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Genetik/Peoples/Mari people

Mari people

Марийцы · Q214361

language area per Glottologcensus counts
423,803
Russia, census 2021
434,050
sum of censuses in 9 countries, 2001-2021
Uralic
language family (Glottolog)

In brief

The largest documented number lives in Russia: 423,803 people in the 2021 census.

Official figures exist for 9 countries; together they add up to 434,050. 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), 423,803 people identified with the nationality "Марийцы" (Mari people)1. That is 0.32% of the 130,587,364 residents who stated a nationality.

Rosstat also assigns 5 other self-designations to this nationality (listed in Russian in the source table).

Main language: Western Mari. 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 · «Марийцы» · [1]
423,803
Kazakhstan2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [2]
5,289
Ukraine2001 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [3]
4,130
Estonia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [4]
225
Belarus2019 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [5]
216
Latvia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [6]
204
Moldova, Republic of2014 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [7]
110
Lithuania2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [8]
60
Tajikistan2010 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Mari» · [9]
13
Sum across 9 countries434,050

In detail: Russia, 2021 census

Sex

Men 195,512 · 46.1%Women 228,291 · 53.9%

Urban and rural

Urban 186,642 · 44.0%Rural 237,161 · 56.0%

Where: the 10 regions with the largest numbers

Mari El Republic
246,560
Republic of Bashkortostan
84,988
Kirov Oblast
18,766
Republic of Tatarstan
15,666
Sverdlovsk Oblast
13,995
Udmurt Republic
5,983
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra
4,982
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
2,919
Chuvash Republic
2,904
Perm Krai
1,955

Groups counted within this nationality

Mountain Mari14,077Meadow–Eastern Mari people101

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

Languages and their lineage

Western Mari

  1. Uralicural1272
  2. Marimari1278
  3. Western Mariwest2392

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

HungariansEstoniansUdmurtsKomi peopleKomi-PermyaksErzyasNenetsKareliansKhanty 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. Kazakhstan, 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. 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…
  4. 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…
  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. 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…
  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. 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…
  9. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Tajikistan, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  10. Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)