MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - Unemployment figures soared to over 7.1 million in the first quarter of this year amid the ongoing economic crisis, state statistics body Rosstat said on Monday.

"The total number of jobless, classed according to International Labor Organization standards, was 7.1 million people, or 9.5% of the economically active population," the Federal Statistics Service said, adding that only 2.2 million people were however officially registered as unemployed.

It also said that the number of unemployed had increased by 700,000 in March.

The figure already exceeds the government's unemployment forecast of about 7 million for 2009.

Independent experts have put the figure much higher, as companies slash jobs amid falling global and domestic demand for their products and a lack of financing.

Russia has been hard hit by the global financial crisis, resulting in a drastic decline in oil prices, its core export. However, despite the gloom, the ruble and domestic stocks have shown some signs of recovery recently.