Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states

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After the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in December 1991, about 25 million ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states found themselves living outside of Russia. However, this number declined to less than 6 million today, excluding Ukraine in which ethnic Russian population is hard to estimate due to lack of a recent census.

All former Soviet citizens had a time window within which they could transfer their former Soviet citizenship to Russian citizenship.[ citation needed ] Where they did not exercise that choice, their resulting citizenship status outside Russia varied by state: from no perceivable change in status – as in Belarus – to becoming permanently resident "non-citizens" – as in Estonia and Latvia, which restricted citizenship to their pre-World War II citizens and their offspring (regardless of ethnic group) upon restoration of their independence in continuity with their sovereign identities prior to June 1940.

In June 2006 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to introduce national policy aiming at encouraging ethnic Russian immigration to Russia. [1]

Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states (1994) Russians ethnic 94.jpg
Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states (1994)
CountryNumber of
ethnic Russians
Percent of
national population
As of
(census data)
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1105,579,17980.82021 [2]
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 8,334,14117.32001 [3]
Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan 2,963,93814.62025 [4]
Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Uzbekistan 720,3242.12021 [5]
Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus 706,9927.52019 [6]
Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 1434,24324.12025 [7]
Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 1285,81921.02025 [8]
Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg  Kyrgyzstan 272,8003.82025 [9]
Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 144,5005.02025 [10]
Flag of Turkmenistan.svg  Turkmenistan 114,4471.62022 [11]
Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 275,3003.22024 [12]
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan 71,0460.72019 [13]
Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan 29,0000.32020 [14]
Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia 326,5860.72014 [15]
Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 14,0740.52022 [16]

1: Excluding the population for which data is unknown

2: Does not include Transnistria (2015 census: 138,072 Russians or 29.1% of the population) [17]

3: Does not include Abkhazia (2021 census: 22,303 Russians or 9.1% of the population) [18] or South Ossetia (2015 census: 610 Russians or 1.1% of the population) [19]

See also

References

  1. Latvia: Ethnic Russians Divided On Moscow's Repatriation Scheme
  2. https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx [ bare URL spreadsheet file ]
  3. "2001 | English version | Results | General results of the census | National composition of population". 2007-07-06. Archived from the original on 2007-07-06. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  4. https://stat.gov.kz/api/iblock/element/336996/file/en/ [ bare URL ]
  5. "Permanent population by national and / or ethnic group, urban / rural place of residence". data.egov.uz (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  6. https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/b49/b49a6306ec95b5c2d851e897490581a3.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  7. "Population by ethnicity at the beginning of year 1935 - 2025". Oficiālās statistikas portāls. Retrieved 2025-06-03.
  8. "RV0222U: POPULATION, 1 JANUARY by Year, Sex, County and Ethnic nationality".
  9. https://stat.gov.kg/media/publicationarchive/a2d756a0-9549-4b37-8884-4e777b8c90a8.pdf
  10. "Rodiklių duomenų bazė - Oficialiosios statistikos portalas".
  11. "State Committee of Turkmenistan on Statistics". www.stat.gov.tm. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
  12. "Population and Housing Census". Population and Housing Census. 2025-02-11. Retrieved 2025-02-10.
  13. "Ethnic composition of Azerbaijan 2019". pop-stat.mashke.org. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  14. https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/WS10RizoevENG.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  15. Circle. "2014 General Population Census Results - National Statistics Office of Georgia". www.geostat.ge. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  16. "The Main Results of RA Census 2022 / Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia". www.armstat.am. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  17. "Ethnic composition of Transnistria 2015". pop-stat.mashke.org. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  18. "Руководство". cgsra.org. Retrieved 2025-02-14.
  19. "Ethnic composition of Ossetia 2015". pop-stat.mashke.org. Retrieved 2025-02-14.