The geographical dictation is held by the Russian Geographical Society on the initiative of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Society, the President of the Russian Federation V.Putin annually since 2015. Its main goal is to popularize geographical knowledge and increase interest in the geography of Russia among population.
In 2015, the Dictation was held in all regions of Russia, at 210 specially prepared venues. The leaders in the number of organized venues were the Central, Ural and Volga Federal Districts, and among the regions the leaders were the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (32), Tver Region (18) and Moscow (15). In terms of the number of participants in the dictation, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (7026 people), Moscow (3343 people), Tverskaya (1432 people) and Voronezh (1427 people) regions were in the lead. In a number of regions, attendance exceeded a thousand people. In total, 44,365 people wrote Dictation on regional platforms. Another 27,564 people took the test online on the website of the Russian Geographical Society. Thus, the total number of participants in the dictation was about 72 thousand people.
In 2016, 1,464 venues were organized in 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which is 7.1 times more than in 2015.
In total, 187,187 people took part in the action in 2016. Of these, 92,240 people wrote the dictation in person, and 94,947 tested their knowledge through the website. The total number of participants in the campaign increased by 2.6 times compared to the previous year (the number of in-person participants increased by more than 2 times, the number of participants who passed the test online increased by more than 3.4 times).
Among the regions, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) became the absolute leader in the number of those who wrote the dictation for the second year in a row, where more than 15 thousand people checked their geographical literacy at more than 500 venues. On the second place is the Republic of Bashkortostan, where more than 6,000 people wrote the dictation at 87 venues. The third place in terms of the number of participants was taken by St. Petersburg (more than 4 thousand participants at 27 venues). The top five also included Moscow and the Samara region, where more than 3,000 people took part in the dictation (at 47 and 59 venues, respectively).
In 2017, the dictation became international for the first time: it was written in 25 countries on 2224 venues! More than 260 thousand people took part in the project.
China became the leader in terms of the number of venues for the educational campaign among foreign countries, where the Dictation was held in 10 cities at once. The largest venues abroad in terms of the number of seats was the branch of Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov in the city of Baku, where more than 800 participants were able to write the Dictation.
In Russia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) became the leader in terms of the number of venues, where Dictation was held in 277 organizations. The second place belongs to the Republic of Bashkortostan - 209 venues, the third - to the Krasnodar Territory - 122.
One of the most unusual venues of the action was the research vessel "Akademik Fedorov" of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, which was on the roads of Cape Town. The dictation was also written on the Lenin nuclear icebreaker, which is currently a museum in Murmansk. More than ten reserves and national parks, museums of Soviet slot machines in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the All-Russian Children's Center "Smena" in the Krasnodar Territory, and the Big Planetarium in Novosibirsk also took part in the educational campaign. In addition, the Dictation was held on the trains "Strizh" Nizhny Novgorod - Moscow and Moscow - Berlin.
The main venue for the Dictation was the Main building of Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov. Here, as in the previous year, together with all the participants, the President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergey Shoigu answered the questions of the Dictation. The action was also attended by the rector of Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov Victor Sadovnichiy, Honorary President of the Russian Geographical Society Vladimir Kotlyakov, TV presenter Nikolai Drozdov, film director, actor Vladimir Menshov, famous hockey player Vyacheslav Fetisov, politician Sergei Mironov, author and host of the “Dialogues about Animals” program Ivan Zatevakhin, bobsleigh athlete, Olympic champion Dmitry Trunenkov and other famous people.
In 2018, the Geographical Dictation significantly expanded its geography: it was written in 97 countries of the world at 3532 venues. In total, more than 376 thousand people took part in the action, of which 249,857 people wrote the dictation in person in Russia, and 7,171 people abroad. In addition, more than 119 thousand people tested their knowledge online at dictant.rgo.ru.
In Russia, the leader in terms of the number of venues was the Republic of Bashkortostan, where Dictation was held in 416 organizations. The leaders in terms of the number of venues among foreign countries were: China - 10 venues, the Republic of Belarus - 9 venues, Armenia - 6, and 5 venues each in the Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, South Ossetia, Turkey.
Among the most unusual venues for the Dictation were a tent on the island of Matua in the Great Kuril Ridge, a venue in the Stolby state reserve in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Big Planetarium in Novosibirsk, Star (Zvezdny) City in the Moscow Region.
The central venue was traditionally the Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov. This time, the participants of the action gathered in the Shuvalov building, where, together with the President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergei Shoigu, about a thousand more people wrote the Geographical Dictation. The moderator was the well-known TV presenter Valdis Pelsh, and before the start of the Dictation, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev addressed its participants directly from the orbit, from the International Space Station.
In 2019, about 330 thousand people took part in the educational campaign, more than 100 thousand wrote Dictation online. The total number of participants in the action amounted to more than 420 thousand people, which is 1.2 times more than the participants in 2018.
The geographical dictation took place in all regions of Russia, as well as in 106 foreign countries, which is 10 countries more than the previous Dictation in 2018. They tested their knowledge of geography on all continents except Antarctica, and even on the International Space Station. Also among the most unusual venues for the Dictation are the ship-museum Cruiser Avrora, the Mission Control Center, oil platforms in the Caspian Sea, venues in the Sayano-Shushensky, Caucasian and other reserves, the Center for Oceanography and Marine Biology Moskvarium, an open-air ethnopark "Nomad", long-distance passenger trains "Moscow-Berlin", "Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod", railway stations in Moscow.
For Dictation participants in Russia, 5,225 specially prepared venues were organized, which largely exceeded the result of 2018 (3,356 venues).
In Russia, the Republic of Bashkortostan became the leader in terms of the number of Dictation venues, as well as in terms of the previous year, where Dictation was organized in 730 institutions and organizations, which almost doubled the figures for the previous year. The second place belongs to the Krasnodar Territory - 529 venues, the third - to the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) - 317.
The leaders in terms of the number of venues among foreign countries were: Ukraine - 22 venues, Kazakhstan - 16, Turkey and the Republic of Belarus - 9 each, China - 10 venues.
The central platform for the Geographical Dictation, as in 2018, was the Shuvalov building of Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov in Moscow. On the main venue, their geographical knowledge tested the President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergei Shoigu, Rector of the University Viktor Sadovnichy, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for environmental protection, ecology and transport Sergei Ivanov, hockey player, State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Fetisov, musician Sergei Shnurov, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Roman Romanenko, Olympic champion Elena Vesnina, Olympic bronze medalist Vera Zvonareva and other famous scientists, athletes and artists.
In addition to the main options for conducting an educational campaign in Russia and in foreign countries, for the first time the Dictation was compiled for the visually impaired. Traditionally, one version for online dictation and one demo version were prepared. For the first time, in addition to English, the questions of the Dictation were translated into French and Turkish.
In 2020, the educational campaign of the Russian Geographical Society was held for the sixth time. The international educational campaign "Geographical dictation - 2020" was held on November 29, 2020 in all regions of the Russian Federation and 109 countries of the world.
To prepare for its holding, a large-scale action "Write your question for the Geographical Dictation" was announced on the website of the Russian Geographical Society. The Russian Geographical Society received 430 different assignments from contestants from Russia and foreign countries. The youngest participant was 9 years old, and the oldest was 83 years old. Of all the questions, the experts selected 74 of the best, of which 18 were included in the main version of the Dictation.
Under conditions of restrictions due to the difficult epidemiological situation due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronovirus infection, a new format for conducting the Dictation was developed – remote version. All venues that passed the registration decided on their own whether to conduct the Geographical Dictation in person or remotely, taking into account the orders of the regional authorities.
Participants could register at any convenient venue in any region of Russia or choose one of the countries of the world. At 12 o'clock local time, they got the opportunity to take the Dictation at the same time as the offline participants. In this regard, the action was held under the slogan: "Take Dictation wherever you want!", where participants were invited to join the action from anywhere in the world.
The total number of participants in the Geographical Dictation was about 460 thousand people. In total, a record number of venues were registered for the action - 6450.
In 2020, 5,485 specially prepared venues were organized for Dictation participants in Russia, which largely exceeded the result of 2019 - 5,225 sites. In Russia, the leader in terms of the number of Dictation venues, as well as in terms of the previous year, was the Krasnodar Territory - 748 venues, which significantly exceeded the previous year's figures (529 venues) and improved its position. The second place belongs to the Republic of Bashkortostan (637), the third place belongs to the Republic of Tatarstan (290).
In 2020, the geography of the event covered 109 foreign countries (238 venues, about 7,000 participants). Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China, Turkey and Belarus have traditionally become leaders in terms of the number of venues.
In 2020, a new modern design of the online version of Dictation was developed on the RGS website, in which more than 200 thousand people took part. In addition, the tasks of the online version were translated for the first time into 10 languages of the world: English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Turkish and Hindi.
In 2021, the international educational campaign started on November 14 and took place in person and online in all regions of the Russian Federation and 107 foreign countries. For the first time, the Geographical Dictation was written by participants from Eritrea and Sri Lanka. The total number of countries that took part in all the years of the action is 122.
In 2021, a record number of venues were organized - 7792. 687,009 people took part in the Dictation, of which 200,235 people took part in-person, and 115,621 people remotely. 371,153 participants completed the online version.
Over 2.4 million people have become its participants in just seven years of the international action.
They tested their knowledge of geography on all continents, and even for the first time - in Antarctica. The action took place at two Russian Antarctic stations - Progress and Mirny. Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov wrote the Geographical Dictation aboard the International Space Station. Also among the most unusual venues for the Dictation were the Cruiser Avrora museum ship, the Mission Control Center, venues in the Sayano-Shushensky, Caucasian and other reserves, a floating nuclear thermal power plant in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, several hydroelectric power plants of PJSC RusHydro, Oceanography and Marine Biology Center "Moskvarium", the Museum of the World Ocean in Kaliningrad, the State Historical Museum of Moscow, long-distance passenger trains "Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod", railway stations in Moscow.
In Russia, the Krasnodar Territory became the leader in terms of the number of Dictation venues, as well as in terms of the previous year, with 753 venues (it exceeded the 2020 figures of 748 and retained its leadership position). The second place belongs to the Republic of Bashkortostan - 720 venues (in 2020 there were 637), the third went to the Republic of Tatarstan (405 venues; in 2020 there were 290).
271 venues were organized for Dictation participants abroad. The leaders in terms of the number of venues were: Ukraine (63 venues), Armenia, Kazakhstan, China (10 venues each), Belarus and Serbia (9 venues each). More than 6839 people from foreign countries took part in the Dictation.
In 2022, the international educational campaign started on October 30 in 88 subjects of the Russian Federation (in-person and remote format) and lasted until November 10. 7,464 specially prepared venues were organized for the Dictation participants in Russia, and 237 venues were organized in foreign countries.
The participants of the event anonymously answer questions about the geography of Russia. These can be questions on the knowledge of well-known facts from geography, as well as tasks requiring the use of creative thinking, logic, erudition. The Dictation version consists of two parts. The first part includes 10 questions, the second – 30. All questions vary in degree of difficulty, and the result is evaluated on a 40-point scale.
Among the regions of Russia, the absolute leader in the number of those who took the Dictation in 2022 was the Republic of Bashkortostan, where more than 30,000 people decided to check their geographical literacy. In second place is the Krasnodar Territory, where 24,000 people took the Dictation.
The leaders also include the Republic of Tatarstan (10,700), the Ulyanovsk Region (11,700), and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (10,900).
The most active foreign countries by the number of participants: Tajikistan – 1,110 people, the Republic of Armenia – 513 people, the Republic of South Ossetia – 397 people, the Republic of Kazakhstan – 395, the Kyrgyz Republic – 355, the Republic of Belarus – 309 people.
The Geographical Dictation – 2023 will take place on November 19. The RGS’s international educational campaign is being held for the ninth time. According to tradition, the project participants will anonymously answer questions on the geography of Russia, but assessing the level of geographical literacy is not the main task of the Dictation. A few years ago we began to prepare it with the help of not only professional scientists, but also people who are passionate about geography. Since then, every year more than half of the tasks are created by participants of our contests: the international contest "Write Your Question for the Geographical Dictation", as well as a series of short thematic contests.