How many ethnic groups. Ethnic composition of the population of Russia. How many peoples live on the territory of Russia. Small peoples of Russia

The ethnic composition of Russia is formed by polling people in the course of the population census.

The number of residents of Russia is 142,856,536 people.

More than 137 million people have confirmed their nationality.

What is the Russian nation

This name has a written form. It can be seen in the glossary of terms in the field public policy... The Russian Federation is called there "a state that has a diverse population and is distinguished by a significant regional peculiarity."

The Russian nation is defined as follows: a civil-political nationality, united on the basis of the historical and ethnic Russian statehood.

Its inhabitants have the same rights, shared values, a sense of belonging to the entire population, commitment and unity.

List of all nationalities in the RF

Seven nations live on a permanent basis, with more than 1,000,000 representatives. These are Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Chuvashs, Bashkirs, Armenians, Chechens. Most of all native Russians live. The second largest population is considered to be the Tatar people (3.83%) and people from Ukraine (2.03%). The number of Chechens increased by 5.23%, Armenians by 4.59%.

The list of nationalities is presented in the table:

The largest peoples of Russia

More than 180 peoples live in Russia. There are special atlases for children, where the names of ethnic groups are presented with pictures and descriptions.

The bulk of the population of the Russian Federation consists of Russians. Then the Tatars come.

You can also distinguish groups of peoples. The largest group is the Slavs.

In general, the Russian Federation is inhabited by representatives of 9 language families, which differ in language, way of life and culture.

The most numerous nationalities that live in Russia are:

Russians - more than 110 million people;
Tatars - 5.4 million;
Ukrainians - 2,000,000;
Bashkirs - 1.6 million;
representatives of the Chuvash Republic - 1.4 million;
people from the Chechen Republic - 1.4 million.

Small peoples of Russia

These are representatives of the Finno-Ugric, Samoyed, Turkic, Sino-Tibetan groups. The Kereks (several people), the Vod people (64), the Enets (277), the Ulti (300), the Chulyms (350), the Aluyets (500), the Negidal (500), the Orochi (60) also live. All these small ethnic groups are puzzled by the problem of survival.

Map of the peoples of Russia - resettlement across the territory of the Russian Federation

The population of the state is not uniformly distributed. The number of nationalities living in the Russian Federation, and how they are located throughout the state, is clearly visible on the map below.

Map of the peoples of Russia (click to enlarge)

Most of them live in the capital, St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Novorossiysk and Primorsky regions, the central part of the country.

Russians, Tatars and Ukrainians live in the southwest of the country. Many representatives from Ukraine are in the Chukotka and Khanty-Mansi regions, in Magadan.

The rest of the Slavs are settled non-uniformly. But a significant number of Poles live only in the Omsk region. There are many Belarusians in the capital, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Karelia, Khanty-Mansiysk. The Asian part is also home to many diasporas.

Language families and groups

The largest language family living in Russian Federation- Indo-European. It is represented mainly by Slavic languages. They appeared long before our era.

Also in the Russian Federation there are people who speak Indo-Aryan, which belongs to a European family. These groups have similarities. Indo-Iranian features are present in the Finno-Ugric speech, because the latter have lived alongside the Indo-Iranians for thousands of years.

The Altai language family is in second place in terms of the number of speakers after Indo-European. The Pra-Altai language includes Tungus-Manchu, Turkic, Mongolian, Japanese, and Korean. In the Russian Federation, you can often hear speakers of the Bashkir, Tatar, Yakut, Chuvash, Khakass languages.

The Tungus-Manchu group consists of the Evenk, Even, and Negidl languages. They are rapidly disappearing.

The Uralic languages are divided into three broad categories: Finnish, Ugric and Samoyed.

Samoyedic represents Pra-Türkic and Proto-Yenisei contacts. Samoyedic languages are disappearing, they are practically gone.

Finnish is spoken by Karelians, Izhorians, Vepsians, Komi, Vod, Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts, Sami. People from Hungary mostly speak Ugric.

The North Caucasian language family has united 2 categories: Abkhaz-Adyg and Nakh-Dagestan. One of them is the Hutt language, the second is the Hurrian-Urartian languages. They contain over 40 languages. They are spoken in Chechnya, Dagestan, western Asia and northern Africa.

Our country is a multinational state. This information is recorded in the Constitution. Of course, Russians predominate, but besides them, more than 180 nationalities live here, which have equal rights and obligations.

The study of the ethnic (national) composition of the population is engaged in a science called ethnology (from the Greek ethnos - tribe, people), or ethnography. Formed as an independent branch of science in the second half of the 19th century, ethnology still maintains a close connection with geography, history, sociology, anthropology and other sciences.
The basic concept of ethnology is the concept of an ethnos. An ethnos is called a stable community of people that has developed in a certain territory, who, as a rule, have a single language, some common features culture and psyche, as well as general self-awareness, that is, the consciousness of their unity, in contrast to other similar ethnic formations. Some scientists believe that none of the listed characteristics of an ethnos is defining: in some cases, the territory plays the main role, in others - the language, in the third - the peculiarities of culture, etc. (Indeed, for example, the Germans and Austrians, the British and Australians, Portuguese and Brazilians speak the same language, but belong to different ethnic groups, while the Swiss, on the contrary, speak four languages, and form one ethnic group.) Others believe that ethnic identity, which, moreover, should be considered a defining feature. usually fixed in a certain self-name (ethnonym), for example, "Russians", "Germans", "Chinese", etc.
The theory of the emergence and development of ethnic groups was called the theory of ethnogenesis. Until recently, national science was dominated by the division of peoples (ethnic groups) into three stadial types: tribe, nationality and nation. At the same time, they proceeded from the fact that tribes and tribal unions - as communities of people - historically corresponded to the primitive communal system. Nationalities were usually associated with the slaveholding and feudal system, and nations, as the highest form of ethnic community, with the development of capitalist, and then socialist relations (hence the division of nations into bourgeois and socialist). V recent times in connection with the reassessment of the previous formational approach, which was based on the doctrine of the historical continuity of socio-economic formations, and with an ever increasing focus on the modern civilizational approach, many of the previous provisions of the theory of ethnogenesis began to be revised, and in scientific terminology - as a generalizing one - more and more the concept of "ethnos" began to be applied.
In connection with the theory of ethnogenesis, one cannot fail to mention one fundamental dispute that Russian scientists have been waging for a long time. Most of them adhere to the view of ethnos as a historical-social, historical-economic phenomenon. Others proceed from the fact that ethnos should be considered a kind of bio-geo-historical phenomenon.
This point of view was defended by the geographer, historian and ethnographer L. N. Gumilev in the book "Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth" and in his other works. He considered ethnogenesis to be primarily a biological, biospheric process associated with a person's passionarity, that is, with his ability to overstress his forces to achieve a great goal. At the same time, the condition for the emergence of passionary impulses affecting the formation and development of an ethnic group is not solar activity, but a special state of the Universe, from which ethnic groups receive energy impulses. According to Gumilev, the process of the existence of an ethnos - from its emergence to its disintegration - lasts 1200-1500 years. During this time, it goes through the phases of ascent, then fracture, obscuration (from Latin obscurous - darkened, in the sense of reactionary) and, finally, relict. When the highest phase is reached, the largest ethnic formations - superethnoses - appear. LN Gumilev believed that Russia entered a phase of recovery in the XIII century, and in the XIX century. passed into a phase of breakdown, which in the XX century. was in its final stages.
After acquaintance with the concept of ethnos, one can proceed to consider the ethnic composition (structure) of the world's population, that is, its distribution according to the principle of ethnic (national) affiliation.
First of all, naturally, the question arises about the total number of ethnic groups (peoples) inhabiting the Earth. It is usually believed that there are from 4 thousand to 5.5 thousand. It is difficult to give a more precise figure, since many of them have not yet been sufficiently researched, and this does not allow us to distinguish, say, a language from its dialects. In terms of numbers, all peoples are distributed extremely disproportionately (Table 56).
Table 56

Analysis of table 56 shows that in the early 1990s. 321 people, numbering more than 1 million people each, accounted for 96.2% of the total population of the globe. Including 79 peoples with more than 10 million people accounted for almost 80% of the population, 36 peoples with more than 25 million people - about 65% and 19 peoples with more than 50 million people each - 54% of the population. By the end of the 1990s. the number of the largest nations increased to 21, and their share in the world population approached 60% (Table 57).
It is easy to calculate that the total number of 11 peoples, each of which has more than 100 million people, is about half of humanity. And on the other pole there are hundreds of small ethnic groups living mainly in rainforest and in the regions of the North. Many of them number less than 1,000, for example the Andamans in India, the Toala in Indonesia, the Alakalufs in Argentina and Chile, and the Yukaghirs in Russia.
Table 57

No less interesting and important is the question of the ethnic composition of the population of individual countries of the world. In accordance with its characteristics, five types of states can be distinguished: 1) single-national; 2) with a sharp predominance of one nation, but in the presence of more or less significant national minorities; 3) bi-national; 4) with more complex national composition but relatively homogeneous ethnically; 5) multinational, with a complex and ethnically heterogeneous composition.
The first type of states is widely represented in the world. For example, in foreign Europe, about half of all countries are practically single-national. These are Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Portugal. V overseas Asia there are much fewer such countries: Japan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, some small countries. There are even fewer of them in Africa (Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Madagascar). And in Latin America, almost all states are of the same nationality, since Indians, mulattoes, mestizos are considered parts of single nations.
Countries of the second type are also quite common. In foreign Europe, these are Great Britain, France, Spain, Romania, the Baltic countries. In foreign Asia - China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Syria, Turkey. In Africa - Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Zimbabwe, Botswana. V North America- USA, in Oceania - Australia and New Zealand.
The third type of country is much less common. Examples of it are Belgium, Canada.
Countries of the fourth type, with a rather complex, although ethnically homogeneous composition, are most often found in Asia, Central, East and South Africa. They also exist in Latin America.
The most typical countries of the fifth type are India and Russia. This type can also include Indonesia, the Philippines, many countries in Western and South Africa.
It is known that recently in countries with a more complex ethnic composition, interethnic contradictions have become noticeably aggravated.
They have different historical roots. Thus, in the countries that emerged as a result of European colonization, the oppression of the indigenous population (Indians, Eskimos, Australian aborigines, Maori) persists. Another source of controversy is the underestimation of the linguistic and cultural identity of national minorities (Scots and Welsh in Great Britain, Basques in Spain, Corsicans in France, French Canadians in Canada). Another reason for the intensification of such contradictions was the influx of tens and hundreds of thousands of foreign workers into many countries. In developing countries, interethnic contradictions are primarily associated with the consequences of the colonial era, when the borders of possessions were drawn mostly without regard to ethnic boundaries, as a result of which a kind of "ethnic mosaic" arose. Constant conflicts on ethnic grounds, reaching the level of militant separatism, are especially characteristic of India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, DR Congo, Sudan, Somalia, and many other countries.
The ethnic composition of the population of individual countries does not remain unchanged. Over time, it gradually changes, primarily under the influence of ethnic processes, which are subdivided into the processes of ethnic division and ethnic unification. Separating processes include those processes in which a previously single ethnos either ceases to exist or is divided into parts. Unification processes, on the contrary, lead to the fusion of groups of people of different ethnicity and the formation of larger ethnic communities. This occurs as a result of interethnic consolidation, assimilation and integration.
The process of consolidation is manifested in the fusion of ethnic groups (or their parts) that are similar in language and culture, which, as a result, turn into a larger ethnic community. This process is typical, for example, for Tropical Africa; it also took place in the former USSR. The essence of assimilation lies in the fact that individual parts of an ethnic group or even an entire people, living in the environment of another people, as a result of long-term communication, assimilate its culture, perceive its language and cease to consider itself belonging to the former ethnic community. Ethnically mixed marriages are one of the important factors of such assimilation. Assimilation is more typical for economically developed countries with long-established nations, where these nations assimilate less developed national groups of people. And interethnic integration is understood as the rapprochement of various ethnic groups without merging them into a single whole. It occurs in both developed and developing countries. It can be added that consolidation leads to the enlargement of ethnic groups, and assimilation leads to the reduction of national minorities.
Russia is one of the most multinational states in the world. It is inhabited by over 190 peoples and nationalities. According to the 2002 census, Russians make up more than 80% of the total population. In second place in terms of number are Tatars (more than 5 million people), in third place - Ukrainians (over 4 million), in fourth - Chuvash. The share of each of the other nations in the country's population did not exceed 1%.

Russia has always been not just a densely populated state, but also a multinational one. More than one hundred forty-five million citizens live on the territory of the country. Among them are representatives of about one hundred and sixty nationalities who speak their own language. There are few peoples who have come from other countries of the world. Only seven nationalities living on the territory of our country, in terms of the number of people, exceed a million. So what peoples live on the territory of Russia? The answer is quite simple, they include: Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, as well as Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Chechens, Armenians.

In general, Russia ranks seventh in terms of population after China, India, the United States of America, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan. But in terms of population density, our country occupies only the second place on the planet after the United States. Almost one fifth of the population of Russia lives in large cities-megalopolises: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Samara, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Kazan. If we talk about the population in the largest cities, then the indicators are as follows: more than ten million people live in Moscow, about five million people in St. Petersburg. In terms of population density, it is the capital that is one of the largest cities in the world.

What peoples live on the territory of Russia: of course, the bulk of the population is Russian - eighty percent. But the rest of the percentage falls on such nationalities as: Tatars - 3.8; Ukrainians - 3; Chuvash - 1.2; Belarusians - 0.8; Mordovians - 0.7; Chechens and Germans - 0.6; Avars, Jews, Armenians - 0.4 and so on... If you ask yourself what peoples live on the territory of Crimea, then basically, these are Tatars. It is they who rank second in our country in terms of their numbers.

Together with the Bashkirs, the Tatars represent a large group Muslim peoples, which are located almost in the center of Russia. The Chuvash are a completely different Turkic people, numbering more than two million people. The peoples of the Abkhaz-Adyghe group live in the Caucasus, these include: Adygs, Circassians, Kabardians, as well as the peoples of the Nekh-Dagestan group: Ingush, Chechens, Lezgins, Avars. Yakuts, Khakass and Altaians live in Siberia.

In addition, Finno-Ugric peoples live in Russia: Karelians, Sami, Finns, Komi. Mordovians, Mari also live in the north of Russia, in the Volga region, the Mansi and Khanty, who are engaged in reindeer husbandry and hunting. As for the Far North, the Nenets live here, the Evenks live in Eastern Siberia. But the Chukchi people live on the Chukchi Peninsula.

Naturally, every people living on the territory of Russia strives to preserve their native language, their traditions and customs, costumes, traditional occupations, craft. And what is most interesting, most of the peoples have nevertheless preserved their traditions.

A bit of history ...

The variety of nationalities living on the territory of the Russian Federation at the present time is the result of a long history. The most interesting thing is that it is not easy to establish exactly how the peoples lived on the territory of our country in ancient times. Since archaeological data provide an opportunity, it is impossible to outline only the approximate boundaries of the territory in which the tribes lived, but it is impossible to give an exact answer as to how such settlements called themselves and what language they spoke. Such information can be found using ancient monuments.

The work of the famous Gothic historian Iordaena, which was written in the seventh century BC, has survived to this day. In it, the writer praised the Gothic kings, and the state, according to him, stretched from the Baltic to the Crimea, and from the eastern side of its territory reached the Volga region. According to the historian, King Ermanarich, in the middle of the fourth century, managed to conquer the tribes of Inaunx, Wasinabronx, Bubegen and many others. Descendants of Vesi - Vepsians now live in Karelia, Vologda, Leningrad regions.

So, if you depict a map of peoples who lived in the fourth century on the territory of modern Russia, there will be practically no blue, as well as red, on it. Only from the western side of Ukraine, it will be possible to mark a small red spot and from it direct many arrows to the east, south and north. Since the Slavic tribes by that time began to populate the lands of the future Russia.

In general, linguists, historians, or rather their research, have shown that the north, the center of modern Russia, was inhabited by Finnish tribes by the beginning of the new era. A little later, they "became glorified" and played an important role in the formation of the Russian population. A little to the east and north lived other Finnish tribes who were the ancestors of modern Finns, Estonians, Karelians, Mordovians. Siberia and the South of the Ukral were occupied by the Ugric peoples, they were the future Mansi and Khanty. To the east, on a large territory, lived the ancestors of the Samoyed peoples, who today are Selkups and Nenets. Today in Siberia there are only a few people who belong to the Kets and Yukagirs, and after all, these peoples once occupied the whole of Eastern Siberia.

In the mountains of the North Caucasus, as it is assumed, scientists lived exactly the same peoples as at the present time. The most interesting thing is that their way of life, culture did not change almost until the nineteenth century. Yes, religion has changed, from the fourth to the fifth century Christianity was widespread here, from the eighth to the sixteenth century, Christianity was gradually replaced by Islam. Various rituals, pagan beliefs have been in the new religion for a long time, they have survived to this day. The ancient chronicles also mentioned the ancestors of the Abkhaz - monks, Kasogims. The descendants of the ancient Scythians-Sarmatians wandered in the steppes of the North Caucasus to the Altai Territory.

For a whole millennium, from the fourth to the thirteenth century, the East Slavic tribes gradually settled in the forest-steppe and forest zone of the East European Plain. But the Turkic peoples along the steppe belt of Eurasia itself. The Slavs in those days settled from west to north, south, east, but the Turks moved mainly to the west. Naturally, it could not do without military clashes between the Slavs and Turks. During the truce between these peoples, weddings were played, alliances were made, and trade was also conducted.

Gradually, cities began to appear in which trade, as well as various crafts, began to appear. Then states appeared: among the Turks and peoples kindred to them - the Volga Bulgaria, the Khazar Kaganate, Eastern Slavs – Kievan Rus... Volga Bulgaria was created on the banks of the Volgibulgara. Some of them decided to leave for the Balkans, where later the First Bulgarian Kingdom was created together with the Slavs. The Khazar Kaganate included the Lower Volga region and the lands of the Caucasian peoples. In the middle of the tenth century, Kievan Rus defeated the Khaganate, as a result of which the Khazars, as well as its population, mixed with other peoples.

Of course, the state needed a religion that would help strengthen the unity of the state. Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived in Turkic and Russian cities. From the middle of the eighteenth century to 1480 - this is the era that is known in the history of our country as the era of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. In the "Golden Horde" era, the following peoples emerged: Kumyks, Bashkirs, Karachais, Crimean, Astrakhan Tatars. The Polovtsians played a significant role in their formation. But the Polovtsians themselves ceased to exist as a people. It was then that the separation of the Russian people began. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, its lands, and the khanate gradually joined the Russian state.

By the time Peter the Great began to reign, and this is the end of the seventeenth century, the territory of Russia acquired the outlines that are characteristic of the modern borders of the Russian Federation. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the lands of the peoples of Ukraine, the Baltic states, Belarus, the Transcaucasus, and also Central Asia began to join Russia.

Modern Russia

Summing up, it should be noted that Russia is the most multinational state in the whole world. All peoples live here in peace and harmony. They exchange experience with each other, but at the same time, each nationality retains its ethnic identity and identity.

Naturally, the traditions of the peoples of modern Russia are quite diverse. And they depend not only on the season, but also on the place of residence. The main feature that is characteristic of this or that nationality living on the territory of Russia is the cuisine. Even among those peoples who inhabit the northern part of our state, although it is similar, it is still not the same. So, each nationality has its own characteristics.

In addition to cuisine, every nation living in Russia can boast of its own entertainment. Representatives of their nationalities are hospitable, which is why it is interesting to get acquainted with their cultures, customs and traditions. Knowing about the way of life of this or that nation, each person will be able to live in peace and harmony.

The Russian Federation is considered the largest state in the world in terms of its territory. And in terms of the number of peoples, in the top ten among all countries of the planet. Of course, the demographic situation in this state influences the development of Russian society as a whole.

Our country was and is a multinational state. The peoples of Russia are distinguished by their distinctive culture and history. In general, according to various sources of information, about two hundred ethnic groups live on its territory. Currently, the nationality of a resident of our country is not indicated in the passport. Accordingly, census data are based on self-determination. Therefore, the indicators of nationalities may change from time to time.

The state language of Russia is Russian. Although different territories of the state have their own dialects. In general, our country is unique not only in its ethnic composition, but also in religious terms. The territory is inhabited by representatives of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity. At the same time, most peoples adhere to their traditions and national beliefs.

Do you know how many nationalities there are in the world? The answer to this question is not as easy as it seems at first glance. There are many contradictions in the understanding of the very term "nationality". What is it? Linguistic community? Citizenship? This article will be devoted to bringing some clarity to the problems of the world's nationalities. We will also look at what ethnic groups give rise to beauties and attractive men. Naturally, nationalities can disappear, assimilate. And the individual in our age of globalization can be the product of a mixture of different ethnic groups. And it is often difficult for a person to answer the question of who he is by nationality. But if we talk about large groups of people, then here we can single out several factors by which ethnicity is determined.

Citizenship and nationality

First, not all powers are monolithic in the ethnic composition of their populations. And even if we do not take into account the presence of migrants, the so-called "citizens of the first generation", then even then we cannot say that there are one hundred and ninety-two nationalities in the world. List of states (namely, there are so many of them on political map) does not give us an idea of the numerous ethnic groups inhabiting these very countries. For example, representatives of more than one hundred and eighty nationalities live in the Russian Federation. And North and South Korea is inhabited by one people, divided by a demarcation line due to political strife. There is a concept of "American nation", but it is extremely variegated in ethnic composition. The same can be said for Australia, New Zealand and Canada, whose lands were settled by expats from all over the world. At the same time, even in such a seemingly monolithic country as Poland, there are Silesians, Kashubians, Lemkos and other groups.

Language and nationality

One of the markers by which you can determine a person's belonging to a particular nation is his language. In the population census, this factor is at the forefront. If we are also guided by this marker, then the question of how many nationalities in the world can be answered: from two and a half to five thousand. Why is there such a huge spread in numbers? Because we are faced with a new difficulty: what is language? Is it a dialect, a dialect used by a certain ethnic community? But it is also not entirely correct to determine the nationality of a person by language. After all, not all Jews know Hebrew. And he almost died, and now the government is making incredible efforts to revive it. The inhabitants of the "Green Island" speak English, but do not consider themselves British.

Appearance and nationality

An even more shaky way is to determine the ethnicity of an individual by his physiological characteristics. What can we say about a person's appearance? If he has blonde hair and blue eyes, then he can be equally successful as a Swede, and a Russian or Pole. You can, of course, talk about the Scandinavian, Mediterranean, Latin American, but all this does not give us an idea of how a representative of the "titular nation" should look like. Moreover, with the dominant gene of brunettes, blondes gradually "die out". The nationalities of the world, whose representatives inhabited the lands previously known as the countries of the fair-haired people (Bulgaria, the states on the Balkan Peninsula, Italy, Georgia), after the Turkish conquest, noticeably "turned dark". So define ethnicity by outward appearance does not seem possible. Although, of course, there are certain facial features that are often found in representatives of a particular nationality.

Formation of ethnic groups

All nationalities of the world in their historical development come a long way. Ancient tribes entered into military-trade alliances and lived in close proximity for a long time. From this, certain differences were erased, the dialects became closer, forming one language. Can be cited as an example of the ancient Romans. In addition to the Latins who inhabited the region along the banks of the Tiber, the Veneti, Avzones, Lucans, Oskans, Messapas, Piena, Umbras and Falisques took part in the formation of the people. And their dialects still exist! The huge Roman Empire, which included many nationalities, disintegrated in the Middle Ages. Latin - the official language of the ancient state - gave impetus to the formation of the Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish. Awareness of the multitude by one community in the composition of the state gives rise to a nation.

Natural assimilation

Not all nationalities of the countries of the world have survived to this day. A smaller nationality surrounded by a larger one runs the risk of losing its identity, especially if it is included in the state, where this largest nationality is considered the "titular nation". This happened in the USSR. The first census, carried out in 1926, found that the state was home to 178 nationalities. In 1956, there were only 109 of them. And there were 91 large nationalities, which numbered more than ten thousand people. Thus, in less than thirty years, the number of ethnic groups has significantly decreased. Of course, not everyone became Russian. Adjarians, Lazes, Svans and Mingrelians began to associate themselves with Georgians; Kuraminians, Turks and Kipchaks began to consider themselves Uzbeks. Thus, if the cultural characteristics of small peoples are not supported, there is a serious risk that they will disappear.

Forced assimilation

Sometimes governments, wary of separatist sentiments, pursue a policy aimed at deliberately destroying the nationality as such. They do not kill members of the ethnic minority, but they carry out targeted assimilation measures. For example, in Poland after World War II, all Lemkos were taken out of their places of compact residence and settled in small groups in other regions of the country. In the south of France, for a long time, schoolchildren were punished if they began to speak the local Occitan dialect. Only from the eighties of the twentieth century, under public pressure, optional courses were opened to study the almost disappeared dialect. Since the world's small nationalities are already inclined to dissolve into large ones, assimilating them forcibly is a violation of human rights.

How many nationalities are there in the world?

Nobody knows that. According to various sources, the nationalities of the peoples of the world can number from four and a half to six thousand. The total number of languages and dialects ranges from two and a half to five thousand. But there are also tribes that do not make contact with the civilized world (the so-called un-contacted people). How many such tribes are still found in Africa, the Amazon Valley? It is also quite difficult to determine the line between ethnicity, nationality and nationality. But there is also a different opinion about the larger communities. It is believed that a nation is a purely political construct. This theory is gaining more and more adherents in modern society.

Beautiful nationalities of the world: list

Assimilation, of course, can lead to the disappearance of an ethnos. But mixing blood only improves the gene pool. The so-called mestizos have always amazed with their beauty and talents. Let us recall, for example, the Russian poet A.S. Pushkin, in whose veins Slavic and African blood flowed. If we talk not about certain individuals, but about large groups of people, then the same relationship can be traced here. The most beautiful community is the one in which different nationalities of the world have mixed, as in a crucible. So, the countries of Latin America amaze with the abundance of beauties and angel-like men. Indeed, local Indian tribes, Spaniards and people from Africa took part in the formation of the Costa Ricans, Brazilians and Colombians. Citizens the former USSR are also not bad-looking, since many of them were born as a result of mixed inter-ethnic marriages.

Where do the most beautiful girls live?

This question worries not only the stronger sex. Of course, everyone has their own standard of beauty, but are there any Miss Universe contests? Let's do a little statistical analysis to find out in which country the most beautiful women in the world are most often found. The nationality of the charming winner is not taken into account by the jury. But we will consider a charming girl as a representative of the “titular nation”.

So, according to polls made by various men's and women's magazines, Brazilians are in first place in beauty. After all, this Latin American country is real. Here you can meet both an irresistible blonde and a charming black woman. Many immigrants from Asia gave the Brazilian women the languor of the Japanese orchid and almond-shaped eyes. If you like tall blondes, then feel free to go to Sweden for them. Argentines are in third place. The fourth position is held by the Ukrainians, and the fifth - by the Russians.

Where do the most beautiful men in the world by nationality live?

A selection of super attractive macho different countries made a tourist portal Travelers Digest. He has done his own research to properly guide single ladies on romantic getaways. So what happened? What nationalities in the world gave birth to the most Apollo?

The portal warns that it assessed not only the external data of men, but also their good manners, the level of intelligence, the ability to look after a lady. Swedes, residents of New York and Amsterdam are in the lead in this list. The top ten includes Portuguese, Argentines, Australians, Spaniards, Germans, Italians and Israelis. But girls often notice that the portal was wrong. In their opinion, residents of Latin American countries, Spaniards, Italians and Turks are more attractive.

The 2002 census confirmed that the Russian Federation is one of the most multinational - representatives of over 160 nationalities live in the country. In the course of the census, the implementation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in terms of free self-determination of nationality was ensured. During the population census, more than 800 different variants of the population's answers to the question of nationality were received.

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 amounted to 116 million people (about 80% of the country's inhabitants).

For the first time after the census of 1897, the number of persons who identified themselves as Cossacks (140 thousand people) was obtained, and also for the first time after the census of 1926, the number of persons who called themselves Kryashens was obtained (about 25 thousand people). About 1.5 million people did not indicate their ethnicity.

Population of Russia by ethnic composition

79.8% (115 868.5 thousand) - Russians;

1% (1457.7 thousand) - nationality is not specified;

19.2% (27838.1) are other nationalities. Of them:

All 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 are only small groups (Russians, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Tatars, Komi, Yakuts, Buryats, etc.). They usually form nation-state units.
The second group consists of those peoples of the countries of the "near abroad" (ie the republics of the former USSR), as well as some other countries, which are represented on the territory of Russia by significant groups, in some cases by compact settlement (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 Russia (Hungarians, Abkhazians, Chinese, etc.).

Thus, about 100 peoples (the first group) live mainly on the territory of Russia, the rest (representatives of the second and third groups) - mainly in the countries of the “near abroad” or other countries of the world, but they are still an essential element of the population of Russia.

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 Uralic (2%).

Indo-European family

The most numerous in Russia - Slavic group, including Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, etc. The primordially Russian regions are the territories of the European North, North-West and central regions of Russia, but they live everywhere and prevail in most regions (in 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 it is primarily a Slavic state (the share of Slavs is over 85%) and the largest Slavic state in the world.

The second largest among the Indo-European family Germanic group (Germans).Since 1989, their number has decreased from 800 to 600 thousand people as a result of c.

The Iranian group is the 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 the above, the Indo-European family in Russia is also represented by other peoples: the Armenians ( Armenian group); and Romanians ( romance group) and etc.

Altai family

The largest Turkic group in the Altai family (11.2 million people out of 12), which includes Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Yakuts, Shors, Azerbaijanis, and others. Representatives of this group, the Tatars, are the second largest people in Russia after the Russians.

The largest Turkic peoples (Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvash) are concentrated in the Ural-Volga region.

Other Turkic peoples are settled in the south of Siberia (Altai, Shors, Khakass, Tuvinians) up to the Far East (Yakuts).

The third area of settlement of the Turkic peoples is (, Karachais, Balkars).

Also, the Altai family includes: a group (Buryats, Kalmyks);Tungus-Manchu group(Evens, Nanai, Ulchi, Udege, Orochi),

Ural family

The largest of this family Finno-Ugric group, which includes Mordovians, Udmurts, Mari, Komi, Komi-Perm, Finns, Hungarians, 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.) andAbkhazian-Adyghe group(Kabardians, Abazins). The peoples of this family live more compactly, mainly in the North Caucasus.

Also representatives of Chukotka-Kamchatka family(, Itelmens); Eskimo-Aleutian family(, Aleuts); Kartvelian family() and peoples of other language families and peoples (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 according to the national-territorial principle. The federal structure of the Russian Federation is based on its state integrity, the unity of the system of state power, the delimitation of subjects of jurisdiction and powers between the state authorities of the Russian Federation and the state authorities 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 oblast). The total area of national formations 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 Russians. At the same time, many peoples of Russia are scattered across various regions of Russia. As a result, a situation has arisen when, on the one hand, part of the peoples of Russia are settled outside their national formations, and on the other hand, within the limits of many national formations, the share of the main or "titular" (which gave the name to the corresponding formation) nation is relatively small. So, of the 21 republics of the Russian Federation, only eight of 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 , Tabasaran, Nogais, Rutuls, Aguls, Tsakhurs) make up 80% of the total population, with the lowest share of "titular" peoples (10%) and Khakassia (11%).

A peculiar picture of the settlement of peoples in the autonomous regions. They are inhabited very rarely and for many decades 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 main peoples in the majority autonomous regions(and in the only autonomous region) make up only a small percentage of their total population. For example, in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - 2%, in Yamalo-Nenets - 6%, Chukotka - about 9%, etc. Only in one Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug titular peoples make up the majority (62%).

The dispersal of many peoples and their intensive contacts with other peoples, especially with the Russians, contribute to their assimilation.