Ethnic demography of Kazakhstan

Last updated

The share of Kazakhs in Kazakhstan by districts at the beginning of 2022 Kazakhi v Kazakhstane.png
The share of Kazakhs in Kazakhstan by districts at the beginning of 2022
Most common ethnic groups by districts of Kazakhstan in 2020 except kazakhs and russians Most common ethnic groups by districts of Kazakhstan in 2020 exept kazakhs and russians.png
Most common ethnic groups by districts of Kazakhstan in 2020 except kazakhs and russians

Kazakhstan is a multiethnic country where the indigenous ethnic group, the Kazakhs, comprise the majority of the population. As of 2023, ethnic Kazakhs are about 71% of the population and ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan are about 15%. [1] These are the two dominant ethnic groups in the country with a wide array of other groups represented, including Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans, Tatars, Chechens, Ingush, Uyghurs, Koreans, and Meskhetian Turks. [2]

Contents

History

Ethnic demography of Central Asia, 1992 Central Asia Ethnic en.svg
Ethnic demography of Central Asia, 1992

Kazakhstan's dominant ethnic group, the Kazakhs, traces its origin to the 15th century, when after disintegration of Golden Horde, number of Turkic and Turco-Mongol tribes united to establish the Kazakh Khanate. With a cohesive culture and a national identity, they constituted an absolute majority on the land until Russian colonization.
Russian advancement into the territory of Kazakhstan began in the late 18th century, when the Kazakhs nominally accepted Russian rule in exchange for protection against repeated attacks by the western Mongolian Kalmyks. In the 1890s, Russian peasants began to settle the fertile lands of northern Kazakhstan, causing many Kazakhs to move eastwards into Chinese territory in search of new grazing grounds.

Kazakhstan demographics 1897-1970. Major ethnic groups. Kazakhstan, USSR demographics.png
Kazakhstan demographics 1897-1970. Major ethnic groups.

Drastic changes during the 20th century

A big factor that greatly shaped the ethnic composition of Kazakhstan were major famines of the 1920s and of the 1930s. According to different estimates, in the 1930s up to 40% of Kazakhs either died of starvation or fled the territory. [3] Official government census data report the contraction of Kazakh population from 3.6 million in 1926, to 2.3 million in 1939. [4]

By the mid 20th century, Kazakhstan was home to virtually all ethnic groups that had ever come under the Russian sphere of influence. This diverse demography stemmed from the country's central location and its historical use by Russia as a place to send colonists, dissidents, and minority groups from its other frontiers. From the 1930s until the 1950s, both Russian opposition (and Russians who were "accused" of being part of the opposition) and certain minorities (especially Volga Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and Kalmyks) had been interned in labor camps, often merely due to their heritage or beliefs, mostly on collective orders by Joseph Stalin.[ citation needed ] This makes Kazakhstan one of the few places on Earth where normally-disparate Germanic, Indo-Iranian, Koreans, Chechen, and Turkic groups live together in a rural setting and not as a result of modern immigration. [ citation needed ]

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the German population of Kazakhstan (Kasachstandeutsche) proceeded to emigrate en masse during the 1990s, [5] as Germany was willing to repatriate these so-called Spätaussiedler, and many Russians went back to Russia. [5] Also, many of the Greek took the chance to repatriate to Greece.[ citation needed ] Some groups have fewer good options for emigration, but because of the economic situation are also leaving at rates comparable to the rest of the former East bloc.[ citation needed ]

Table of historic ethnic composition of Kazakhstan

Table: [4] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Censuses of Kazakhstan (1897—2023)
Ethnicity Year
1897 1926 1939 1959 1970
Population%Population %Population%Population%Population%
Kazakhs 3,392,75182.89%3,627,61258.52 %2,327,62537.84 %2,794,96630.02 %4,161,16432.39 %
Russians 454,40211.1%1,275,05520.57 %2,458,68739.97 %3,974,22942.69 %5,449,82642.42 %
Uzbeks 29,5640.72%129,3992.09 %120,6551.96 %136,5701.47 %207,5141.62 %
Uyghurs 55,8151.36%62,3131.01 %35,4090.58 %59,8400.64 %120,7840.94 %
Ukrainians 79,5731.94%860,20113.88 %658,31910.70 %762,1318.19 %930,1587.24 %
Tatars 55,9841.37%79,7581.29 %108,1271.76 %191,9252.06 %281,8492.19 %
Germans 2,6130.06%51,0940.82 %92,5711.50 %659,7517.09 %839,6496.53 %
Turks 685230.01 %9,9160.11 %18,3970.14 %
Azerbaijanis 12,9960.21 %38,3620.41 %56,1660.44 %
Koreans 4296,4571.57 %74,0190.80 %78,0780.61 %
Dungans 4,8880.12%8,4550.14 %7,4150.12 %9,9800.11 %1,72830.13 %
Belarusians 25,5840.41 %31,6140.51 %107,4631.15 %197,5921.54 %
Tajiks 7,6660.12 %11,2290.18 %80,750.09 %7,1660.06 %
Kurds 2,3870.04 %6,1090.07 %12,2990.10 %
Chechens 30.00 %2,6390.04 %130,2321.40 %34,4920.27 %
Poles 1,2540.03%3,7620.06 %54,8090.89 %53,1020.57 %61,3350.48 %
Kyrgyzs 10,2005,0336,8109,6120.07 %
Bashkirs 2,5280.06%8410.01 %3,4500.06 %8,7420.09 %21,1340.16 %
Ingushs 30.00 %3220.01 %47,8670.51 %18,3560.14 %
Moldovans 2,8550.05 %2,9920.05 %14,8440.16 %25,7110.20 %
Greeks 1570.00 %1,3740.02 %55,5430.60 %39,2410.31 %
Mordvins 11,9110.29%27,2440.44 %25,3340.41 %25,4990.27 %34,1290.27 %
Chuvashs 2,2670.04 %6,5900.11 %11,2550.12 %22,6900.18 %
Jews 1,6510.04%4,4990.07 %19,2400.31 %28,0480.30 %26,9540.21 %
Others30,5910.49 %70,3421.14 %10,13791.09 %136,6061.06 %
total4,092,9346,198,4696,151,1029,309,84712,848,573
Ethnicity Year
1979 1989 199920092023
Population%Population%Population %Population %Population%
Kazakhs 5,289,34936.02 %6,534,61639.69 %7,985,03953.40 %10,096,76363.07 %13,965,95770.65 %
Russians 5,991,20540.80 %6,227,54937.82 %4,479,62029.96 %3,793,76423.70 %3,000,61115.18 %
Uzbeks 263,2951.79 %332,0172.02 %370,6632.48 %456,9972.85 %643,3633.25 %
Uyghurs 147,9431.01 %185,3011.13 %210,3651.41 %224,7131.40 %297,1381.50 %
Ukrainians 897,9646.12 %896,2405.44 %547,0523.66 %333,0312.08 %380,2261.92 %
Tatars 312,6262.13 %327,9821.99 %248,9541.66 %204,2291.28 %219,1531.11 %
Germans 900,2076.13 %957,5185.82 %353,4412.36 %178,4091.11 %225,3451.14 %
Turks 25,8200.18 %49,5670.30 %75,9000.51 %97,0150.61 %88,5050.45 %
Azerbaijanis 73,3450.50 %90,0830.55 %78,2950.52 %85,2920.53 %150,4400.76 %
Koreans 91,9840.63 %103,3150.63 %99,6650.67 %100,3850.63 %119,8220.61 %
Dungans 22,4910.15 %30,1650.18 %36,9450.25 %51,9440.32 %81,7380.41 %
Belarusians 181,4911.24 %182,6011.11 %111,9270.75 %66,4760.42 %75,6370.38 %
Tajiks 19,2930.13 %25,5140.15 %25,6570.17 %36,2770.23 %53,4800.27 %
Kurds 17,6920.12 %25,4250.15 %32,7640.22 %38,3250.24 %49,3550.25 %
Chechens 38,2560.26 %49,5070.30 %31,7990.21 %31,4310.20 %34,3300.17 %
Poles 61,1360.42 %59,9560.36 %47,2970.32 %34,0570.21 %34,9140.18 %
Kyrgyzs 9,3520.06 %13,7180.08 %10,9250.07 %23,2740.15 %36,9890.19 %
Bashkirs 32,4990.22 %41,8470.25 %23,2240.16 %17,2630.11 %19,9960.10 %
Ingushs 18,3370.12 %19,9140.12 %16,8930.11 %15,1200.09 %17,7490.09 %
Moldovans 30,2560.21 %33,0980.20 %19,4580.13 %14,2450.09 %17,0550.09 %
Greeks 49,9300.34 %46,7460.28 %12,7030.08 %8,8460.06 %11,9190.06 %
Mordvins 31,4240.21 %30,0360.18 %16,1470.11 %8,0130.05 %9,7650.05 %
Chuvashs 22,3100.15 %22,3050.14 %11,8510.08 %7,3010.05 %8,2430.04 %
Jews 22,7620.16 %18,4920.11 %6,7430.05 %3,4850.02 %4,0640.02 %
Others142,6680.97 %174,6701.06 %99,7990.67 %82,9420.52 %221,0131.12 %
total14,684,28316,464,46414,953,12616,009,59719,766,807
The share Russians by districts and cities of regional and republican subordination Kazakhstan in 2021 Russians in Kazakhstan Rus.png
The share Russians by districts and cities of regional and republican subordination Kazakhstan in 2021

List

Census of 1999

Table: Ethnic composition of Kazakhstan (detailed census data) [10]

Ethnic groups19991989% change, 1989 to 1999% Of 1999 Pop% Of 1989 Pop
Total population14,953,12616,464,464-9.18100.00100.00
Kazakhs 7,985,0396,534,61622.2053.4039.69
Russians 4,479,6186,227,549-28.0729.9537.82
Ukrainians 547,052896,240-38.963.655.44
Uzbeks 370,663332,01711.642.472.02
Germans 353,441957,518-63.092.365.82
Tatars 248,952327,982-24.101.661.99
Uyghurs 210,339185,30113.511.401.13
Belarusians 111,926182,601-38.700.741.11
Koreans 99,657103,315-3.540.660.63
Turks 75,95049,56723.550.500.30
Azerbaijanis 78,29590,083-13.090.520.55
Poles 47,29759,956-21.110.310.36
Dungans 36,94530,16522.480.240.18
Kurds 32,76425,42528.870.210.15
Chechens 31,79949,507-35.770.210.30
Tajiks 25,65725,5140.560.170.15
Bashkirs 23,22441,847-44.500.150.25
Moldovans 19,45833,098-41.210.130.20
Ingush 16,89319,914-15.170.110.12
Mordvins 16,14730,036-46.240.100.18
Armenians 14,75819,119-22.810.090.12
Greeks 12,70346,746-72.830.080.28
Kyrgyz 10,89614,112-22.790.070.09
Bulgarians 6,91510,426-33.680.040.06
Lezgins 4,61613,905-66.800.030.08
Turkmens 1,7293,846-55.040.010.02
Other166,342203,626-18.311.111.24
No response1119-99.160.000.00

Total Slavic/European population 27.0% in 2009 (compared with 60.3% in 1959, 57.3% in 1970, 54.5% in 1979, 49.8% in 1989 and 39.0% in 1999). [11]

Demographic data

Vital statistics

As explained above, the Slavic groups have been declining ever since the 1960s, due to low birth rates and high death rates. Germans are characterized by very high birth rates, but it is mostly due to the high proportion of rural population and the presence of conservative religious factions like Mennonites and Evangelical Lutherans among them.[ citation needed ]

Table: Demographic characteristics of various ethnic groups of Kazakhstan [12]

Ethnic GroupBirthsDeathsNatural GrowthBirth RateDeath RateNatural Growth
199920072008199920072008199920072008199920072008199920072008199920072008
Total217,578321,963356,575147,416158,297152,70670,162163,666203,86914.5720.7922.759.8710.229.740.47%1.06%1.30%
Kazakh142,363227,002254,40252,33761,63961,39790,026165,363193,00517.7724.7327.066.626.826.631.12%1.79%2.04%
Russian39,21546,66749,13462,13062,15158,586-22,915-15,484-9,4528.8411.9412.6814.2816.3015.35-0.54%-0.44%-0.27%
Uzbek9,53413,39815,0472,2242,5602,8287,31010,83812,21925.5430.2233.026.045.916.301.95%2.43%2.67%
Ukrainian5,1564,9365,26711,42611,13910,506-6,270-6,203-5,2399.5611.3712.3721.5526.3325.06-1.20%-1.50%-1.27%
Uyghur3,5295,4246,0541,1871,4331,4952,3423,9914,55916.7223.1925.345.706.126.351.10%1.71%1.90%
Tatar2,3983,1433,3753,3633,6683,398-965-525-239.7013.8714.9013.8816.6215.231.70%-0.28%-0.03%
German4,7654,2674,8103,5242,6062,5851,2411,6612,22513.9719.2821.8110.4912.0611.900.35%0.72%0.99%
Others10,41115,88917,4248,6519,2839,1681,7606,6068,25613.7920.4522.2311.6612.1911.870.21%0.83%1.04%
Unknown2071,2371,0622,5743,8182,743-2,367-2,581-1,681NANANANANANANANANA

Inter-ethnic marriages

Most of the inter-ethnic marriages in Kazakhstan has been between various Slavic or Germanic groups (Russian – Ukrainian, German – Ukrainian, Russian – Polish or German – Russian). Inter-marriages between Turkic and European ethnic groups are increasing, but still quite rare as of 2008.

Table: Number of individuals married outside their ethnic group [12]

Ethnic GroupMalesFemales
199920072008199920072008
Total18,40226,63224,24318,40226,63224,243
Kazakh2,1994,9814,7851,5424,0623,874
Russian5,9577,7956,9917,4319,7148,544
Uzbek240714657200600537
Ukrainian2,7173,0702,5552,5412,8582,466
Uighur269658655224530525
Tatar9481,6821,4259381,6511,413
German2,8442,3652,0483,1372,5662,270
Other3,1805,3514,4262,3134,6104,010
Unknown48167017641604

Mechanical population movement

Slavic and Germanic groups have been emigrating en masse since the 1960s, and the movement accelerated during the 1990s after the breakup of the Soviet Union. This has resulted in the reduction of the proportion of European ethnic groups in the population by more than half. More than 50% of the European Soviet ethnic groups have left Kazakhstan since 1989, and just 15% of the pre-1989 ethnic German population remains now in the country.

Most of the immigration has been directed towards Russia, but small numbers have been immigrating to Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia also. Before the German authorities stopped the repatriation of ethnic Germans and their non-German relatives, Germany was one of the most favored destination for all the ethnic groups. It is estimated that close to half of the 4.5 million Soviet Germans and their Slavic kin who now live in Germany are originally from Kazakhstan. Currently on average close to 2,000 ethnic Germans emigrate from Kazakhstan to ethnic German dominated areas in Russia such as Azovsky Nemetsky National District (Deutsche Nationalkreis Asowo) in Omsk Oblast and Nemetsky National District (Nationalkreis Halbstadt) in Altai Krai. Also, out of the 1.2 million Russian speaking Jews and Slavs who live in Israel, a significant portion is from Kazakhstan.

On the other hand, ethnic Kazakhs and Uzbeks have been immigrating in large numbers to Kazakhstan ever since the collapse of the USSR. These immigrants come not only from the southern Central Asian states such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but also from the Kazakh dominated areas in Xinjiang and Mongolia. The Kazakh government is actively encouraging the settlement of these compatriots (known as Oralman ) in Slavic dominated North and East Kazakhstan as well as the German dominated Karaganda Region, in order to dilute the minority populations there. There is also a low intensity immigration of ethnic Slavs from the less tolerant neighboring nations like Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan into Kazakhstan. An estimated 400,000 Uzbeks have migrated to Kazakhstan in recent years. [13]

Table: Data on immigration in Kazakhstan [12]

Ethnic GroupKazakhstan
ImmigrantsEmigrantsNet Immigration
199920072008199920072008199920072008
Total41,32053,39746,404164,94742,43545,287-123,62710,9621,117
Kazakh10,90941,76335,0818,2582,2692,2812,65139,49432,800
Russian20,0766,6586,26891,48929,49231,631-71,413-22,834-25,363
Uzbek1,02844643996210113766345302
Ukrainian2,52660164315,3153,4333,676-12,789-2,832-3,033
Uighur9584111994036-44475
Tatar1,1294764333,9719951,034-2,842-519-601
German1,41751752532,9212,9913,146-31,504-2,474-2,621
Other4,1402,8522,90411,9323,1143,346-7,792-262-442
CIS Nations
ImmigrantsEmigrantsNet Immigration
199920072008199920072008199920072008
Total39,46142,61331,425120,24039,76742,908-80,7792,846-11,483
Kazakh19,79632,11021,2227,6892,0822,1202,43230,02819,102
Russian19,7966,3086,03381,02028,65730,775-61,224-22,349-24,742
Uzbek1,0204414359219512699346309
Ukrainian2,48855660013,1823,2893,532-10,694-2,733-2,932
Uighur947399782931164468
Tatar1,1244654273,7149811,002-2,590-516-575
German1,1192592534,1641,8742,250-3,045-1,615-1,997
Other3,6992,4012,3569,4722,7603,072-5,773-359-716
Non-CIS Nations
ImmigrantsEmigrantsNet Immigration
199920072008199920072008199920072008
Total1,85910,78414,97944,7072,6682,379-42,8488,11612,600
Kazakh7889,65313,8595691871612199,46613,698
Russian28035023510,469835856-10,189-485-621
Uzbek85441611-33-1-7
Ukrainian3845432,133144144-2,095-99-101
Uyghur1111221115-2007
Tatar51162571432-252-3-26
German29825827228,7571,117896-28,459-859-624
Other4414515482,460354274-2,01997274

Religion

According to the 2009 Census data, most of the Central Asian Turkics are Muslims and Slavs are Orthodox (although more than 1% of Russians are Muslim), while Koreans are mixed between various different faiths including Christianity, Buddhism, Atheism, and Islam : [14]

Ethnic GroupsIslamChristianityJudaismBuddhismOtherAtheismNA
Total60.20%36.32%0.03%0.09%0.02%2.82%0.51%
Kazakhs88.22%10.39%0.02%0.01%0.02%0.98%0.26%
Russians1.43%91.64%0.04%0.02%0.03%6.09%0.75%
Uzbeks99.05%0.39%0.01%0.01%0.02%0.37%0.16%
Ukrainians0.94%90.74%0.03%0.01%0.02%7.31%0.94%
Uyghurs98.35%0.51%0.02%0.01%0.03%0.61%0.47%
Tatars79.57%10.24%0.02%0.03%0.06%8.11%1.97%
Germans1.58%81.59%0.05%0.04%0.11%13.96%2.68%
Koreans5.24%49.35%0.21%11.40%0.14%28.51%5.16%
Turks99.13%0.30%0.01%0.01%0.02%0.33%0.21%
Azerbaijanis94.81%2.51%0.02%0.02%0.03%1.86%0.76%
Belarusians0.79%90.16%0.04%0.01%0.03%7.82%1.15%
Dungans98.93%0.37%0.01%0.03%0.04%0.34%0.28%
Kurds98.28%0.53%0.03%0.02%0.02%0.74%0.38%
Tajiks97.78%0.91%0.01%0.02%0.08%0.85%0.35%
Poles0.69%90.07%0.04%0.01%0.13%7.30%1.76%
Chechens93.69%2.99%0.02%0.01%0.05%2.08%1.16%
Kirghiz96.67%0.89%0.03%0.03%0.02%1.51%0.86%
Others34.69%52.32%0.82%0.91%0.13%8.44%2.69%

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Asia</span> Subregion in Asia

Central Asia is a subregion of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the southwest and Eastern Europe in the northwest to Western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan" in both respective native languages and most other languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazakhstan</span> Country in Central Asia

Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country mostly in Central Asia, with a small part in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, with a coastline along the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Astana, while the largest city and leading cultural and commercial hub is Almaty. Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country. It has a population of 20 million and one of the lowest population densities in the world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre. Ethnic Kazakhs constitute a majority, while ethnic Russians form a significant minority. Officially secular, Kazakhstan is a Muslim-majority country, although ethnic Russians in the country form a sizeable Christian community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Kazakhstan</span>

Kazakhstan, the largest country fully within the Eurasian Steppe, has been a historical crossroads and home to numerous different peoples, states and empires throughout history. Throughout history, peoples on the territory of modern Kazakhstan had nomadic lifestyle, which developed and influenced Kazakh culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Kazakhstan</span>

The demographics of Kazakhstan enumerate the demographic features of the population of Kazakhstan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. Some use the word Kazakh to refer to the Kazakh ethnic group and language and Kazakhstani to refer to Kazakhstan and its citizens regardless of ethnicity, but it is common to use Kazakh in both senses. It is expected that by 2050, the population will range from 23.5 to 27.7 million people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Kyrgyzstan</span>

The Demographics of Kyrgyzstan is about the demographic features of the population of Kyrgyzstan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The name Kyrgyz, both for the people and the country, means "forty tribes", a reference to the epic hero Manas who unified forty tribes against the Oirats, as symbolized by the 40-ray sun on the flag of Kyrgyzstan.

The Slavs or Slavic peoples are a group of peoples who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states, Northern Asia, and Central Asia, and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic</span> Soviet republic from 1936 to 1991

The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Central Asia, it was created on 5 December 1936 from the Kazakh ASSR, an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazakhs</span> Turkic people of Central Asia and Eastern Europe

The Kazakhs are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe, mainly Kazakhstan, but also parts of northern Uzbekistan and the border regions of Russia, as well as northwestern China and western Mongolia. The Kazakhs arose from the merging of the medieval tribes of Turkic and Mongolic origin in the 15th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Population transfer in the Soviet Union</span> Transfer and deportation of people in the Soviet Union

From 1930 to 1952, the government of the Soviet Union, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin under the direction of the NKVD official Lavrentiy Beria, forcibly transferred populations of various groups. These actions may be classified into the following broad categories: deportations of "anti-Soviet" categories of population, deportations of entire nationalities, labor force transfer, and organized migrations in opposite directions to fill ethnically cleansed territories. Dekulakization marked the first time that an entire class was deported, whereas the deportation of Soviet Koreans in 1937 marked the precedent of a specific ethnic deportation of an entire nationality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union</span> 1937 forced transfer to Central Asia

The deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union was the forced transfer of nearly 172,000 Soviet Koreans (Koryo-saram) from the Russian Far East to unpopulated areas of the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek SSR in 1937 by the NKVD on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union Vyacheslav Molotov. 124 trains were used to resettle them 6,400 km to Central Asia. The reason was to stem "the infiltration of Japanese espionage into the Far Eastern Krai", as Koreans were at the time subjects of the Empire of Japan, which was the Soviet Union's rival. However, some historians regard it as part of Stalin's policy of "frontier cleansing". Estimates based on population statistics suggest that between 16,500 and 50,000 deported Koreans died from starvation, exposure, and difficulties adapting to their new environment in exile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russians in Kazakhstan</span> Ethnic minority group in Kazakhstan

There has been a substantial population of Russians in Kazakhstan since the 19th century. Although their numbers have been reduced since the breakup of the Soviet Union, they remain prominent in Kazakh society today. Russians formed a plurality of the Kazakh SSR's population for several decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soviet Central Asia</span> Section of Central Asia formerly controlled by the Soviet Union

Soviet Central Asia was the part of Central Asia administered by the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian republics declared independence. It is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan in the Russian Empire. Soviet Central Asia went through many territorial divisions before the current borders were created in the 1920s and 1930s.

Russia, as the largest country in the world, has great ethnic diversity, is a multinational state, and is home to over 190 ethnic groups nationwide. According to the population census at the end of 2021, more than 147.1 million people lived in Russia, which is 4.3 million more than in the 2010 census, or 3.03%. At the same time, only 130.587 million census participants indicated their nationality. The top ten largest nations besides Russians included in descending order: Tatars, Chechens, Bashkirs, Chuvash, Avars, Armenians, Ukrainians, Dargins and Kazakhs. Population censuses in Russia allow citizens to report their nationality according not only to their ancestry, but also to self-identification. The 83 federal subjects which together constitute the Russian Federation include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deportation of the Crimean Tatars</span> 1944 Soviet ethnic cleansing and genocide

The deportation of the Crimean Tatars or the Sürgünlik ('exile') was the ethnic cleansing and the cultural genocide of at least 191,044 Crimean Tatars which was carried out by the Soviet authorities from 18 to 20 May 1944, supervised by Lavrentiy Beria, chief of Soviet state security and the secret police, and ordered by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Within those three days, the NKVD used cattle trains to deport the Crimean Tatars, mostly women, children, and the elderly, even Communist Party members and Red Army members, to the Uzbek SSR, several thousand kilometres away. They constituted one of the several ethnicities which were subjected to Stalin's policy of population transfer in the Soviet Union.

Ukrainian Kazakhstanis are an ethnic minority in Kazakhstan that according to the 1989 census numbered 896,000 people, or 5.4% of the population. Due to subsequent emigration to Russia and Ukraine, this number had declined to 796,000 by 1998 and 456,997 in the 2009 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poles in Kazakhstan</span>

Poles in Kazakhstan form one portion of the Polish diaspora in the former Soviet Union. Slightly less than half of Kazakhstan's Poles live in the Karaganda region, with another 2,500 in Astana, 1,200 in Almaty, and the rest scattered throughout rural regions.

Oralman is a term used by Kazakh authorities to describe ethnic Kazakhs who have re-immigrated to Kazakhstan since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nogais</span> Turkic ethnic group in North Caucasus

The Nogais are a Kipchak ethnic group who live in the North Caucasus region. Most are found in Northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and Astrakhan Oblast; some also live in Chechnya, Dobruja, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and a small Nogai diaspora is found in Jordan. They speak the Nogai language and are descendants of various Mongolic and Turkic tribes who formed the Nogai Horde. There are eight main groups of Nogais: the Ak Nogai, the Karagash, the Kuban-Nogai, the Kundraw-Nogai, the Qara-Nogai, the Utars, Bug-Nogai and the Yurt-Nogai.

Armenians in Central Asian states: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, were mainly settled there during the Soviet era for various reasons.

The main wave of Crimean Tatar repatriation occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s when over 200,000 Crimean Tatars left Central Asia to return to Crimea whence they had been deported in 1944. While the Soviet government attempted to stifle mass return efforts for decades by denying them residence permits in Crimea or even recognition as a distinct ethnic group, activists continued to petition for the right of return. Eventually a series of commissions were created to publicly evaluate the prospects of allowing return, the first being the notorious Gromyko commission that lasted from 1987 to 1988 that issued declaring that "there was no basis" to allow exiled Crimean Tatars to return en masse to Crimea or restore the Crimean ASSR.

References

  1. ↑ "Ethnic Demography of Kazakhstan 2023".
  2. ↑ "stat.gov.kz". stat.gov.kz. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  3. ↑ РЫСКОЖА, Болат (25 January 2012). "Во время голода в Казахстане погибло 40 процентов населения". Радио Азаттык. Retrieved 15 April 2023– via rus.azattyq.org.
  4. 1 2 Russian Empire Census: Central Asia by uezd
  5. 1 2 Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Kazachstan. §2.1 Samenstelling". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.
  6. ↑ Alexandrov, Mikhail. Uneasy Alliance: Relations Between Russia and Kazakhstan in the Post-Soviet Era, 1992-1997. Greenwood Press, 1999, ISBN   978-0-313-30965-6
  7. ↑ Demographic situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2006, Agency on Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Internet Archive v. 11 October 2007) (in Russian)
  8. ↑ "Итоги переписи населения Республики Казахстан 2009 года". Archived from the original on June 28, 2010. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
  9. ↑ The population of the Republic of Kazakhstan by individual ethnic groups at the beginning of 2022 Archived 2022-07-27 at the Wayback Machine , Committee on Statistics of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan (in Russian)
  10. ↑ Ethnodemographic situation in Kazakhstan Archived 2003-04-16 at the Wayback Machine on ide.go.jp (unidentified source)
  11. ↑ Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: data for 1959-1999 (Internet Archive v. 27 November 2007)
  12. 1 2 3 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2010. Retrieved March 23, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ↑ Central Asian Immigration: Steppe Change The Economist. 22 March 2007
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.