Central Federal District(center: Moscow)Administrative center: Moscow, the capital of Russia. It has 18 federal subjects, more than any other district, and the most people.
Far Eastern Federal District(center: Vladivostok)Administrative center: Vladivostok, which replaced Khabarovsk in December 2018. The largest district, about 6.95 million square kilometers, and the one with the fewest people. The Kamchatka peninsula and the island of Sakhalin belong to it.
North Caucasian Federal District(center: Pyatigorsk)Administrative center: Pyatigorsk. The newest district and the smallest. About 170,000 square kilometers, with seven federal subjects. It was split off the Southern Federal District on 19 January 2010.
Northwestern Federal District(center: Saint Petersburg)Administrative center: Saint Petersburg. It has 11 federal subjects and about 1.69 million square kilometers. One of the 11 is Kaliningrad Oblast, the separate piece on the Baltic Sea.
Siberian Federal District(center: Novosibirsk)Administrative center: Novosibirsk. It has 10 federal subjects. It covers about 4.36 million square kilometers. In November 2018 two of its regions, Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai, were moved to the Far Eastern district.
Southern Federal District(center: Rostov-on-Don)Administrative center: Rostov-on-Don. The Volga reaches the Caspian Sea here. That is below the city of Astrakhan. Europe's longest river is the Volga. Until 19 January 2010 the district also held what is now the North Caucasian district.
Ural Federal District(center: Yekaterinburg)Administrative center: Yekaterinburg. It has six federal subjects. It covers about 1.82 million square kilometers and lies where Russia's European and Asian parts meet.
Volga Federal District(center: Nizhny Novgorod)Administrative center: Nizhny Novgorod. It has 14 federal subjects and the second-most people, after the Central district. The river it is named for flows past Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Samara.
How this list was compiled: The eight federal districts, the dates they were set up (seven by the decree of 13 May 2000, the North Caucasian split from the Southern on 19 January 2010), their administrative centers, areas, numbers of federal subjects and order by population, the move of Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai to the Far Eastern district in November 2018 and the move of its center from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok in December 2018: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_districts_of_Russia, checked 2026-09-19. Checked again on the page of each district, all 2026-09-19: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Federal_District (18 subjects, Moscow, in the far west of the country), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_Federal_District (11 subjects, Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad Oblast among them), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Federal_District (Rostov-on-Don, the Black Sea in the west and the Caspian Sea in the east, the split of 19 January 2010), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Caucasian_Federal_District (7 subjects, Pyatigorsk), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Federal_District (14 subjects, Nizhny Novgorod, second in population after the Central district), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ural_Federal_District (6 subjects, Yekaterinburg, where Russia's European and Asian parts meet), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Federal_District (10 subjects, Novosibirsk), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Eastern_Federal_District (11 subjects with Kamchatka Krai and Sakhalin Oblast, Vladivostok, the largest and least populated district). The Volga as the longest river in Europe, its course past Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Samara and its mouth below Astrakhan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga, checked 2026-09-19. The drawing has a ninth shape, which the points file flags as disputed and keeps out of every district: it is not an item here, is never asked and is not counted, and no detail line gives a figure for the Southern district that depends on it. Shapes and points come from the russia-federal-districts drawing as mapgen accepted it; the numbers 1 to 8 follow the alphabet. Positions in the hints were read off the drawing. Hints and detail lines written for this site. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Albers equal-area conic projection, central meridian 100°E, standard parallels 50°N and 70°N. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This Russia map quiz asks the eight federal districts, the large groups of regions the country has used since 2000. Find it names a district to tap. Name it lights one, asks its name, then asks its administrative center.
Read the full guide
What a federal district is
A federal district is a set of regions with a presidential envoy and one city as its administrative center. The districts are not in the constitution and do not govern themselves. The eight are the Central, Northwestern, Southern, North Caucasian, Volga, Ural, Siberian and Far Eastern.
Two answers in Name it
Find it asks for the district alone: eight taps. Name it asks twice: first the lit district, then the city that is its center, and the question counts only when both are right. Cities are asked by name, not as dots on the map, and seas and rivers are not asked.
The Far Eastern district covers about two-fifths of Russia. The Siberian, to its left, is the second largest.
Lower left corner, the two smallest: the Southern touches the Black and Caspian seas, the North Caucasian sits below.
Easy to swap: Nizhny Novgorod is the Volga center, Novosibirsk the Siberian, Yekaterinburg the Ural.
Questions and answers
How many federal districts does Russia have?
Eight. Seven date from 13 May 2000, and the North Caucasian district was split from the Southern in January 2010. The map shows them as they have stood since November 2018, when Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai moved from the Siberian district to the Far Eastern.
Which cities are the centers of the eight districts?
Moscow (Central), Saint Petersburg (Northwestern), Rostov-on-Don (Southern), Pyatigorsk (North Caucasian), Nizhny Novgorod (Volga), Yekaterinburg (Ural), Novosibirsk (Siberian) and Vladivostok (Far Eastern). Vladivostok took over from Khabarovsk in December 2018, so older lists differ.
Why is the Central Federal District at the edge of the map?
Its name is about European Russia, not the whole country. The district lies in the far west, around Moscow, and has the most people of the eight and the most regions, 18. The middle of the map is the Siberian district, entirely in Asia.