
The 2002 census found 10,126 thousand residents in Moscow, the 2010 census 11,504 thousand. The latest, 2020, counted 13,010,112 people. Between the first and the latest the difference is almost 2.9 million.
Population of Russian cities by censuses and on 1 January 2024 →
Moscow among million‑plus cities
As of 1 January 2024, Russia had 16 cities with a population of at least one million. Moscow tops this list with 13,149,803 residents. Saint Petersburg is second, with 5,597,763 people, i.e. 2.3 times fewer.
The gap with the rest is even larger. The ten million‑plus cities that follow Petersburg, from Novosibirsk to Krasnodar, together total 12,677,551 people. That is less than a single Moscow.
Open the table of million‑plus cities →
Which large cities are growing and which are losing residents is examined in the article "Largest cities of Russia by population".
Moscow and the Moscow region
Moscow Oblast is the second‑largest region by population after the city of Moscow itself: as of 1 January 2025 it had 8,775,735 people. Together with the city, that makes 22,050,020 residents.
In 2024 both added almost the same number. Moscow grew by 124,482 people, the oblast by 124,475, a difference of seven people. The composition of this growth differs. In Moscow births slightly exceeded deaths. In the oblast it was the opposite: natural decline of 25,417 people, fully offset by migration, plus 149,892.
For comparison: Russia as a whole lost 30,861 people that year. The capital and the oblast together added almost 249 thousand.
Population size and components of its change by region for 2024 →
Why Moscow's population is growing
The size changes due to two things. First: how many people were born and died (natural increase). Second: how many arrived and left (migration increase). In Moscow almost all growth comes from the second.
| Year | Births minus deaths | Arrivals minus departures | Total for the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | −24,638 | +1,609 | −23,029 |
| 2023 | +4,620 | +41,006 | +45,626 |
| 2024 | +4,773 | +119,709 | +124,482 |
In 2024, 96% of the increase was due to migration. Inflow grew almost threefold compared with 2023.
The year 2020 stands out. Deaths then were 24.6 thousand more than births, and newcomers hardly increased, so the city lost 23 thousand residents by this estimate. The figures for 2020 are taken from a collection published before the census recalculation, therefore they do not match directly with the row from the table above.
Change in population by region for 2023 →
How many are born and die in Moscow
In 2022, 123,278 children were born in Moscow, and 126,885 people died. The year ended with a natural decline of 3,607 people. In 2023, 120,620 were born, 116,000 died, and the balance turned positive by 4,620.
Per thousand residents in 2023 this is 9.2 births and 8.8 deaths. For Russia it is 8.6 and 12.1. Birth rate in Moscow is slightly above average, and mortality is lower by more than a quarter.
Births, deaths and natural increase by region for 2023 →
Age of Muscovites: few children, many elderly
Low mortality suggests that Moscow is younger than the country. The age structure says the opposite: there are fewer children here, more elderly. So the number of deaths per thousand residents is low not because the city is young.
As of January 1, 2022, the city had 2,047,759 people younger than working age, 15.7% of the population. In Russia, the share of children and adolescents is 18.6%. People older than working age in Moscow numbered 3,427,849, that is 26.3% versus 24% nationwide. For each child in the capital there are 1.7 people of pension age, compared with 1.3 on average across Russia.
People of working age make up 57.9% of Muscovites, almost the same as across the country (57.4%). The number of people aged 100 and older in Moscow was 902.
The share of seniors in Moscow is slowly decreasing: in 2019 it was 27.6%, at the beginning of 2024 it was 26.2%. The reason is the pension reform: the working‑age threshold shifts, and some people move from one group to another on paper.
Population by sex and age by region on January 1, 2022 →
How the age structure looks across the country as a whole is described in the article "Age structure of Russia's population".
Men, women and national composition according to the 2020 census
Of the 13,010,112 Muscovites recorded in the census, 6,042,742 were men and 6,967,370 were women. Women outnumber men by 924,628: for every thousand men there are 1,153 women.
Nationality is more complicated. It was indicated by 10,059,391 people, while 2,950,721, almost every fourth person (22.7%), left the column in the census form blank. The shares below are calculated from those who answered.
| Nationality | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Russians | 9,074,375 | 90.2% |
| Tatars | 84,373 | 0.84% |
| Armenians | 68,018 | 0.68% |
| Ukrainians | 58,788 | 0.58% |
| Azerbaijanis | 37,259 | 0.37% |
| Uzbeks | 29,526 | 0.29% |
| Jews | 28,014 | 0.28% |
| Georgians | 26,222 | 0.26% |
| Tajiks | 22,783 | 0.23% |
Because of the empty columns, the exact shares of peoples in Moscow are unknown: the table shows the composition of only three quarters of the residents.
National composition of Moscow's population according to the 2020 census →
How Rosstat counts Moscow's population
Between censuses Rosstat keeps its own count. It takes the result of the latest census, each year adds those born and arrived, subtracts those who died and left. When a new census is carried out, the whole series is recalculated.
For Moscow the recalculation after the 2020 census was large. In the collection published before it, the population on 1 January 2021 was recorded as 12,655,050 people. In the recalculated series for the same date it is 12,979.4 thousand, 324 thousand more. The census counted more people than the current accounting had managed to include.
Therefore the figures from old and new collections cannot be compared directly. For year‑by‑year dynamics use a single recalculated series, as in the table at the beginning of the article.
Change in population by region for 2020, before the census recalculation →
Questions and Answers
How many people live in Moscow in 2026?
The latest official estimate from Rosstat is for 1 January 2025: 13,274,285 people. Estimates for 1 January 2026 are not yet available on the website.
How many people live in Moscow and Moscow Oblast together?
On 1 January 2025 there were 22,050,020 people: 13,274,285 in the city and 8,775,735 in the region. That is 15.1% of Russia’s population.
Is Moscow’s population growing or shrinking?
Growing. In 2024 it increased by 124,482 people. In the recomputed series, the population on 1 January has never decreased since 2010, although the increase in 2020 and 2021 was very small: 32.8 and 35.7 thousand.
Why is Moscow growing while Russia’s population is declining?
Because of migration. In 2024 there were 119,709 more arrivals than departures. Births in Moscow are also slightly higher than deaths, but this surplus amounted to only 4,773 people.
How many times larger is Moscow than St. Petersburg?
On 1 January 2025 it was 2.3 times larger: 13,274,285 versus 5,652,922 people.
How many Muscovites were counted in the 2020 census?
13,010,112 people, of whom 6,042,742 were men and 6,967,370 were women.
In Brief
- In Moscow on 1 January 2025 lived 13,274,285 people, 9.1% of Russia’s population.
- In 2024 the city grew by 124,482 people, 96% of the growth came from migration.
- Since 2000 Moscow’s population has increased by a third, by 3.34 million.
- Moscow is larger than the next ten million‑city residents after St. Petersburg combined.
- Children in the capital are fewer than the national average (15.7% versus 18.6%), while people older than working age are more (26.3% versus 24%).
- The 2020 census found 324 thousand more people in Moscow than the current registration records.