Peoples of Russia: National composition of the population according to the 2020 Census
The most numerous people of Russia are Russians: according to the latest census they number 105,579,179 people, or 80.8% of all who indicated their nationality. Next are Tatars (4.71 million), Chechens (1.67 million), Bashkirs (1.57 million), Chuvash (1.07 million) and Avars (1.01 million). Only these six peoples have more than a million people, more than a hundred thousand for forty. In total, Rosstat’s table based on the results of the 2020 All‑Russian Population Census contains 194 rows with nationalities, and people who did not specify a nationality amount to almost 16.6 million. Below we examine who is in the list of the largest, whose share is growing and whose is falling, which languages the peoples of Russia speak and how many indigenous small‑numbered peoples remain. Each table has an interactive chart on the website.
The census is called “2020”, but it was carried out in the autumn of 2021: Rosstat’s results are as of 1 October 2021.
Largest peoples of Russia: list by population size
The top ten according to the 2020 census:
| Rank | People | Persons |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russians | 105,579,179 |
| 2 | Tatars | 4,713,669 |
| 3 | Chechens | 1,674,854 |
| 4 | Bashkirs | 1,571,879 |
| 5 | Chuvash | 1,067,139 |
| 6 | Avars | 1,012,074 |
| 7 | Armenians | 946,172 |
| 8 | Ukrainians | 884,007 |
| 9 | Dargins | 626,601 |
| 10 | Kazakhs | 591,970 |
The start of the second ten is entirely Caucasian: Kumyks (565.8 thousand), Kabardins (523.4 thousand), Ingush (517.2 thousand), Lezgins (488.6 thousand), Ossetians (485.6 thousand). Places 16 to 19 are occupied by Mordvins, Yakuts, Azerbaijanis and Buryats, each with between 460 and 485 thousand people. The top twenty is closed by the Mari (423.8 thousand).
The full list of all 194 nationalities with a breakdown by urban and rural population is available in the census table by nationality. There, for each people it is also indicated how many people speak Russian.
How many peoples live in Russia
The answer depends on what you count. In Rosstat's final table there are 194 nationalities. Among them are groups that are listed as a separate line, although they belong to a larger people: Cossacks (50,490 people), Kryashens (29,978), Mordva-Erzya (50,068). Therefore the census does not give an exact "how many peoples", it provides a list of how people named themselves.
And they named themselves very differently. Rosstat published a separate self‑name dictionary: it contains 1,656 answer variants, from "abazin" to rare double names like "avaro‑dagrins". Then these answers are aggregated into 194 nationalities.
National composition of Russia by year: what has changed since 2002
Comparing censuses is most convenient in shares: Rosstat recalculates each nationality per 100,000 people who indicated a national affiliation. This shows whose weight in the population has risen and whose has fallen, regardless of how many people answered the question overall.
The share of Russians over three censuses barely moved: 80,643 per 100,000 in 2002, 80,695 in 2010 and 80,849 in 2020. Other peoples changed noticeably.
- Ukrainians. 2,048 per 100,000 in 2002 and 677 in 2020, a three‑fold drop. In 2002 Ukrainians were the third people of the country, in 2020 they turned out to be the eighth.
- Chechens. Growth from 947 to 1,283. They rose from sixth place to third and overtook Bashkirs and Chuvash.
- Avars. From 567 to 775, an increase of more than a third.
- Chuvash. From 1,139 to 817, down almost 30%.
- Mordvins. From 587 to 371.
- Tatars. From 3,865 to 3,610: second place after them, but the share is gradually decreasing.
All twenty largest peoples across the three censuses are collected in the national composition table from the "Russian Statistical Yearbook".
Why the shares change
The census does not name reasons, but one is visible from its own tables: age. Children under 15 make up 29.1% of Chechens and 27.4% of Avars. Among Russians it is 15.2%, among Chuvash 13.7%, among Mordvins 8.0%, among Ukrainians only 4.4%. A people with many children increases its share on its own, while a people with few children loses it.
The second reason lies in how the question is structured. Nationality is recorded from the person's own words, and a person from a mixed family names just one. Therefore the share of a people in the census can shrink faster than the number of people with such roots.
Questions and Answers
Which ethnic group is the second most numerous in Russia?
Tatars, 4,713,669 people according to the 2020 census. This is 3.6% of those who indicated ethnicity.
How many Russians are there in Russia?
105,579,179 people, 80.8% of those who indicated ethnicity. Of them, 80.57 million live in cities, 25.0 million in villages: urban Russians are 76.3%.
How many people did not indicate ethnicity?
16,594,759. Of them, 7,004,052 explicitly refused to answer the question, and for the rest there is no ethnicity data in the census. Another 542,201 people wrote that they have no ethnicity.
What answers were given instead of ethnicity?
1,393,685 people gave an answer that does not correspond to any single ethnic group. The most common among them is “Russians”: 1,151,631. Next are “Dagestanis” (54,821), “mixed” (18,344), “Slavs” (18,030), as well as religious answers such as “Christians” and “Muslims”. All options are in the table of non‑standard ethnicity responses.
City and Village: Where Different Peoples Live
Among all who indicated ethnicity, 72.5% live in cities. Among peoples with a population of at least 300 thousand, the smallest share of urban dwellers is among the Udmurts (34.7%), Dargins (36.5%), Avars (38.0%) and Chechens (38.7%). Russians have 76.3%, Tatars 67.3%. The highest urban shares are among Uzbeks (78.5%) and Tajiks (78.1%): in Russia they live where they work, i.e., in cities.
The number of residents by age and sex for each major ethnic group, divided into city and village, is in the table of ethnic population by age groups.
Which languages the peoples of Russia speak
Russian is spoken by 134,319,233 people, that is 99.4% of those who answered the language question. Among people who indicated their nationality, 98.3% know Russian, and 96.8% use it in everyday life. Among peoples of 300 thousand, the lowest shares of Russian speakers are among the Avars (86.4%), Kumyks (87.7%), Lezgins (87.8%) and Ingush (88.5%).
The second language in the country by number of speakers is English: 5,066,515 people. Then Tatar (3,261,155), Chechen (1,493,748), Bashkir (1,086,423) and German (1,063,037). In total the table lists 177 languages in separate rows.
A separate question is how each people preserves its language. Among Chechens, 89.6% speak their people's language, among Tuvans 84.8%, among Yakuts 72.4%. Among Tatars and Bashkirs about 59%. At the other end Ukrainians (31.5%) and Germans (17.9%): for most of them Russian has long become the main language.
Shares are calculated from those who answered the language proficiency question. The source figures, including language proficiency of neighboring peoples, are in the population language table from the 2020 census.
Indigenous small-numbered peoples
Rosstat separately records indigenous small-numbered peoples. The census lists 47 of them. The largest: Nenets (49,787 people), Abazins (41,874), Evenks (39,420), Khants (31,600), Even (19,975) and Chukchi (16,228). The smallest peoples in the list number dozens of people: Kerets (23), Alutor (97), Vody (105).
If you add up all 47 peoples, the total is 315,161 people, and more than two thirds of them (215,961) live in rural areas. Among Russians, less than a quarter live in villages. For the Mansi and the Shors the picture is opposite: they have more urban than rural residents. The age composition of each of the 47 peoples is in the population of small-numbered peoples table.
How nationality is counted in the census
The question on nationality in the census is voluntary, the answer is recorded verbatim from the person, documents are not checked. Therefore:
- nationality in the census means self‑identification, not ancestry;
- for children, nationality is indicated by the parents;
- the question can be left unanswered, and 7 million people took advantage of this;
- Rosstat calculates the shares of peoples based on those who indicated a nationality (130,587,364 people), not on the total population.
The last point is important when comparing with other sources. If you divide by the whole population, each people's share would be lower: the denominator would also include the 16.6 million who did not indicate a nationality.
In short
According to the 2020 census, there are 105.6 million Russians in Russia, 80.8% of those who indicated a nationality. More than a million people belong to five other peoples: Tatars, Chechens, Bashkirs, Chuvash and Avars. Since 2002, the share of Chechens and Avars has grown the fastest, while the share of Ukrainians has fallen threefold. Almost everyone knows Russian; the peoples who know their own language best are Chechens and Tuvans. Among the indigenous small‑numbered peoples listed (47 in total), the largest are the Nenets. A separate feature of the latest census: almost 16.6 million people did not indicate a nationality.
See also
- Population of Russia: how many people live in the country
- International migration in Russia
- Age composition of the population of Russia
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