Bashkortostan is a multinational region, where representatives of more than one hundred nationalities live. In terms of ethnic composition, 36.3% of the republic's population are Russians, 29.8% are Bashkirs, and 24.1% are Tatars. Bashkirs are the indigenous population of the republic. The republic is also home to the Chuvash, Mari, Ukrainians, Mordva, Germans and representatives of other nationalities.
Bashkortostan is one of the leading industrial and agricultural regions of the Russian Federation. The republic is among the main oil-producing regions of the country, it is a center of chemical industry and mechanical engineering. The leading industries are fuel industry, chemistry and petrochemistry, electric power industry, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, agricultural, light and food industries. Scientific and production clusters in power engineering, chemistry, mechanical engineering and a number of other industries have been created in the republic, including personnel training centers, research institutes, pilot production facilities and industrial complexes.
The area of Bashkortostan is 143 thousand square kilometers, or 0.8% of the total area of the country. The Republic ranks seventh in Russia in terms of population - 4 million 51.6 thousand people, population density - 28.3 people per square kilometer of territory comparing to the Russian average of 8.3 people.