2021 Russian census

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The 2021 Russian census was described by the Levada Center as "one of the worst in 150 years." The Levada Center is Russia's leading independent polling organization. It estimated that around 42% of the population was never enumerated. Rosstat, the federal statistics agency, offered a sharply different figure. Pavel Malkov, Rosstat's head, maintained that 99% of the Russian population had completed the count. The 2021 census was Russia's first since 2010 and its third since the Soviet Union dissolved. Its budget was 33 billion rubles and its motto was "Create the future!" The two institutions arrived at figures tens of millions of people apart. Who was actually counted in Russia in 2021?

• 2. Years in the Making

  ›

  Planning began in 2017, when the Russian government adopted a decree titled "On the conduct of the Russian Population Census 2020." The decree's title reveals the original schedule: a count in 2020, not 2021. On the 25th of June 2020, Rosstat announced it would hold the main census stage in April 2021. Four days later, on the 29th of June, that plan was confirmed. COVID-19 then forced a second change. The dates moved from April 2021 to October 2021. For most of the country, census-takers got to work between October 15 and November 14. Remote and inaccessible areas operated on a far longer schedule. Registrars reached those regions between April 1 and December 20. Long before those dates were settled, Rosstat had run a pilot count. Its purpose was to develop and test the software, methods, and technology for the national count.

• 3. Pilot and Discovery

  ›

  Kabardino-Balkaria's Elbrussky District was one of the ten territories chosen for the October 2018 pilot. The sites also included Veliky Novgorod, the Aleutsky District of Kamchatka Krai, and the Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast. Together they covered a population of about 550,000 people. The pilot ran in three phases. From October 1 to October 10, residents could self-enumerate online. Door-to-door rounds followed from October 16 to October 27, and a "control walk" ran from October 27 to October 31. For the first time in Russian history, the national postal operator Russian Post took part in an enumeration effort. Nearly 460,000 households were counted in electronic form, representing more than 1.2 million people.

  In August 2019, Rosstat began updating address lists across cities and rural areas. Registrars mapped buildings and established the precise location of houses in each area. That work turned up not just new addresses but new communities. In Ruzsky District, registrars documented a settlement called Yozhikovo that had no prior official existence. Two more previously undocumented settlements came to light in Udmurtia. The main census would reach from city neighborhoods to remote districts. Preliminary results were expected by April 2022.

• 4. The Count Itself

  ›

  During the enumeration period, census-takers visited inhabited areas throughout Russia using electronic tablets. They recorded responses directly as residents answered. Residents who preferred could visit census stations, which operated on the same schedule. The Gosuslugi public services portal accepted online self-submissions through November 8. Three forms were used, each approved by the Russian government. The L-form was completed for people permanently residing in Russia. The P-form covered the living conditions of a given address. The V-form applied to people temporarily in Russia but permanently based abroad. Provisional results were released by Rosstat, with further data scheduled between June and December 2022. The volume on national and ethnic group composition was among the last to be released, appearing on the 30th of December 2022.

• 5. A Nation of Many Peoples

  ›

  Russians numbered 105,620,179 in the 2021 count, or 71.76% of the total population. Tatars were the second largest group, at approximately 4.7 million, or 3.2% of the population. Chechens numbered roughly 1.67 million, followed by Bashkirs at approximately 1.57 million. Chuvash, Avars, Armenians, and Ukrainians each accounted for between roughly 880,000 and just over a million people. The census also documented groups at opposite ends of the demographic scale. The Nenets of Siberia numbered 49,646. The Kereks of the Far East numbered just 23 individuals. Between those figures lay dozens of distinct communities. One notable figure concerned declared ethnicity. Some 17,136,960 people, or 11.64% of all respondents, either declined to state an ethnicity or indicated they had none. The Yakuts of the Far East numbered 478,409. Their count depends, in part, on whether Russia's eastern territories continue to lose population.

• 6. A Country in Motion

  ›

  Russia's total provisional population, measured on the 1st of October 2021, was approximately 147.2 million people. That figure represented a 1.4% increase compared to 2010. The long trend toward urban living continued. In 2021-74.8% of Russians lived in urban areas, compared with 73.5% in 2010. Moscow counted just over 13 million residents, a gain of 10.8% on its 2010 figure. St. Petersburg reached approximately 5.6 million, an increase of 14.8%. In the Southern Federal District, Sevastopol showed the most striking proportional change of any listed territory, at 139.4% of its 2010 census count.

  The Volga Federal District, with more than 28.9 million people, stood at 96.8% of its 2010 total. The Far Eastern Federal District, with roughly 8 million residents, reached only 95.3% of its prior figure. The Siberian Federal District finished at 97.8% of its 2010 total. Within the Central Federal District, which grew by 5% overall, Moscow alone grew by 10.8%.

  The first detailed results, covering population size and distribution, were released on the 1st of September 2022. Four months of further releases followed, volume by volume, through the end of that year.