MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The number of residents in four Russian cities - Voronezh in Central Russia, Kransodar in South Russia, Krasnoyarsk in Siberia and Perm in Urals - has surpassed the threshold of one billion according to early results of the 2021 census, the national statistics service Rosstat has told TASS.

"Four Russian cities - Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm and Voronezh - have joined the club of cities with a population of over one million. Now the country has 16 such cities," the press service said.

According to the 2010 census, the list of cities with a million-plus population in Russia included Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St. Petersburg, Ufa and Chelyabinsk. Those urban areas were home to nearly one quarter of the entire Russian population, or 35.7 million people, Rosstat said.

Preliminary results of Russia’s nationwide census revealed that the country has about 147.2 million people. The number grew by 1.4%, or over 2 million, since 2010. According to Rosstat, the figure may slightly change when the final results are ready.

Under a decree of the Russian government, the nationwide census was held from October 15 through November 14, 2021, using digital tools. In remote and hard-to-reach locations it was extended until December 20.