Genetik
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Genetik/Peoples/Karelians

Karelians

Карелы · Q213470

language area per Glottologcensus counts
32,422
Russia, census 2021
34,588
sum of censuses in 7 countries, 2001-2021
Uralic
language family (Glottolog)

In brief

The largest documented number lives in Russia: 32,422 people in the 2021 census.

Official figures exist for 7 countries; together they add up to 34,588. This is not an estimate of the world total: the censuses were held in different years (2001-2021) and define belonging differently, and countries without such data are not counted.

In Russia's 2020 census (reference date 1 October 2021), 32,422 people identified with the nationality "Карелы" (Karelians)1. That is 0.02% of the 130,587,364 residents who stated a nationality.

Rosstat also assigns 7 other self-designations to this nationality (listed in Russian in the source table).

Main language: Karelian. Glottolog classifies it in the Uralic family.

Where they live: census figures

Each figure comes from the country's official census. Censuses define belonging differently (self-identification, citizenship, mother tongue, ancestry); the type is given on each row.

Russia2021 · ethnicity / nationality · «Карелы» · [1]
32,422
Ukraine2001 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Karelian» · [2]
1,522
Estonia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Karelian» · [3]
290
Latvia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Karelian» · [4]
158
Belarus2019 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Karelian» · [5]
137
Lithuania2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Karelian» · [6]
47
Moldova, Republic of2014 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Karelian» · [7]
12
Sum across 7 countries34,588

In detail: Russia, 2021 census

Sex

Men 13,329 · 41.1%Women 19,093 · 58.9%

Urban and rural

Urban 19,218 · 59.3%Rural 13,204 · 40.7%

Where: the 10 regions with the largest numbers

Republic of Karelia
25,901
Tver Oblast
2,764
Saint Petersburg (city)
727
Leningrad Oblast
644
Murmansk Oblast
631
Moscow (city)
239
Moscow Oblast
158
Arkhangelsk Oblast (excl. autonomous okrug)
80
Krasnodar Krai
78
Novgorod Oblast
72

Source [1]: Rosstat, 2020 census, vol. 5, table 1

Languages and their lineage

Karelian

  1. Uralicural1272
  2. Finnicfinn1317
  3. Coastal Finniccoas1319
  4. Nevaneva1234
  5. North Finnicnort3282
  6. Ladoganlado1234
  7. Kareliankare1335

People-to-language links: Wikidata (properties P103 and P2936), checked against ISO 639-3 codes. Language classification: Glottolog 5.3.

Peoples of the same language family

HungariansEstoniansMari peopleUdmurtsKomi peopleKomi-PermyaksErzyasNenetsKhanty peopleMountain MariMansi peopleMokshasFinnsVepsiansSelkup peopleBesermyanNganasan peopleIngrian FinnsLivoniansSetosIzhoriansEnetsMeadow–Eastern Mari peopleVotes

Sources

  1. Rosstat. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation. Results of the 2020 All-Russian Population Census (reference date 1 October 2021), vol. 5, table 1. Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx (archived copy)
  2. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Ukraine, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  3. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Estonia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  4. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Latvia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  5. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Belarus, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  6. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Lithuania, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  7. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Republic of Moldova, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  8. Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)