The officially called “Small Indigenous Peoples of the North” are registered in 26 regions of Russia. The total number of people belonging to one of the 38 indigenous minorities was 257 895 in the 2010 census. This is 2.2 percent more than in the previous census in 2002.
Nenets are among the indigenous peoples of the North who’s numbers have gone up. Photo: Christina Henriksen.
But the growth is not evenly spread – only 14 of the minorities have had an increase of the population, while the other 24 have shrunk.
The seven peoples with highest growth are Nenets, Dolgans, Evenks, Evens, Yukaghir, Khanty and Mansi.
The indigenous peoples who’s numbers have fallen are those that are most russified and/or settled. These are the Vepsians, Shors, Sami, Aleut, Chuvans and indigenous peoples in Amur Oblast.
The number of Sami people in Russia has fallen from 1991 in 2002 to 1771 in 2010, B-port reports, citing the Association of Small Indigenous Peoples of the North.
