Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии (Oct 2017)

Socio-demographic aspects of the Yamal Nenets people according to All-Russian censuses of the 21st century

  • Volzhanina E.A.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2017-38-3-120-130
Journal volume & issue
no. 3(38)
pp. 120 – 130

Abstract

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The article is dedicated to demographic characteristics of Siberian Nenets people and identifies their ethno-demographic potential in the 21st century. The work is based on a set of published and unpublished data from the All-Russian Population Censuses of 2002 and 2010 for the Nenets people living in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. We used ideas about demographic security of Novosibirsk Economic and Sociological School and of K.B. Klokov and S.A. Khrushchev about ethnoses as demoi and ethnoses as societies. Common and specific demographic features of the Nenets are identified, the indicators characteristic to the Nenets are compared with other ethnic groups, mainly Russians. The article considers both dynamics of the number of Nenets in general, and in towns and rural areas of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, attention is drawn to the peculiarities of formation of an urban group of the Nenets. Analyzing demographic processes and demographic behavior, we focus, first of all, on the characteristics of age and sex structures and the number of children born by a woman during her life. In addition, indicators characterizing natural population changes in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District by certain nationalities, including the Nenets, are provided for 2000–2008. It is noted that the nature of changes of the indicators in the first decade of the XXI century demonstrates that both the Nenets living in villages and the nomads perceive demographic stereotypes of behaviour of the dominant society. On the whole, the Nenets in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District are safe from depopulation. According to data from the All-Russian censuses, there is a favorable demographic situation among them in the first decade of the 21st century. But current trends point out that some demographic risks exist, primarily those related to the number of children in the families. The nature of the quantitative indicators suggests that demographic behavior of the Nenets is determined by family values of the dominant majority.

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