| Name: | Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) |
| Local name (Russian): | Советский Союз (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик) |
| Local name (union republics languages): | See |
| Bordering countries (1945-1991): | Norway, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, Korea |
| Status: | sovereign state in 1922-1991 |
| Surface (1946-1991): | 22 275.9 ths. sq. km |
| Population (1991): | 290 093 ths. |
| Capital: | Moscow (Москва) |
| Official language: | none, Russian used as international language |
| Union divisions: | Soviet republics |
| Number of Soviet republics: | December 1922 – October 1924 – 4 October 1924 – December 1929 – 6 December 1929 – December 1936 –7 December 1936 – March 1940 – 11 March – August 1940 – 12 August 1940 – July 1956 – 16 July 1956 – September 1991 – 15 September-December 1991 – 12 |