The term “European Russia” was used in the Russian Empire to refer to traditional East Slavic territories under Russian control, including what is now Belarus and most of Ukraine (Dnieper Ukraine).

Russia is not proportionately populated between the smaller western portion (almost 25%) of the country that is considered part of Europe, and the larger eastern portion (more than 75%) that is part of Asia. European Russia contains about 77% of the country's population (110,000,000 people out of about 144,000,000) in an area comprising almost 4 million km (1.54 million mi); an average of 27.5 persons per km (70 per mi). This territory makes up 38% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south, it is defined by the border with Kazakhstan. This area includes Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the two largest cities in Russia.