Russia is a multinational state. How many peoples live in Russia? Which of them are the most numerous? How are they settled throughout the country? Learn more about this later.
How many peoples live in Russia?
Russia spans a vast territory, stretching from Eastern Europe to North Asia. Its area is 17 125 191 square kilometers, the country takes the first place in the world by this size.
In terms of population, Russia is in ninth position, it is 146.6 million people. How many peoples live in Russia? It is difficult to name the exact figure, but there are approximately 190 of them, including the autochthonous population and small indigenous peoples.
The main source of data on the population of Russia is the census, which was conducted in 2010. The nationality of the country's citizens is not indicated in the passports, so the data for the census was obtained on the basis of the self-determination of the residents.
Slightly more than 80% of the inhabitants indicated that they were Russian; 19.1% accounted for other nationalities. About five and a half million people did not indicate their nationality. Based on these data, the total number of peoples of Russia who do not consider themselves Russian is 26.2 million people.
Ethnic composition
Russians are the titular population of the country; they prevail in most constituent entities of the Russian Federation. These include the Pomors, representing the sub-ethnicity of the Karelians and Russians in the White Sea region. The second largest people are the Tatars, which include Mishars, Kryashen, Astrakhan and Siberian Tatars.
The most numerous group of peoples are Slavs, mainly Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles and Bulgarians. They belong to the Indo-European family, which in Russia is also represented by Romanesque, Greek, Germanic, Baltic, Iranian, Indo-Iranian and Armenian groups.
In total, the territory of the state is inhabited by peoples who belong to nine language families. In addition to Indo-European, these include:
- Altai;
- blue-tibetan;
- Ural-Yukagir;
- Chukchi-Kamchatka;
- Yenisei;
- Kartvel;
- Eskimo-Aleutian;
- North Caucasian.
The small peoples of Russia are represented by Kereks (4 people), Vod people (64), Enets (227), ults (295), Chulym (355), Aleuts (482), Negidal (513), Orocs (596). These include peoples who belong to the Finno-Ugric, Samoyed, Turkic, Sino-Tibetan groups.
The largest peoples of Russia are presented in the table below.
People | Number in million |
Russians | 111.1 |
Tatars | 5,4 |
Ukrainians | 2 |
Bashkirs | 1,6 |
Chuvashs | 1.4 |
Chechens | 1.4 |
Armenians | 1,2 |
Avars | nine |
Mordva | 7.4 |
Kazakhs | 6.4 |
Azerbaijanis | 6 |
Map of the peoples of Russia
The population of the country is heterogeneous. How many peoples live in Russia and how they are located on its territory, the map below can clearly demonstrate. The vast majority live in the area between St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Novorossiysk and Primorsky Krai, where all the largest cities are located.
The largest peoples of Russia: Russians, Tatars and Ukrainians - mainly inhabit the southwestern part of the country. Ukrainians make up a large proportion of residents in the Chukotka and Khanty-Mansiysk districts, in the Magadan region.
As for the other peoples of the Slavic group, the Poles and Bulgarians do not form large groups and are dispersed dispersed. Compactly the Polish population lives only in the Omsk region. Most Belarusians inhabit the area of Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as the Kaliningrad region, Karelia, the Khanty-Mansiysk district.
A map of the peoples of Russia is presented below.
Tatars
The number of Tatars in Russia is more than 3% of the total population. A third of them live in the Republic of Tatarstan. Focal settlements are also located in the Ulyanovsk region, in the Khanty-Mansiysk district, Bashkortostan, Tyumen, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Penza regions and in other subjects of the state.
Most Tatars are Sunni Muslims. Different groups of Tatars have linguistic differences, and also differ from each other in traditions and household practices. Their language belongs to the Turkic languages of the Altai family, it has three dialects: Mishar (western), Kazan (middle), Siberian-Tatar (eastern). In the Republic of Tatarstan, the Tatar language is official.
The ethnonym "Tatars" appeared in the VI century among the Turkic tribes that called themselves that. After the conquest of the Golden Horde in the XIII century. the name extends and designates the Mongols and tribes subjugated by them. Later, the term was used in relation to nomads of Mongolian origin. Having settled in the Volga region, these tribes called themselves Meselmans, Mishers, Bulgarians, Cauldrons, etc., until in the 19th century they consolidated under the definition of "Tatars."
Ukrainians
One of the East Slavic peoples - Ukrainians, lives mainly in the state of Ukraine, where its population is about 41 million people. Large Ukrainian diasporas are located in Russia, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and other countries.
Including labor immigrants, approximately 5 million Ukrainians live in Russia. Most live in cities. Large foci of settlement of this ethnic group are located in Moscow and the Moscow region, the Tyumen, Rostov, Omsk regions, in the Primorsky and Krasnodar territories, the Yamalo-Nenets district, etc.
The history of the peoples of Russia is not the same. Large-scale settlement of Russian territories by Ukrainians began during the existence of the empire. In the XVI-XVII centuries, according to the royal decree, Cossacks, gunners, archers from Ukraine and the Don were sent to Siberia and the Far East to develop land. Later, peasants, and townspeople, and representatives of Cossack foreman were exiled to them.
The intelligentsia voluntarily moved to St. Petersburg at a time when the city was the capital of the Russian Empire. At present, Ukrainians represent in it the largest ethnic group after the Russians.
Bashkirs
The fourth largest Russian people are the Bashkirs. The overwhelming majority lives in the Republic of Bashkortostan. They also inhabit the Tyumen, Kurgan, Orenburg regions. The Bashkir language belongs to the Altai family, divided into a southern and eastern dialect and several dialects.
According to anthropological characteristics, the people belong to the subural and south Siberian (in the eastern Bashkirs) racial types. They represent Caucasians with a degree of Mongoloidity. Religious affiliation are Sunni Muslims.
The origin of the Bashkir people is associated with the Pecheneg tribes (South Ural Bashkirs - Burzyans, Usergan), as well as Polovtsy (Kipchaks, Kanl) and Volga Bulgars (Bulyars). Their ancestors inhabited the Urals, Volga and Ural regions. The influence on the formation of the people was provided by the Mongols and Tungus-Manchu.
Indigenous peoples
The indigenous population of the country includes 48 peoples. They make up approximately 0.3% of the total population of the country. About 12 of them are small and number less than a thousand people.
Small peoples of Russia mainly inhabit the northern regions of the state, the Far East and Siberia. They often conduct traditional farming, doing reindeer husbandry, fishing, hunting and cattle breeding.
The largest indigenous people are the Nenets, they number almost 45 thousand people. They occupy the coastal zones of the Arctic Ocean and are divided into European and Asian. The people breed deer and live in the plague - conical huts covered with birch bark and felt.
Kereks are the smallest in number and are represented by only four people according to the census. Half a century ago there were about 100 of them. The main languages for them are Chukchi and Russian, their native Kerek remained as a traditional passive language. In everyday life and culture, they are similar to the Chukchi people, therefore, they were assimilated with it.
Conclusion
Russia stretched for many kilometers from west to east, affecting both the European and Asian parts of the continent. On its vast territory there are more than 190 peoples. Russians are the most numerous and represent the titular nation of the country.
Other large nations are Tatars, Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Avars, etc. Small indigenous peoples live in the state. The majority of them does not exceed several thousand. The smallest are Kereks, Enets, Ults, Aleuts, they inhabit mainly the region of Siberia and the Far East.