The most numerous nations of the world. List of largest nationalities

Russia has always been multinational, this feature is closely connected with the history of the country, during which it influenced the consciousness and lifestyle of the people inhabiting the country. The multinational composition of the 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 identify themselves as actually have different roots and can be considered equally representatives of other nationalities. But in the USSR, a mandatory fixation 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 own, and there is no exact figure in the census data - some people did not mark their origin.

In addition, - a rather vague concept, ethnographers divide some nationalities into several parts, others are divided into separate groups. Some disappear or assimilate.

Number of nations in Russia

Nevertheless, census data allow us to calculate an almost exact number of nations whose representatives live on the territory of Russia. 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 Russians or those people who identify themselves as Russians: these are, among other things, Karyms, Ob and Lena old-timers, Pomors, Russian Ustyintsy, Mezens - 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. They number five and a half million, which is almost 4% of the country's population. This is followed by Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Chechens, Chuvashs, Armenians, Belarusians, Mordovians, Kazakhs, Udmurts and many other nationalities: Caucasian, Slavic, Siberian. Part of the population - about 0.13% - are Roma. Germans, Greeks, Poles, Lithuanians, Chinese, Koreans, Arabs live on the territory of Russia.

Thousands of percent are given to such nationalities as Persians, Hungarians, Romanians, Czechs, Saami, Teleuts, Spaniards, French. There are also representatives of very few nationalities in the country: Laz, Vod, Svans, Ingiloys, Yugis, Arnauts.

TATARS, Tatarlar(self-name), people in Russia (the second largest after the Russians), main population of the Republic of Tatarstan .

According to the 2002 Census, 5 million 558 thousand Tatars live in Russia. They live in the Republic of Tatarstan (2 million people), Bashkiria (991 thousand people), Udmurtia, Mordovia, the Mari Republic, Chuvashia, as well as in the regions of the Volga-Ural region, Western and Eastern Siberia and the Far East. They live in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. According to the 2010 Census, 5,310,649 Tatars live in Russia.

History of the ethnonym

For the first time ethnonym "Tatars" appeared among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes in the 6th-9th centuries, but was fixed as a common ethnonym only in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the 13th century, the Mongols who created the Golden Horde included the tribes they conquered, including the Turks, who were called Tatars. In the 13th-14th centuries, the Kipchaks, numerically predominant in the Golden Horde, assimilated all the other Turkic-Mongolian tribes, but adopted the ethnonym "Tatars". The European peoples, Russians and some Central Asian peoples also called the population of this state.

In the khanates formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, the noble layers of Kypchak-Nogai origin called themselves Tatars. It was they who played the main role in the spread of the ethnonym. However, among the Tatars in the 16th century it was perceived as derogatory, and until the second half of the 19th century there were other self-names: Meselman, Kazanly, Bulgarians, Misher, Tipter, Nagaybek and others - in the Volga-Ural and nougai, karagash, yurt, tatars and others- the Astrakhan Tatars. Except for Meselman, all of them were local self-names. The process of national consolidation led to the choice of a unifying self-name. By the time of the 1926 census, most Tatars called themselves Tatars. In recent years, a small number in Tatarstan and other regions of the Volga region call themselves Bulgars or Volga Bulgars.

Language

Tatar language belongs to the Kypchak-Bulgar subgroup of the Kypchak group of the Turkic branch of the Altaic language family and has three main dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). The literary norm was formed on the basis of the Kazan-Tatar dialect with the participation of Mishar. Writing based on Cyrillic graphics.

Religion

Most believing Tatars are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab. The population of the former Volga Bulgaria was Muslim from the 10th century and remained so in the Horde, therefore standing out among neighboring peoples. Then, after the entry of the Tatars into the Muscovite state, their ethnic self-consciousness became even more intertwined with the religious. Some of the Tatars even defined their nationality as "meselman", i.e. Muslims. At the same time, they retained (and partly retain to this day) elements of the ancient pre-Islamic calendar rituals.

Traditional activities

The basis of the traditional economy of the Volga-Ural Tatars in the 19th and early 20th centuries was plowed agriculture. They grew winter rye, oats, barley, lentils, millet, spelt, flax, and hemp. They were also engaged in horticulture and melon growing. Pasture-stall animal husbandry resembled nomadic in some ways. For example, horses in some areas grazed for a whole year. Only the Mishars were seriously engaged in hunting. A high level of development was achieved by handicraft and manufactory production (jewelry, felting, furriery, weaving and gold embroidery), tanneries and cloth factories were operating, and trade was developed.

National Costume

Men and women consisted of trousers with a wide step and a shirt, which was worn with a sleeveless jacket, often embroidered. Tatar women's costume was distinguished by an abundance of jewelry made of silver, cowrie shells, glass beads. Cossacks served as outerwear, and in winter - a quilted beshmet or fur coat. Men wore a skullcap on their heads, and over it a fur hat or felt hat. Women wore an embroidered velvet cap and a scarf. The traditional shoes of the Tatars are leather ichigi with soft soles, over which they put on galoshes.

Sources: Peoples of Russia: Atlas of Cultures and Religions / Ed. V.A. Tishkov, A.V. Zhuravsky, O.E. Kazmina. - M.: CPI "Design. Information. Cartography", 2008.

Peoples and Religions of the World: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. V.A. Tishkov. Editors: O.Yu.Artemova, S.A.Arutyunov, A.N.Kozhanovsky, V.M.Makarevich (deputy chief editor), V.A.Popov, P.I. ed.), G.Yu. Sitnyansky. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1998, - 928 p.: ill. — ISBN 5-85270-155-6

In the modern world, Russia is the largest country occupying a vast area - more than seventeen thousand square kilometers. Two continents divide it into parts - European and Asian. Each of them is larger in territory than many of the not-so-small states of the Earth.

In terms of population, however, our country is only in ninth place. The number of Russians today does not even reach one hundred and fifty million people. The problem is that most of the country's territory lies under the deserted steppes and taiga, for example, these are the most remote regions of Siberia.

However, this is offset by the number of peoples living here. So it was predetermined by the past. Historically, Russia is a multinational state, which it has become by absorbing neighboring peoples, attracting strangers with large territories and wealth. According to official data, almost two hundred peoples now live in the Russian state, differing sharply in number: from Russians (more than one hundred and ten million people) to Kereks (less than ten representatives).

How many of us?

How many peoples live on the territory of Russia? How to find out? The leading sources of useful information about the population of our country are statistical censuses, regularly conducted in recent years. At the same time, according to modern methods and according to democratic approaches, the data of the nationality of the inhabitants of Russia by origin are not noted in the documents, which is why the digital material for the census appeared on the basis of the self-determination of Russians.

In total, in recent years, a little more than 80% of the country's citizens declared themselves Russians by nationality, only 19.1% remained for representatives of other peoples. Almost six million census participants could not single out their nationality at all or defined it as a fantastic people (elves, for example).

Summing up the final calculations, it should be noted that the total number of the peoples of the country who do not consider themselves to be the Russian population did not exceed twenty-five million citizens.

This suggests that the ethnic composition of the Russian population is very complex and requires constant special attention. On the other hand, there is one large ethnic group that serves as a kind of core for the entire system.

Ethnic composition

The basis of the national composition of Russia is, of course, the Russians. This people comes with its historical roots from the Eastern Slavs, who lived on the territory of Russia since ancient times. A significant part of Russians exist, of course, in Russia, but there are large strata in a number of former Soviet republics, in the USA. This is the most significant European ethnic group. Today, more than one hundred and thirty-three million Russians live in the world.

Russians are the titular people of our country, their representatives dominate in a significant number of regions of the modern Russian state. Of course, this led to side effects. The spread of this nation over several centuries over a vast territory in the course of historical development led to the formation of dialects, as well as separate ethnic groups. For example, Pomors live on the coast of the White Sea, making up the sub-ethnos of local Karelians and Russians who came in the past.

Among the more complex ethnic associations, groups of peoples can be noted. The largest group of peoples are the Slavs, mainly from the eastern subgroup.

In the aggregate, representatives of nine large language families live in Russia, strongly diverging in language, culture, and way of life. With the exception of the Indo-European family, they are mostly of Asian origin.

This is the approximate ethnic composition of the Russian population today according to official data. What can be said for sure is that our country is distinguished by a significant diversity of nationalities.

The largest peoples of Russia

Nationalities living in Russia are quite clearly divided into numerous and small. The first include, in particular:

• Russian inhabitants of the country number (according to the latest census) more than one hundred and ten million people.
• Tatars of several groups, reaching 5.4 million people.
• Ukrainians, numbering two million people. The main part of the Ukrainian people lives on the territory of Ukraine; in Russia, representatives of this people appeared in the course of historical development in the pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and modern periods.
• Bashkirs, another nomadic people in the past. Their number is 1.6 million people.
• Chuvash, residents of the Volga region - 1.4 million.
• Chechens, one of the peoples of the Caucasus - 1.4 million, etc.

There are other peoples with a similar number that have played an important role in the past and, possibly, the future of the country.

Small peoples of Russia

How many peoples live on the territory of Russia from among the small ones? There are many such ethnic groups in the country, but they are poorly represented in the total volume, since they are very small in number. These national groups include the peoples of the Finno-Ugric, Samoyed, Turkic, Sino-Tibetan groups. Particularly small are the Kereks (a tiny people - only four people), the Vod people (sixty-four people), the Enets (two hundred and seventy-seven people), the Ults (almost three hundred people), the Chulyms (a little more than three and a half hundred), the Aleuts (almost five hundred) , Negidals (slightly more than five hundred), Orochi (almost six hundred). For all of them, the problem of survival is the most acute and everyday issue.

Map of the peoples of Russia

In addition to the strong dispersion in the number of national composition of Russia and the inability of many ethnic groups in modern times to maintain their numbers on their own, there is also the problem of distribution on the territory of the country. The population of Russia is settled very heterogeneously, which is caused primarily by economic motives both in the historical past and in the present.

The bulk is located in the area between the Baltic St. Petersburg, Siberian Krasnoyarsk, the Black Sea Novorossiysk and the Far Eastern Primorsky Territory, where all the big cities lie. The reasons for this are a good climate and a favorable economic background. To the north of this territory is permafrost caused by eternal cold, and to the south - vast expanses of lifeless desert.

In terms of population density, Siberia has received one of the last places in the modern world. Its vast territory has less than 30 million inhabitants permanently. This is only 20% of the total population of the country. While in its vast area, Siberia reaches three-quarters of the expanses of Russia. The most densely populated areas are Derbent - Sochi and Ufa - Moscow.

In the Far East, a significant population density runs along the length of the entire Trans-Siberian route. Increased population density rates are also distinguished in the region of the Kuznechny coal basin. All these areas attract Russians with their economic and natural wealth.

The largest peoples of the country: Russians, to a lesser extent Tatars and Ukrainians - are mainly located in the south-west of the state. Ukrainians today are mostly located on the territory of the Chukotka Peninsula and in the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, in the distant Magadan region.

Other small peoples of the Slavic ethnic group, such as Poles and Bulgarians, do not create large compact groups and are scattered throughout the country. A rather compact group of the Polish population is located only in the Omsk region.

Tatars

The number of Tatars living in Russia, as noted above, has exceeded the level of three percent of the total Russian population. About a third of them live compactly in the region of the Russian Federation called the Republic of Tatarstan. Group settlements exist in the regions of the Volga region, in the far north, and so on.

A significant part of the Tatars are supporters of Sunni Islam. Separate groups of Tatars have linguistic differences, culture and way of life. The common language is within the Turkic group of languages ​​of the Altaic language family, it has three dialects: Mishar (western), more common Kazan (middle), slightly distant Siberian-Tatar (eastern). In Tatarstan, this language appears as an official one.

Ukrainians

One of the numerous East Slavic peoples is the Ukrainians. More than forty million Ukrainians live in their historical homeland. In addition, significant diasporas exist not only in Russia, but also in Europe and America.

Ukrainians living in Russia, including migrant workers, make up about five million people. A significant number of them are in cities. Particularly large groups of this ethnic group are located in the capital, in the oil and gas-bearing regions of Siberia, the Far North, and so on.

Belarusians

In modern Russia, Belarusians, taking into account their total number in the world, make up a large number. As the 2010 re-pi-s of the Russian na-se-le-niya shows, there are slightly more than half a million Belarusians living in Russia. A significant proportion of be-lo-ru-sovs is located in the capitals, as well as in a number of re-gi-o-nov, for example, in Karelia, the Kaliningrad region.

In the pre-revolutionary years, a large number of Belarusians moved to Siberia and the Far East, later there were national administrative units. By the end of the eighties, there were more than one million Belarusians in the territory of the RSFSR. Today their number has halved, but it is obvious that the Belarusian stratum in Russia will be preserved.

Armenians

There are quite a lot of Armenians living in Russia, however, according to various sources, their number diverges. Thus, according to the 2010 census, there were a little more than one million people in Russia, that is, less than one percent of the total population. According to the assumptions of the Armenian public organizations, the number of the Armenian stratum in the country at the beginning of the twentieth century exceeded two and a half million people. And Russian President V.V. Putin, speaking about the number of Armenians in Russia, voiced the figure of three million people.

In any case, the Armenians play a serious role in the social and cultural life of Russia. Thus, Armenians work in the Russian government (Chilingarov, Bagdasarov, etc.), in show business (I. Allegrova, V. Dobrynin, etc.), and in other areas of activity. There are regional organizations of the Union of Armenians of Russia in sixty-three regions of Russia.

Germans

The Germans living in Russia are representatives of an ethnic group that has experienced a controversial and in some ways even tragic history. Massively moving in the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries at the invitation of the Russian government, they mainly settled in the Volga region, the western and southern provinces of the Russian Empire. Life on the good lands was free, but in the twentieth century, historical events hit the Germans hard. First World War I, then the Great Patriotic War led to mass repressions. In the fifties and eighties of the last century, the history of this ethnic group was hushed up. It is not for nothing that in the nineties a mass migration of Germans began, the number of which, according to some reports, barely exceeds the number of half a million.

True, in recent years, episodic re-evacuation from Europe to Russia has begun, but so far it has not reached large scales.

Jews

It is not easy to say how many Jews live in Russia at the present time due to their active migration both to Israel and back to the Russian state. In the historical past, there were many Jews in our country - in the Soviet era, several million. But with the collapse of the USSR and significant migration to their historical homeland, their number decreased. Now, according to public Jewish organizations, there are approximately one million Jews in Russia, half of them are residents of the capital.

Yakuts

This is a Turkic-speaking rather numerous people, the indigenous population of the region adapted to local conditions.

How many Yakuts are in Russia? According to the All-Russian census of the domestic population of 2010, there were slightly less than half a million people, mainly in Yakutia and nearby regions. The Yakuts are the most numerous (about half of the population) people and the most significant of the indigenous peoples of Russian Siberia.

In the traditional economy and material culture of this people, there are many close, similar moments with the pastoralists of South Asia. On the territory of the Middle Lena, a variant of the Yakut economy was formed, combining nomadic cattle breeding and the most important extensive types of crafts (meat and fish), suitable for the local one. In the north of the region there is also an original form of draft reindeer herding.

Reasons for resettlement

The history of the ethnic composition of the population of Russia in the course of its development is extremely ambiguous. The accelerated settlement of the Russian state by Ukrainians occurred in the Middle Ages. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, according to the instructions of the state authorities, settlers from the southern lands were sent to the east to develop new territories. After some time, representatives of social strata from different regions began to be sent there.

Representatives of the intelligentsia voluntarily moved to St. Petersburg in an era when this city had the status of the capital of the state. Nowadays, Ukrainians make up the largest ethnic group in Russia in terms of the number of people after, of course, Russians.

At the other extreme are representatives of small nations. Kereks, having the smallest number, are in particular danger. According to the last census, only four representatives remained, although fifty years ago there were only a hundred Kereks. The leading languages ​​for these people are Chukchi and common Russian, native Kerek is found only in the form of an ordinary passive language. The Kereks are very close to the Chukchi people in terms of culture and ordinary daily activities, which is why they were in constant assimilation with them.

Problems and the future

The ethnic composition of the population of Russia will undoubtedly develop in the future. In modern conditions, the revival of ethnographic traditions, the culture of peoples is clearly visible. However, the development of ethnic groups is experiencing a number of problems:

• poor fertility and the gradual decline of most peoples;
• globalization, and at the same time the influence of the culture and way of life of large peoples (Russian and Anglo-Saxon);
• general problems of the economy, undermining the economic base of the peoples, and so on.

Much in such a situation depends on the national governments themselves, including the Russian one, and on world opinion.

But I want to believe that the small peoples of Russia will continue to develop and increase in the following centuries.

Russia is a multinational country. Although the ethnic situation in the state, with such an area and a population of over 145 million people, could not have developed differently.

It is difficult to find exact data on the time when all these peoples and nationalities became part of Russia, given the fact that for a long time the union republics were citizens of one state of the USSR. Even at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Russians" united three nationalities: Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians. and later became independent nations.

It should be taken into account that the census data are based on the self-determination of Russian citizens, since information about nationality is not entered in passports. As a result, about 80% of the respondents consider themselves Russians - approximately 116 million people.

The predominance of the Russian population is typical only for the central and northwestern regions, while the rest are inhabited by various ethnographic groups. The situation can be especially clearly traced by the example of which is characterized by ethnic diversity. The mountain peoples are famous for their original culture, respect for family traditions, wedding ceremonies, customs of hospitality and brotherhood.

Climatic features

Climatic features and geological conditions of the area significantly affect the settlement and the general way of life of people. According to a comprehensive assessment of the natural conditions of Russia, a quarter of the territory of Russia is not very favorable for human life.

The most severe climate is in the northern part of Russia, in Siberia and the Far East. adapted to live here Koryaks, Aleuts, Chukchi, eskimos, Nanais and others. These are indigenous, but small - less than 50 thousand people in each ethnic group. Having settled in the territory of their ancestors, they adhere to their traditions - nomadic, engaged in reindeer herding, hunting, fishing, handicraft work. Since ancient times, northern peoples have mastered the art of Mezen painting and bone carving.

The industrial development of the deposits and resources of the North has significantly endangered certain ethnic groups. Also living in the North Komi, the total number of which is over 400 thousand people.

Title peoples of Russia

Russians

Including Cossacks and Pomors - over 80%, which is approximately 111 million people (in Russia). Dominant culture in the state. The religion of the people is Orthodoxy (professed by approximately 2/3 of the population), the second largest religion is Protestantism. The classics of Russian literature, artists and composers are known all over the world. Traditionally, nesting dolls, samovar, Gzhel and Rostov enamel, painted Pavlogorod shawls are considered symbols of Russian culture. Along with Orthodox and secular holidays, it is customary to celebrate the pagan holiday Maslenitsa. Russians live in all subjects of the Russian Federation, the most densely populated being Moscow and the Moscow Region (9% and 5.6% respectively). A large percentage of Russians are also in million-plus cities - St. Petersburg (3.5%), Rostov (3.4%), Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk Region (3.3%).

Tatars

- the indigenous people, whose number is 3.8% of the total national composition, is over 5.5 million people. The main religion is Islam, a small part, calling themselves Kryashens, profess Orthodoxy. There are Tatar mosques in all major cities of Russia. Family values ​​among the people are sacred, and marriage is equated with a sacred duty. It is customary to celebrate Islamic, native Tatar and national holidays. Until now, it is customary for people to celebrate the arrival of spring (kargatuy) and the end of agricultural work (sabantuy). Most of them live in Tatarstan (about 40%), Bashkorstan (about 20%), Tyumen (4.5%) and Chelyabinsk regions (3.5%).

Ukrainians

- a large ethnographic group of almost 3 million, which is 2.03% of the total population of the country. Orthodoxy is the main religion. One of the famous Ukrainian symbols is vyshyvanka, which is a men's or women's shirt embroidered with complex ornaments. Traditions, holidays and family customs practically do not differ from Russian ones. In Russia, most Ukrainians are concentrated in the Tyumen region (more than 8%), Moscow (8%), the Moscow region (more than 6%) and the Krasnodar Territory (4.3%).

Bashkirs

- make up 1.15% of the total population, which is more than one and a half million people. A significant part lives in Bashkortostan (74%), about 10% live in the Chelyabinsk region, followed by the Orenburg and Tyumen regions (2.9% each).

Chuvash

- a nationality numbering more than one and a half million people (1.13%). Most of them live in Chuvashia (56.7%), Tatarstan (more than 8%), Bashkortostan (7.5%), Ulyanovsk and Samara regions.

Chechens

- make up approximately 1% of the total population, over 1.4 million people. The main part lives in Chechnya (84.3%), Dagestan (6.5%), Ingushetia (1.3%) and Moscow (1%).

List

• Tatars - 5,554,601 (3.83%)
• Ukrainians - 2,942,961 (2.03%)
• Bashkirs - 1,673,389 (1.15%)
• Chuvash - 1,637,094 (1.13%)
• Chechens - 1,360,253 (0.94%)
• Armenians - 1,130,491 (0.78%)
• Mordva - 843,350 (0.58%)
• Avars - 814,473 (0.56%)
• Belarusians - 807,970 (0.56%)
• Kazakhs - 653,962 (0.45%)
• Udmurts - 636,906 (0.44%)
• Azerbaijanis - 621,840 (0.43%)
• Mari - 604,298 (0.42%)
• Germans - 597,212 (0.41%)
• Kabardians - 519,958 (0.36%)
• Ossetians - 514,875 (0.35%)
• Dargins - 510,156 (0.35%)
• Buryats - 445,175 (0.31%)
• Yakuts - 443,852 (0.31%)
• Kumyks - 422,409 (0.29%)
• Ingush - 413,016 (0.28%)
• Lezgins - 411,535 (0.28%)
• Komi - 293,406 (0.2%)
• Tuvans - 243,442 (0.17%)
• Jews - 229,938 (0.16%)
• Georgians - 197,934 (0.14%)
• Karachays - 192,182 (0.13%)
• gypsies - 182,766 (0.13%)
• Kalmyks - 173,996 (0.12%)
• Moldovans - 172,330 (0.12%)
• Laks - 156,545 (0.11%)
• Koreans - 148,556 (0.1%)

According to the most conservative estimates, more than 192 peoples live on the territory of the Russian Federation, differing from each other in terms of culture, religion or history of development. It is noteworthy that they all ended up within the same state borders almost peacefully - as a result of the annexation of new territories.

Features of the residence of peoples

For the first time, a list of peoples living on the territory of Russia was compiled in the middle of the 18th century in order to streamline the collection of taxes. The Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg seriously dealt with this issue, and during the 17th-19th centuries several dozen serious ethnographic studies on this topic were published, as well as many illustrated albums and atlases, which have become very valuable for modern scientists.

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the country's population can be formally divided into 192 ethnic groups. There are only 7 nations with a population of over 1 million in Russia. These include:

• Russians - 77.8%.
• Tatars - 3.75%.
• Chuvash - 1.05%.
• Bashkirs - 1.11%.
• Chechens - 1.07%.
• Armenians - 0.83%.
• Ukrainians - 1.35%.

There is also a term titular nation", which is understood as the ethnic group that gave the name to the region. And it may not be the most numerous people. For example, many peoples of Russia live in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (the list consists of more than 50 items). But only the Khanty and Mansi, who made up only 2% of the region's population gave it an official name.

Ethnographic research continues in the 21st century, and works on the topic "Russian peoples: list, number and percentage" are of interest not only to serious scientists, but also to ordinary people who want to know more about their homeland.

parts of Russia

Russians are not mentioned as a nation in the current Constitution of Russia, but in fact these people represent more than 2/3 of the entire population. His " cradle"is - from Northern Primorye and Karelia to the coast of the Caspian and Black Seas. The people are characterized by the unity of spiritual culture and religion, homogeneous anthropology and a common language. However, Russians are also heterogeneous in composition and are divided into various ethnographic groups:

Northern - Slavic peoples living in the Novgorod, Ivanovo, Arkhangelsk, Vologda and Kostroma regions, as well as in the Republic of Karelia and in the north of the Tver lands. Northern Russians are characterized by " shakish"dialect and a lighter color of appearance.

South Russian peoples live in the Ryazan, Kaluga, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Orel and Penza regions. The inhabitants of these regions okayut"when talking. For the part" South Russians"characteristic of bilingualism (Cossacks).

The northern and southern regions are not located close - they are connected by the Central Russian zone ( interfluve of the Oka and Volga), where the inhabitants of both zones are mixed equally. In addition, in the general mass of Russians there are so-called sub-ethnic groups - compactly living small nationalities that are distinguished by the peculiarities of their language and culture. These are rather closed and small. Their list consists of the following groups:

• Vod ( for 2010 the number of people is 70).
• Pomors.
• Meshcheryaki.
• Polekhi.
• Sayans.
• Don and Kuban Cossacks.
• Kamchadals.

The peoples of the southern regions

We are talking about the territories between the Azov and Caspian Seas. In addition to the Russian population, many other ethnic groups live there, including those who are radically different in terms of traditions and religion. The reason for such a striking difference was the proximity of the eastern countries - Turkey, the Tatar Crimea, Georgia, Azerbaijan.

Southern peoples of Russia (list):

• Chechens.
• Ingush.
• Nogais.
• Kabardians.
• Circassians.
• Adyghe.
• Karachays.
• Kalmyks.

Half of the " national Republics. Almost each of the listed peoples has its own language, and in religious terms, Islam prevails among them.

Separately, it is worth noting the long-suffering Dagestan. And, above all, the fact that a people with such a name does not exist. This word combines a group of ethnic groups (Avars, Aguls, Dargins, Lezgins, Laks, Nogais, etc.) living on the territory of the Republic of Dagestan.

and the North

It includes 14 large regions and territorially occupies 30% of the entire country. However, 20.10 million people live in this territory. consists of the following nations:

1. Alien peoples, that is, ethnic groups that appeared in the region during its development from the 16th-20th centuries. This group includes Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Tatars, etc.

2. Indigenous Siberian peoples of Russia. Their list is quite large, but the total number is relatively low. The most populous are the Yakuts ( 480 thousand), Buryats ( 460 thousand), Tuvans ( 265 thousand) and Khakasses ( 73 thousand).

The ratio between indigenous and alien peoples is 1:5. Moreover, the number of original inhabitants of Siberia is gradually decreasing and is calculated not even in thousands, but in hundreds.

The northern territories of Russia are in a similar situation. " past"The population of these areas is concentrated in large settlements. But the indigenous, for the most part, lead a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle. Ethnographers note that the northern indigenous peoples are declining at a slower rate than the Siberians.

Peoples of the Far East and Primorye

The Far Eastern Territory consists of the territories of the Magadan, Khabarovsk regions, Yakutia, the Chukotka district and the Jewish Autonomous Region. They are adjoined by Primorye - Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Primorsky Krai, that is, regions with direct access to the eastern seas.

In ethnographic descriptions, the peoples of Siberia and the Far East are described together, but this is not entirely correct. The indigenous ethnic groups of this part of the country are distinguished by a very peculiar culture, which was determined by the most severe living conditions.

The Far Eastern and coastal indigenous peoples of Russia, which are listed below, were first described in the 17th century:

• Orochi.
• Oroks.
• Nivkhs.
• Udege.
• Chukchi.
• Koryaks.
• Tungus.
• Daura.
• Duchers.
• Nanais.
• Eskimos.
• Aleuts.

At present, small ethnic groups enjoy protection and benefits from the state, and are also of interest for ethnographic and tourist expeditions.

The ethnic composition of the Far East and Primorye was influenced by the peoples of neighboring states - China and Japan. About 19,000 people from China have settled in the Russian region. On the islands of the Kuril ridge and Sakhalin, the Ainu people live happily, whose homeland was once Hokkaido (Japan).

Non-indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation

Formally, all ethnic groups in Russia, except for very small and closed ones, are non-indigenous. But in fact, migration was constantly going on within the country due to wars (evacuation), the development of Siberia and the Far East, government construction projects, and the search for better living conditions. As a result, the peoples have mixed up in order, and the Yakuts living in Moscow will no longer surprise anyone.

But the country is home to many ethnic groups with roots coming from completely different states. Their homeland is not even close to the borders of the Russian Federation! They appeared on its territory as a result of accidental or voluntary migration in different years. The non-indigenous peoples of Russia, the list of which is given below, make up groups of several tens of thousands of people over the age of 40 (2 generations). These include:

• Koreans.
• Chinese.
• Germans.
• Jews.
• Turks.
• Greeks.
• Bulgarians.

In addition, small groups of ethnic groups from the Baltic States, Asia, India, and Europe are happily living in Russia. Almost all of them are assimilated in terms of language and way of life, but have retained some of their original traditions.

Languages ​​and religions of the peoples of Russia

The multi-ethnic Russian Federation is a secular state, but religion still plays a big role ( cultural, ethical, power) in the life of the population. It is characteristic that small ethnic groups adhere to their traditional religion, received " in inheritance"from their ancestors. But the Slavic peoples are more mobile and profess various types of theology, including renewed paganism, Satanism and atheism.

Currently, the following religious movements are common in Russia:

• Orthodox Christianity.
• Islam ( Sunni Muslims).
• Buddhism.
• Catholicism.
• Protestant Christianity.

A rather simple situation has developed with the languages ​​of the peoples. The state language in the country is Russian, that is, the language of the majority of the population. However, in national regions ( Chechnya, Kalmykia, Bashkortostan, etc.) the language of the titular nation has the status of a state language.

And, of course, almost every nationality has its own, distinct from others, language or dialect. It often happens that the dialects of ethnic groups living in the same area have different roots of formation. For example, the Altai people of Siberia speak the language of the Turkic group, and among the Bashkirs located nearby, the roots of oral speech are hidden in the Mongolian language.

It is worth noting that when looking at the list of the peoples of Russia, the ethno-linguistic classification appears in almost complete form. In particular, among the languages ​​of different peoples, almost all language groups were "noted":

1. Indo-European group:

• Slavic languages ​​( Russian, Belarusian).
• Germanic languages ​​( Jewish, German).

2. Finno-Ugric languages ​​( Mordovian, Mari, Komi-Zyryan, etc.).

3. Turkic languages ​​( Altai, Nogai, Yakut, etc.).

4. (Kalmyk, Buryat).

5. Languages ​​of the North Caucasus ( Adyghe, Dagestan languages, Chechen, etc.).

In the 21st century, the Russian Federation continues to be one of the most multinational states in the world. There is no need to impose "multiculturalism", because the country has existed in this mode for many centuries.