According to the2021 Russian census, the total population of theRepublic of Crimea andSevastopol was at 2,482,450 (Crimea: 1,934,630, Sevastopol: 547,820).[1] This is up from the2001 Ukrainian census figure, which was 2,376,000 (Autonomous Republic of Crimea: 2,033,700, Sevastopol: 342,451),[2] and the local census conducted by Russia in December 2014, which found 2,248,400 people (Republic of Crimea: 1,889,485, Sevastopol: 395,000).[3] According to the Ukrainian census,Perekop andPervomaisky districts had a Ukrainian ethnic plurality, while the rest of Crimea had a simple or absolute majority of ethnic Russians.[2]
The Crimean interior has been ethnically diverse throughout its recorded history, changing hands numerous times, while the south coast was held continuously for most of the last two millennia by various Roman (andEastern Roman) states. The interior was dominated by a succession ofScytho-Sarmatian,Gothic,Hunnic,Turkic,Mongol andSlavic conquests. Its south coast wasGreek speaking first asGreek colonies (7th or 6th century BC and following), then under theBosporan Kingdom (480 BC - 63 BC),Romans (47 BC -330 AD) and their successor states, theByzantine Empire (330 AD - 1204 AD), theEmpire of Trebizond (1204 AD - 1461 AD), and the independentPrincipality of Theodoro (1461 AD - 1475 AD). In 1475 the region was conquered by theOttoman Turks. During the late Middle Ages a few coastal cities were ruled byItalian city states. A number ofEnglishmen, fleeingEngland after theNorman Conquest, were said to have settled in Crimea with the Byzantine Emperor’s permission, and comprised a majority of hisVarangian Guard until the Empire’s collapse.[4]
TheCrimean Tatars emerged as a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to Crimea in the early modern period, during the lifetime of theCrimean Khanate, and by the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by theRussian Empire in 1783, they formed the clear majority of Crimean population. The colonization "New Russia" (theNovorossiysk Governorate, of which the laterTaurida Governorate formed a part) at the end of the 18th century was led byPrinceGrigori Potemkin who was granted the powers of an absolute ruler over the area byCatherine the Great. The lands were generously given to the Russiandvoryanstvo (nobility), and theenserfedpeasantry mostly from Ukraine and fewer from Russia were transferred to cultivate what was a sparsely populatedsteppe. Catherine the Great also invited European settlers to these newly conquered lands:Crimea Germans,Poles in Russia,Italians of Crimea, and others. Crimea is geographically and demographically divided into three regions, the steppe interior, the mountains, and the coast. The Tatars were the predominant portion of the population in the mountainous area and about half of the steppe population, while Russians were concentrated most heavily in the Feodosiya district. Germans and settled in the Crimea at the beginning of the 19th century, receiving a large allotment and fertile land.Wealthy colonists later bought substantial portions of land, mainly inPerekopsky andYevpatoria districts.
At the beginning of the 19th century,Italian emigration to the Crimea came from various Italian regions (Liguria,Campania,Apulia), with immigrants settling mainly in the coastal cities of theBlack Sea and theSea of Azov, as well as inOdesa,Mykolaiv,Sevastopol,Mariupol,Berdiansk andTaganrog. With theOctober Revolution of 1917, with which theRussian Empire became theSoviet Union, a bitter period began for minorities in Russia.Italians of Crimea therefore faced much repression. Between 1936 and 1938, duringJoseph Stalin'sGreat Purge, many Italians were accused ofespionage and were arrested, tortured, deported or executed. The few survivors were allowed to return to Kerch in the 1950s and 1960s duringNikita Khrushchev's administration. The descendants of the surviving Italians of Crimea currently account forc. 300[5] people, mainly residing in Kerch.
By the 1897Russian Empire Census, Crimean Tatars continued to form a slight plurality (35%) of Crimea's still largely rural population, but there were large numbers ofRussians (33%) and Ukrainians (11%), as well as smaller numbers ofGermans, Jews (includingKrymchaks andCrimean Karaites),Bulgarians, Belarusians,Turks,Armenians,Greeks andRoma (gypsies).
The upheavals and ethnic cleansing of the 20th century vastly changed Crimea's ethnic composition. In 1944, 200,000Crimean Tatars were deported from Crimea to Central Asia and Siberia, along with 70,000Greeks and 14,000 Bulgarians and other nationalities.[why?][6][7] By the latter 20th century, Russians and Ukrainians made up almost the entire population. However, with the fall of theSoviet Union, exiled Crimean Tatars began returning to their homeland and accounted for 10% of the population by the beginning of the 21st century.
Crimean Gothic, anEast Germanic language, became extinct around the 18th century, while theCrimean Goths diffused into other ethnicities much earlier on.Old English was also spoken by settlers from England, who were eventually absorbed into the Tatar population. According to Ukraine's2001 census, the ethnic makeup of Crimea's population consisted primarily of the following self-reported groups:Russians (1.450 million, 60.4%),Ukrainians (576,600; 24.0%),Crimean Tatars (258,400; 10.8%),Belarusians (25,000; 1.5%),Armenians (10,000; 0.4%), andJews (5,500; 0.2%).[8]
| Census Year | Russians | Crimean Tatars (+ Tatars) | Ukrainians | Belarusians | Armenians | Jews (+Karaites) | Others | Total population | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | |
| 1785[9] | 2.2% | 84.1% | 13.7% | ||||||||||||
| 1795[9] | 4.3% | 87.6% | 1.3% | 0.6% | 2.3% | 3.9% | |||||||||
| 1816[9] | 4.8% | 85.9% | 3.6% | 1.3% | 2.3% | 2.1% | |||||||||
| 1835[9] | 4.4% | 83.5% | 3.1% | 1.5% | 2.0% | 5.5% | |||||||||
| 1850[9] | 6.6% | 77.8% | 7.0% | 1.0% | 2.2% | 5.4% | |||||||||
| 1864[9] | 28.5% | 50.3% | 6.5% | 7.0% | 7.7% | ||||||||||
| 1897[10][11] | 180,963 | 33.11% | 194,294 | 35.6% | 64,703 | 11.8% | 2,058 | 0.4% | 8,317 | 1.5% | 24,168 | 4.4% | 72,089 | 13.2% | 546,592 |
| 1926[12] | 301,398 | 42.2% | 179,094 | 25.1% | 77,405 | 10.6% | 3,842 | 0.5% | 10,713 | 1.5% | 45,926 | 6.4% | 713,823 | ||
| 1939[13] | 558,481 | 49.6% | 218,879 | 19.4% | 154,123 | 13.7% | 6,726 | 0.6% | 12,923 | 1.1% | 65,452 | 5.8% | 1,126,429 | ||
| 1959 | 858,273 | 71.4% | 267,659 | 22.3% | 21,672 | 1.8% | 26,374 | 2.2% | 1,201,517 | ||||||
| 1970 | 1,220,484 | 67.3% | 480,733 | 26.5% | 39,793 | 2.2% | 3,091 | 0.2% | 25,614 | 1.4% | 1,813,502 | ||||
| 1979[14] | 1,460,980 | 66.9% | 5,422 | 0.2% | 547,336 | 25.1% | 45,000 (e) | 2.1% | 2,184,000 | ||||||
| 1989[15] | 1,629,542 | 67.0% | 38,365 | 1.6% | 625,919 | 25.8% | 50,045 | 2.1% | 2,794 | 0.1% | 17,371 | 0.7% | 2,430,495 | ||
| 20011[16] | 1,450,394 | 60.4% | 258,893 | 10.8% | 576,647 | 24.0% | 35,157 | 1.5% | 10,088 | 0.4% | 5,531 | 0.2% | 64,499 | 2.7% | 2,401,209 |
| 20142[17][18][19][20] | 1,492,078 | 67.9% | 277,336 | 12.6% | 344,515 | 15.7% | 21,694 | 1.0% | 11,030 | 0.5% | 3,144 | 0.1% | 2,284,769 | ||
| 2021[21] | 1,706,662 | 76.4% | 284,522 | 12.7% | 171,160 | 7.7% | 10,599 | 0.5% | 9,016 | 0.4% | 2,455 | 0.1% | 48,257 | 2.2% | 2,482,450 |
| 1. For comparison with prior censuses the results of theAutonomous Republic of Crimea andSevastopol were combined 2. The 2014 percentage is based on total number responding to the question on nationality (not total population). Census breakdown is Crimean Tatars 232,340 (10.6%), Tatars 44,996 (2.1%). 3. The Russian percentage in the 1864 census includes Ukrainians. | |||||||||||||||
Other minorities areBlack Sea Germans,Roma,Bulgarians,Poles,Azerbaijanis,Koreans,Greeks andItalians of Crimea. The number ofCrimea Germans was 45,000 in 1941.[22] In 1944, 70,000Greeks and 14,000 Bulgarians from the Crimea were deported to Central Asia and Siberia,[6] along with 200,000 Crimean Tatars and other nationalities.[7]
According to the 2001 census, 77% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their native language, 11.4% – Crimean Tatar, and 10.1% – Ukrainian.[23] Of the Ukrainians in Crimea, 40% gaveUkrainian as their native language, with 60% identifying as ethnic Ukrainians while giving Russian as their primary language. 93% of Crimean Tatars gaveCrimean Tatar as their native language, 6% wereRussophone.[24] In 2013, however, the Crimean Tatar language was estimated to be on the brink of extinction, being taught in Crimea only in around 15 schools at that point of time. Turkey has provided the greatest support to Ukraine, which has been unable to resolve the problem of education in the mother tongue in Crimea, by bringing the schools to a modern state.[25]Ukrainian was until 2014 the singleofficial state language countrywide, but in Crimea government business was carried out mainly inRussian. Attempts toexpand the usage of Ukrainian in education and government affairs have been less successful in Crimea than in other areas of the nation.[26]
Currently two thirds of migrants into Crimea are from other regions of Ukraine; every fifth migrant is from elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and every 40th from outside of it. Three quarters of those leaving Crimea move to other areas in Ukraine. Every 20th migrates to the West.[23]
The number of Crimean residents who consider Ukraine theirmotherland increased sharply from 32% to 71.3% from 2008 through 2011; according to a poll byRazumkov Center in March 2011,[27] although this is the lowest number in all Ukraine (93% on average across the country).[27] Surveys of regional identities in Ukraine have shown that around 30% of Crimean residents claim to have retained a self-identified "Soviet identity".[28]
Since the independence of Ukraine in 1991, 3.8 million former citizens of Russia have applied for Ukrainian citizenship.[29]
In 2014 afterRussian annexation of Crimea ocupational authorities conducted a census. According to the census result the population of theCrimean Federal District is 2.2844 million people. The ethnic composition is as follows:Russians: 1.49 million (65.3%),Ukrainians: 0.35 million (15.1%),Crimean Tatars: 0.24 million (12.0%).[20][30] Official Ukrainian authorities andMejlis of the Crimean Tatar People claimed doubts that the results of population census in Crimea represent the facts.[31]
A survey in May 2013, asked respondents what language they spoke at home:[32]
Note that the proportion of people in the survey who gave their ethnicity as Ukrainian was 20%, Crimean Tatar 15%.[32]
| [34] | 2014 | 2015 | 2020 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of Crimea | 1.82 | 1.82 | 1.82 | |||
| Sevastopol | 1.65 | 1.82 | 1.82 | |||
| Crimean Federal District | 1.79 | 1.82 | 1.82 |
Life expectancy at birth for Crimea as a whole, calculated asweighted average between the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol, according to number of population.[35][36]
| 2019 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Average: | 72.9 years | 70.2 years |
| Male: | 67.9 years | 65.9 years |
| Female: | 77.5 years | 74.5 years |
![Life expectancy in Crimea [35][36]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLife_expectancy_in_Russian_subject_-Crimea.png)
The 2001 Ukrainian census for theAutonomous Republic of Crimea cites the following figures for the population of "able-to-work age" (men 16–59 years, women 16–54 years):[37]
The Crimean peninsula was Christianised at an early time, viaGothic Christianity, in the 4th century.In the 9th century, the Goths in Crimea turned to theGreek Orthodox Church, under theMetropolitanate of Gothia. In 988, PrinceVladimir I of Kyiv also captured the Byzantine town of Chersonesos (presently part of Sevastopol) where he laterconverted to Christianity.Christianity was mostly swept away by theMongol invasion of Rus' in the 1230s. Islam becomes the state religion of theGolden Horde in the early 14th century. The first mosque in Crimea was built byOzbeg Khan inEski Qırım in 1314. Christianity returned with theannexation of the Crimean Khanate by theEastern OrthodoxRussian Empire in 1783.
A survey of residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in May 2013 found that:[32]
The proportion of the population in the survey who were Crimean Tatar was 15%.[32]
Respondents to the same survey said that they attended a religious service:[32]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| Taurida Governate | Berdyansk District | Dneiper District | Melitopol District | Crimea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russians | 404,463 | 55,303 | 42,180 | 126,017 | 180,963 |
| Ukrainians | 611,121 | 179,177 | 156,151 | 211,090 | 64,703 |
| Tatars | 196,854 | 770 | 506 | 1,284 | 194,294 |
| Belarusians | 9,726 | 1,323 | 3,005 | 3,340 | 2,058 |
| Armenians | 8,938 | 201 | 47 | 373 | 8,317 |
| Jews | 55,418 | 8,889 | 6,298 | 16,063 | 24,168 |
| Other | 161,270 | 59,055 | 4,054 | 26,072 | 72,089 |
| Total Population | 1,447,790 | 304,718 | 212,241 | 384,239 | 546,592 |
