Contemporary Ethnodemographic Developments among the Tatars

Abstract

The article examines the contemporary ethnodemographic processes among the Tatars, drawing on the data of the 1989 Soviet and 2002 and 2010 Russian population censuses, as well as other censuses carried out in the newly independent states that had formerly been republics of the Soviet Union. I analyze the dynamics and rate of changes in the total population of Tatars (including that of subethnic groups) both in the world and in Russia, and point to the specificities that changes in the numbers and proportion of Tatars exhibit in different administrative regions of the Russian Federation. I argue that, based on the criteria of similarity of ethnic and demographic trends, these administrative regions can be grouped into eight clusters. I further examine the urbanization rate, its vectors, age-sex composition in urban and rural groups of Tatars, as well as birth-rate trends among the Tatars, which are shown both as a total for the country and broken out by age category. Finally, I provide my assessment of the impact of ethnodemographic factors on the social development of the Tatar people during the last three decades.