Great and varied. In its vastness there is nature, beautiful in its versatility, and other miracles created by man. In addition, the territories of the largest country in the world shelter dozens of different peoples. Exactly this great wealth amazing hospitable state.
We know that many nationalities live in Russia - Russians, Udmurts, Ukrainians. What other peoples live in Russia? After all, in the far corners of the country, small and little-known people have lived for centuries, but interesting nationalities with its own unique culture.
National composition of the population of Russia
Let's say right away that Russians make up approximately 80% of the total population. A full one would be very large. According to some reports, more than 200 different nationalities are registered. This information corresponds to the state of 2010.
We will begin our acquaintance with the rest of the national composition of Russia with the most common ones. Large nationalities are those that are present on the territory of the state in numbers of more than 1 million.
Tatars
The ratio of the Tatar people among all others in the country is 3.8%. has its own language and regions of greatest distribution.
Besides everything, it includes several ethnic groups: Crimean Tatars, Volga-Ural, Siberian and Astrakhan. Most of them live in the Volga region.
Ukrainians
Let's continue our short excursion on the topic of what peoples live in Russia and move on to the Ukrainians. Their number in Russia is 2% of general population. Based on materials from some historical information, the name of the nationality comes from the word “outskirts”, which served as the basis for the name of the country - Ukraine.
Ukrainians living in Russia continue to honor their traditions, celebrating holidays according to their customs, wearing folk clothes. A special feature of Ukrainian clothing is embroidery in a variety of colors. The main symbolic colors in the ornaments are red and black.
Bashkirs
The ratio of the Bashkirs to the entire population of the country is 1.2%. The territories where most of these people live are Altai, Tyumen, and other regions of Russia (Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan and others).
Ethnologists to this day do not agree on where the name of the nationality came from and what it means. The most common interpretations are “main wolf”, “separate people”, “brother-in-law of the Ugrians”. In total there are about 40 different assumptions.
The culture of the Bashkirs is significant for their songs, fairy tales, and ditties.
Chuvash
Next we’ll talk about the Chuvash, answering the question about what peoples live in Russia. The Chuvash people make up 1.1% of the Russian population. Most Chuvash live in Tatarstan, Samara and many other regions of the country, and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. And today their main occupation is handicrafts, animal husbandry and agriculture.
The Chuvash culture is amazingly beautiful and interesting. They have their own ancient, developed mythology. National clothing is extremely diverse, with many dozens of different cuts and color options.
Chechens
Chechens in Russia make up about 0.9% of the total population. This is one of the harshest people in the country. At the same time, they are distinguished by wit, they are characterized by courage and endurance.
The peculiarity of Chechen songs is a deep, incommensurable longing for home. Their poetry and songs contain many motifs of exile. Such poetry cannot be found anywhere else in folklore.
You can notice the similarity of the Chechen people with the Circassian and Lezgin people. The explanation for this is simple: all three nationalities belong to the same Caucasian nationality.
And we continue to reveal most interesting question about what peoples live in Russia.
Armenians
Armenians make up 0.8% of the Russian population. Their culture is very ancient. Its roots can be traced back to Greek culture. The special flavor of this nation is created by their irrepressible cheerfulness and hospitality.
Armenian music appeared before our era. And today we know many world singers with Armenian roots. Among them are the French singer David Tukhmanov, Dzhivad Gasparyan and many others.
Armenian clothing is luxurious and pretentious. And children's costumes are simply irresistible, something that has not been seen in other nations.
We now know what peoples inhabit Russia, but that’s not all. In the far corners of the vast country there are still peoples who are not so numerous in number, but their culture is so diverse and interesting that we simply cannot help but remember them.
Small nations
Russians know quite a lot about peoples whose number exceeds 1 million. But there are also small peoples of Russia that you may not even hear about in your entire life.
Thus, in the Volga-Vyatka region, such nationalities as the Mari and Mordovians have lived for many centuries. The server region is native to the Karelians, Komi, Sami, and Nenets. Komi-Permyaks and Udmurts live in the Urals. Kazakhs and Kalmyks settled in the Volga region long ago.
Western Siberia is the homeland of the Selkups, Altaians, Mansi, Khanty, Shors, Eastern Siberia is the homeland of the Tuvinians, Buryats, Khakassians, Dolgans, Evenks.
In the Far East live such nationalities as the Yakuts, Koryaks, Evens, Udeges, Nanais, Orochs and many other peoples, the number of which is very small.
The peculiarity of small nations is that they have preserved and still revere their ancient pagan beliefs. They are characterized by adherence to animism (animation of natural objects and animals) and shamanism (belief in shamans - people who speak with spirits).
How many peoples live in Russia in total?
A pan-European survey was carried out in 2002. The data collected also included information on the ethnic composition of the countries' populations. Then it was received interesting information about what peoples live in Russia and their numbers.
Census indicators in Russia demonstrated that representatives of 160 different nationalities. This figure is simply huge compared to European countries. On average, they are home to people belonging to 9.5 nationalities. On a global scale, Russia's indicators are also high.
It is interesting that in 1989, when a similar census was carried out in Russia, a list of 129 nationalities was compiled. The reason for such a difference in indicators, according to experts, is the possibility of self-determination as belonging to one or another nationality. This opportunity arose in 1926. Previously different peoples Russia considered itself to be Russian based on the geopolitical factor.
Dynamics in the ratio of nationalities
According to demographic researchers, last years the number of Ukrainians in Russia has decreased threefold. There are also much fewer Belarusians, as well as Mordovians.
The number of Armenians, Chechens, Azerbaijanis, and Tajiks has increased. Some of them were even among those who number more than a million in Russia.
The dynamics in the ratio of nationalities are believed to be influenced by several factors. One of them is the decline in the birth rate, which has affected the entire country. The other is emigration.
Jews left Russia. Russian Germans also emigrated from the country.
Positive dynamics are observed among small indigenous peoples. On the contrary, they are for last decades became more. Thus, we see that the question of what peoples inhabit Russia is always relevant for study due to its dynamics.
Do only Russians live somewhere?
We learned that many different nationalities live in Russia, in addition to Russians. Many who have discovered it may wonder if there is an area where only Russians live.
The answer is clear: there is no region with a completely homogeneous composition of the Russian population. Only the Central, Central Chernozem, and Northwestern regions are close to this. All other territories of the country are replete with different nationalities.
conclusions
In the article, we looked at what peoples live on the territory of Russia, found out what they are called and where they are most common. We have once again seen how rich the country is not only natural resources, but also human, and this is many times more important.
In addition, we learned that the national composition of the Russian population is not somewhat static. It changes over the years under the influence various factors(migration, possibility of self-determination, etc.).
We hope that the article was interesting for you: it helped you take a mental journey across the expanses of Russia and introduced you to its different, but so hospitable and interesting inhabitants. Now we can tell anyone without hesitation, if they are interested, what peoples live in Russia.
I was also interested in this question. But I couldn’t find the time. Seeing that I was not the only one interested in this, I decided to look for information and tell you everything I learned.
How many nationalities live in Russia
So what kind of peoples live in Russia? About 200 nationalities live in Russia! I think it’s not worth listing all 200; I’d rather tell you about the most basic and memorable ones.
Tatar people(5.3 million live in Russia). They most often live in villages and hamlets, and the region most populated by Tatars, oddly enough, is Tatarstan. In a Tatar family, children are always taught to respect their elders. And girls are taught to run a household from an early age.
Bashkir people(1.5 million live in Russia). Most (1 million) of this people live in Bashkortostan. It is worth talking about their main holiday, it is called Kargatuy - “rook holiday”. It is celebrated during the arrival of rooks, and its purpose is to connect with the forces of nature.
Armenian people(0.6 million live in Russia). They are very friendly people. Their beautiful music appeared before our era.
Chuvash people(1.4 million live in Russia). Lives in completely different cities, towns and villages of the country. Their main activity is agriculture.
And this (as I said above) is not all nations. It is worth mentioning the following nationalities:
- Chechen people.
- Mordovian people.
- Yakut people.
- Buryat people.
- Kazakh people.
- Avar people.
Why are there so many nationalities in Russia?
In countries such as Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus (and many others) there are much fewer nationalities than in our country. But why?
Russia is a very big country. Therefore, the Russian people alone will not be able to fill it. Thanks to this, we can live next to people of a different nationality. For example, a Tatar lives next door to me. I really enjoy communicating with him and gaining new experiences.
Russia is rich in nationalities. I think we can be proud of this.
The abundance of different nations and nationalities living on the territory of Russia largely depends on the history of its formation. Since ancient times, Scythians lived in this territory. Also, part of modern Russia was occupied. In the Volga region and North Caucasus Khazars lived, and in the Kama region - Bulgars. The Old Russian was formed from the tribes of the Krivichi, Drevlyans, Slovenians, Vyatichi, and Northerners. Finno-Ugric peoples also influenced its development. Thus, ancient Russian state was multinational from the very beginning of its existence.The most common, after, are the Tatars. They live in the Volga region and Crimea. Mordovians and Mari also live there. The Bashkirs live in the central part of Russia. The western part of the country is inhabited by the Chuvash, Siberia by the Yakuts, Altaians and Khakass, the west of the region by the Buryats, Khanty and Mansi, and the east by the Evenks. In the Far North, Chukchi, Aleuts, in the north-west of the country - Karelians. The Caucasus is occupied by Kabardians, Circassians, Lezgins, Chechens, Ingush, Adygs, and Ossetians. Kalmyks live in the Caspian region.
The most numerous form autonomous republics and districts. There are 22 of them in total: Udmurtia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Chuvashia, Tatarstan, Mordovia, Karelia, Yakutia, Khakassia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Komi, Adygea, North Ossetia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Tuva, Buryatia, Mari-El, Bashkiria, Altai , Kalmykia, Crimea. There are 5 autonomous okrugs in Russia: Khanty-Mansiysk, Chukotka, Nenets, Crimean and Yamalo-Nenets. Also, some settlements and geographical objects in Russia are named by the names of nationalities - for example, the city of Khanty-Mansiysk.
The 2002 census confirmed that the Russian Federation is one of the most multinational states world - representatives of over 160 nationalities live in the country. During the census, the implementation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation was ensured in terms of free self-determination of nationality. The census received more than 800 various options responses of the population to the question about nationality.
The seven peoples inhabiting Russia - Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Chechens and Armenians - have a population exceeding 1 million people. Russians are the most numerous nationality, their number is 116 million people (about 80% of the country's inhabitants).
For the first time after the 1897 population census, the number of people who identified themselves as Cossacks was obtained (140 thousand people), and also for the first time after the 1926 population census, the number of people who called themselves Kryashens was obtained (about 25 thousand people). About 1.5 million people did not indicate their nationality.
Population of Russia by ethnic composition
79.8% (115,868.5 thousand) are Russians;
1% (1457.7 thousand) - nationality not specified;
19.2% (27838.1) – other nationalities. Of them:
All the peoples inhabiting our country can be divided into three groups:
- The first is ethnic groups, most of which live in Russia, and outside of it they are only small groups(Russians, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Tatars, Komi, Yakuts, Buryats, etc.). They, as a rule, form national-state units.
- The second group is those peoples of the “near abroad” countries (i.e. republics former USSR), as well as some other countries that are represented on the territory of Russia by significant groups, in some cases compact settlements (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Kazakhs, Armenians, Poles, Greeks, etc.).
- And finally, the third group is formed by small subdivisions of ethnic groups, most of them living outside of Russia (Romanians, Hungarians, Abkhazians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Albanians, etc.).
Thus, about 100 peoples (the first group) live mainly on the territory of Russia, the rest (representatives of the second and third groups) live mainly in the countries of the “near abroad” or other countries of the world, but are still a significant element of the population of Russia.
The peoples living in Russia (representatives of all three groups identified earlier) speak languages that belong to different language families . The most numerous of them are representatives of four language families: Indo-European (89%), Altai (7%), North Caucasian (2%) and Ural (2%).
Indo-European family
The most numerous in Russia - Slavic group , including Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, etc. Originally Russian regions are the territories of the European North, North-West and central regions of Russia, but they live everywhere and predominate in most regions (77 out of 88 regions), especially in the Urals, in southern Siberia and the Far East. Among other peoples of this linguistic group, Ukrainians (2.9 million people - 2.5%), Belarusians (0.8 million) stand out.
Thus, it can be argued that - first of all Slavic state(the share of Slavs is over 85%) and the largest Slavic state in the world.
Second largest among the Indo-European family German group (Germans).Since 1989, their number has decreased from 800 to 600 thousand people as a result of emigration to.
The Iranian group is Ossetians. Their number increased from 400 to 515 thousand, largely as a result of emigration from the territory as a result of the armed conflict in South Ossetia.
In addition to those listed, the Indo-European family is also represented in Russia by other peoples: Armenians ( Armenian group); Moldovans and Romanians (Romanesque group) and etc.
Altai family
The largest Turkic group in the Altai family (11.2 million people out of 12), which includes Tatars, Chuvashs, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Yakuts, Shors, Azerbaijanis, etc. Representatives of this group, the Tatars, are the second largest people in Russia after the Russians.
The largest Turkic peoples (Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashs) are concentrated in the Ural-Volga region.
Other Turkic peoples are settled in the south of Siberia (Altaians, Shors, Khakassians, Tuvinians) up to Far East(Yakuts).
Third area of settlement Turkic peoples– (, Karachais, Balkars).
The Altai family also includes: group (Buryats, Kalmyks);Tungus-Manchu group(Evens, Nanais, Ulchi, Udege, Orochi),
Ural family
The largest of this family Finno-Ugric group, which includes Mordovians, Udmurts, Mari, Komi, Komi-Permyaks, Finns, Hungarians, and Sami. In addition, this family includesSamoyed group(, Selkups, Nganasans),Yukaghir group(). The main area of residence of the peoples of the Uralic language family is the Ural-Volga region and the north of the European part of the country.
North Caucasian family
North Caucasian family represented mainly by peoplesNakh-Dagestan group(Chechens, Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Ingush, etc.) andAbkhaz-Adyghe group(Kabardians, Abazas). The peoples of this family live more compactly, mainly in the North Caucasus.
Representatives also live in Russia Chukotka-Kamchatka family(, Itelmen); Eskimo-Aleut family(, Aleuts); Kartvelian family() and peoples of other language families and nations (Chinese, Arabs, Vietnamese, etc.).
The languages of all peoples of Russia are equal, but the language of interethnic communication is Russian.
Russia, being a multinational republic in its own way state structure, is a federation built on a national-territorial principle. The federal structure of the Russian Federation is based on its state integrity, the unity of the system state power, delimitation of subjects of jurisdiction and powers between government bodies of the Russian Federation and government bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, equality and self-determination of peoples in the Russian Federation (Constitution of the Russian Federation, 1993). The Russian Federation includes 88 subjects, of which 31 are national entities (republics, autonomous okrugs, autonomous region). The total area of national entities is 53% of the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, only about 26 million people live here, of which almost 12 million are Russian. At the same time, many peoples of Russia are dispersed across various regions of Russia. As a result, a situation has arisen where, on the one hand, some of the peoples of Russia are settled outside their national formations, and on the other hand, within many national formations, the share of the main or “titular” (which gives the name to the corresponding formation) nation is relatively small. Thus, of the 21 republics of the Russian Federation, only in eight the main peoples make up the majority (Chechen Republic, Ingushetia, Tyva, Chuvashia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Tatarstan and Kalmykia. In multi-ethnic Dagestan, ten local peoples (Avars, Dargins, Kumyks, Lezgins, Laks , Tabasarans, Nogais, Rutuls, Aguls, Tsakhurs) form 80% of the total population. Khakassia (11%) has the lowest share of “titular” peoples (10%).
A peculiar picture of the settlement of peoples in the autonomous okrugs. They are very sparsely populated and for many decades they attracted migrants from all the republics of the former USSR (Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Belarusians, Chechens, etc.), who came to work - to develop the richest deposits, build roads, industrial facilities and cities. As a result, the major peoples in most autonomous okrugs (and the only autonomous region) constitute only a small percentage of their total population. For example, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - 2%, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug - 6%, Chukotka - about 9%, etc. Only in one Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug do titular peoples make up the majority (62%).
The dispersion of many peoples and their intensive contacts with other peoples, especially Russians, contribute to their assimilation.
I would be grateful if you share this article on social networks:
Russia has always been multinational; this feature is closely connected with the history of the country, during which it influenced the consciousness and way of life of the people inhabiting the country. Multinational composition state is also indicated in the constitution, where it is called the bearer of sovereignty and the source of power.
Due to the heterogeneous composition of the country's population since ancient times, many people who consider themselves to have different roots in fact and can be considered to the same extent representatives of other nationalities. But in the USSR, mandatory recording of ethnicity was adopted, which served as the basis for determining the number of nationalities and their percentage. Today it is not necessary to indicate your origin, and the census data does not have an exact figure - some people did not indicate their origin.
In addition, this is a rather vague concept; ethnographers divide some nationalities into several parts, while others are separated into separate groups. Some disappear or are assimilated.
Number of nations in Russia
However, census data make it possible to calculate an almost exact number of nations whose representatives live on Russian territory. There are more than 190 of them, although only about 80 nationalities make up a more or less significant part of the population: the rest get thousandths of a percent.
In the first place are the Russians or those people who consider themselves Russians: these include the Karyms, Ob and Lena old-timers, Pomors, Rusko-Ustyintsy, Mezentsy - there are a lot of self-names, but they all make up a nation. The number of Russians in the country is more than 115 million people.
In second place are the Tatars and all their varieties: Siberian, Kazan, Astrakhan and others. There are five and a half million of them – that’s almost 4% of the country’s population. Next come the Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Armenians, Belarusians, Mordovians, Udmurts and many other nationalities: Caucasian, Siberian. Part of the population - about 0.13% - is . Germans, Greeks, Poles, Lithuanians, Chinese, Koreans, and Arabs live on Russian territory.
Thousands of percent are allocated to such people as the Persians, Hungarians, Romanians, Czechs, Sami, Teleuts, Spaniards, and French. There are also representatives of very few nationalities in the country: Laz, Vod, Svans, Ingiloys, Yugs, Arnauts.