Genetik
RU
Genetik/Peoples/Nanai

Nanai

Нанайцы · Q504574

language area per Glottologcensus counts
11,623
Russia, census 2021
17,000
sum of censuses in 3 countries, 2020-2021
Tungusic
language family (Glottolog)

In brief

The largest documented number lives in Russia: 11,623 people in the 2021 census.

Official figures exist for 3 countries; together they add up to 17,000. This is not an estimate of the world total: the censuses were held in different years (2020-2021) and define belonging differently, and countries without such data are not counted.

In Russia's 2020 census (reference date 1 October 2021), 11,623 people identified with the nationality "Нанайцы" (Nanai)1. That is less than 0.01% of the 130,587,364 residents who stated a nationality.

Rosstat also assigns 2 other self-designations to this nationality (listed in Russian in the source table).

Main language: Nanai. Glottolog classifies it in the Tungusic 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 · «Нанайцы» · [1]
11,623
China2020 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Hezhen» · [2]
5,373
Kazakhstan2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Nanai» · [3]
4
Sum across 3 countries17,000

In detail: Russia, 2021 census

Sex

Men 5,430 · 46.7%Women 6,193 · 53.3%

Urban and rural

Urban 2,651 · 22.8%Rural 8,972 · 77.2%

Where: the 10 regions with the largest numbers

Khabarovsk Krai
10,813
Primorsky Krai
296
Sakhalin Oblast
130
Kamchatka Krai
69
Sakha (Yakutia) Republic
33
Jewish Autonomous Oblast
30
Krasnodar Krai
22
Amur Oblast
18
Moscow Oblast
16
Moscow (city)
15

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

Languages and their lineage

Nanai

  1. Tungusictung1282
  2. Central-Western Tungusicorok1264
  3. Nanainana1257

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

ManchuXibe peopleEvenki peopleEvensUlch peopleUdege peopleOroksOroch peopleNegidals

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. China, Census - de jure - 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. 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…
  4. Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)