Russian Empire census

The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897 (Russian: Пе́рвая всео́бщая пе́репись населе́нія Россíйской импе́ріи 1897 го́да) was the first and only nation-wide census performed in the Russian Empire (excluding the Grand Duchy of Finland). It recorded demographic data as of 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897. Previously, the Central Statistical Bureau issued statistical tables based on fiscal lists (ревизские списки).

For other uses, see Russian census.

The census revealed the social class, native language, religion, and profession of citizens, which were aggregated to yield district and provincial totals.

The second Russian census was scheduled for December 1915, but was cancelled because of World War I, which had begun during 1914.[1] It was not rescheduled before the Russian Revolution. The next census in Russia only occurred at the end of 1926, almost three decades later.

Organization

The census project was suggested during 1877 by Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, a famous Russian geographer and director of the Central Statistical Bureau, and was approved by Czar Nicholas II in 1895.

The census was performed in two stages. For the first stage (December 1896 — January 1897) the counters (135,000 persons: teachers, priests, and literate soldiers) visited all households and filled in the questionnaires, which were verified by local census managers. For the second stage (9 January 1898 [O.S. 28 December 1897]) the counters simultaneously visited all households to verify and update the questionnaires. The census was performed during winter as the population was less mobile then.[2] Despite this being the only imperial census, historians are able to estimate the Russian Empire's population during earlier times by collecting city censuses.

The data processing required 8 years using Hollerith card machines. Publication of the results started during 1898 and ended in 1905. In total, 119 volumes for 89 guberniyas, as well as a two-volume summary, were issued.

Data fields

The questionnaire contained the following questions:

  • Family name, given name, patronymic or nickname (прозвище)
  • Sex
  • Relation with respect to the head of the family or household
  • Age
  • Marital status
  • Social status: sosloviye (estate of the realm), rank or title (сословіе, состояніе, званіе)
  • Place of birth
  • Place of registration
  • Usual place of residence
  • Notice of absence
  • Faith
  • First language (родной язык)
  • Literacy
  • Occupation (profession, trade, position of office or service), both primary and secondary

In the census summary tables, nationality was based on the declared primary language of respondents.

Census results

The total population of the Russian Empire was recorded to be 125,640,021 people, 62,477,348 or 49.73% of whom were men and 63,162,673 or 50.27% were women—the median age was 21.16 years.

By native language
Map of subdivisions of the Russian Empire by largest ethnolinguistic group (1897)
Linguistic composition of the Russian Empire[3]
Language Urban Rural TOTAL
Native speakers % Native speakers % Native speakers %
Russian[lower-alpha 1] 8,825,733 52.45 46,841,736 43.05 55,667,469 44.31
Ukrainian[lower-alpha 2] 1,256,387 7.47 21,124,164 19.41 22,380,551 17.81
Polish 1,455,527 8.65 6,475,780 5.95 7,931,307 6.31
Belarusian[lower-alpha 3] 171,383 1.02 5,714,164 5.25 5,885,547 4.68
Jewish 2,502,217 14.87 2,560,939 2.35 5,063,156 4.03
Kyrgyz-Kaisak 46,827 0.28 4,037,312 3.71 4,084,139 3.25
Tatar[lower-alpha 4] 417,727 2.48 3,319,900 3.05 3,737,627 2.97
German 418,533 2.49 1,371,956 1.26 1,790,489 1.43
Latvian 230,719 1.37 1,205,218 1.11 1,435,937 1.14
Bashkir 13,844 0.08 1,307,519 1.20 1,321,363 1.05
Lithuanian 43,136 0.26 1,167,374 1.07 1,210,510 0.96
Armenian 272,801 1.62 900,295 0.83 1,173,096 0.93
Romanian 64,134 0.38 1,057,535 0.97 1,121,669 0.89
Mordovian 14,022 0.08 1,009,819 0.93 1,023,841 0.81
Estonian 139,544 0.83 863,194 0.79 1,002,738 0.80
Sartic 204,046 1.21 764,609 0.70 968,655 0.77
Chuvash 6,051 0.04 837,704 0.77 843,755 0.67
Georgian 98,503 0.59 725,465 0.67 823,968 0.66
Uzbek 91,750 0.55 634,784 0.58 726,534 0.58
Samogitian 8,946 0.05 439,076 0.40 448,022 0.36
Other Turkic dialects 156,348 0.93 284,064 0.26 440,412 0.35
Votyak 2,245 0.01 418,725 0.38 420,970 0.34
Mari 2,191 0.01 373,248 0.34 375,439 0.30
Tajik 103,240 0.61 247,157 0.23 350,397 0.28
Buryat 2,038 0.01 286,625 0.26 288,663 0.23
Turkmen 2,687 0.02 278,670 0.26 281,357 0.22
Imeretian 17,181 0.10 256,005 0.24 273,186 0.22
Mingrelian 11,539 0.07 228,086 0.21 239,625 0.19
Yakut 3,890 0.02 223,494 0.21 227,384 0.18
Chechen 871 0.01 225,625 0.21 226,496 0.18
Avar-Andean 5,533 0.03 207,159 0.19 212,692 0.17
Turkish 13,378 0.08 195,444 0.18 208,822 0.17
Karelian 2,791 0.02 205,310 0.19 208,101 0.17
Kara-Kyrgyz 270 0.00 201,412 0.19 201,682 0.16
Kalmyk 1,263 0.01 189,385 0.17 190,648 0.15
Greek 33,621 0.20 153,304 0.14 186,925 0.15
Bulgarian 14,371 0.09 158,288 0.15 172,659 0.14
Ossetian 5,907 0.04 165,809 0.15 171,716 0.14
Kyurin 5,146 0.03 154,067 0.14 159,213 0.13
Komi 6,340 0.04 147,278 0.14 153,618 0.12
Finnish 25,610 0.15 117,458 0.11 143,068 0.11
Dargin 1,847 0.01 128,362 0.12 130,209 0.10
Teptyar 579 0.00 117,194 0.11 117,773 0.09
Permyak 366 0.00 104,325 0.10 104,691 0.08
Karakalpak 46 0.00 104,228 0.10 104,274 0.08
Kurdish 1,148 0.01 98,801 0.09 99,949 0.08
Kabardian 523 0.00 98,038 0.09 98,561 0.08
Tat 4,099 0.02 90,957 0.08 95,056 0.08
Kazi-Kumukh 1,642 0.01 89,238 0.08 90,880 0.07
Kumyk 3,529 0.02 79,879 0.07 83,408 0.07
Abkhaz 343 0.00 71,760 0.07 72,103 0.06
Evenki 192 0.00 66,078 0.06 66,270 0.05
Nogai 299 0.00 63,781 0.06 64,080 0.05
Chinese 24,794 0.15 32,665 0.03 57,459 0.05
Taranchin Uyghur 10,789 0.06 45,680 0.04 56,469 0.04
Mishar Tatar 657 0.00 53,190 0.05 53,847 0.04
Czech 8,375 0.05 42,010 0.04 50,385 0.04
Ingush 541 0.00 46,868 0.04 47,409 0.04
Circassian 1,660 0.01 44,626 0.04 46,286 0.04
Romani 6,551 0.04 38,031 0.03 44,582 0.04
Talysh 1,035 0.01 34,256 0.03 35,291 0.03
Persian 18,976 0.11 12,747 0.01 31,723 0.03
Karapapakh 9 0.00 29,893 0.03 29,902 0.02
Karachay 45 0.00 27,178 0.02 27,223 0.02
Korean 1,716 0.01 24,289 0.02 26,005 0.02
Chud 117 0.00 25,703 0.02 25,820 0.02
Khanty 179 0.00 19,484 0.02 19,663 0.02
French 12,966 0.08 3,467 0.00 16,433 0.01
Samoyedic 127 0.00 15,750 0.01 15,877 0.01
Svan 94 0.00 15,662 0.01 15,756 0.01
Kashgar Uyghur 139 0.00 14,799 0.01 14,938 0.01
Swedish 6,969 0.04 7,230 0.01 14,199 0.01
Izhorian 37 0.00 13,737 0.01 13,774 0.01
Chukchi 8 0.00 11,787 0.01 11,795 0.01
Mansi 9 0.00 7,642 0.01 7,651 0.01
Kipchak 6 0.00 7,601 0.01 7,607 0.01
Udi 11 0.00 7,089 0.01 7,100 0.01
English 5,746 0.03 1,308 0.00 7,054 0.01
Gilyak (Nivkh) 14 0.00 6,180 0.01 6,194 0.00
Koryak 31 0.00 6,027 0.01 6,058 0.00
Assyrian 1,307 0.01 4,046 0.00 5,353 0.00
Italian 3,824 0.02 936 0.00 4,760 0.00
Kamchadal (Itelmen) 6 0.00 3,972 0.00 3,978 0.00
Manchu 54 0.00 3,340 0.00 3,394 0.00
Japanese 1,855 0.01 794 0.00 2,649 0.00
Serbo-Croatian 1,197 0.01 618 0.00 1,815 0.00
Sámi 41 0.00 1,771 0.00 1,812 0.00
Arabic 93 0.00 1,603 0.00 1,696 0.00
Norwegian and Danish 1,031 0.01 609 0.00 1,640 0.00
Ainu 6 0.00 1,440 0.00 1,446 0.00
Eskimo 1 0.00 1,098 0.00 1,099 0.00
Yenisei-Ostyak (Ket) 6 0.00 988 0.00 994 0.00
Hungarian 699 0.00 262 0.00 961 0.00
Yukaghir 0 0.00 948 0.00 948 0.00
Albanian 70 0.00 866 0.00 936 0.00
Mongolian 84 0.00 733 0.00 817 0.00
Afghan 43 0.00 571 0.00 614 0.00
Aleut 338 0.00 246 0.00 584 0.00
Chuvan 190 0.00 316 0.00 506 0.00
Other Lezgic languages 165 0.00 255 0.00 420 0.00
Kist 97 0.00 316 0.00 413 0.00
Dutch 225 0.00 110 0.00 335 0.00
Hindi 236 0.00 76 0.00 312 0.00
Spanish and Portuguese 112 0.00 26 0.00 138 0.00
Other languages 69 0.00 5 0.00 74 0.00
Not indicated 2,142 0.01 2,985 0.00 5,127 0.00
TOTAL 16,828,395 100.00 108,811,626 100.00 125,640,021 100.00

By religion
Distribution of Eastern Orthodoxy in the Russian Empire (1897)
Religious composition of the Russian Empire in 1897[4]
Faith Male Female Both
Number %
Eastern Orthodox 42,954,739 44,168,865 87,123,604 69.34
Muslim 7,383,293 6,523,679 13,906,972 11.07
Roman Catholic 5,686,361 5,781,633 11,467,994 9.13
Jewish 2,547,144 2,668,661 5,215,805 4.15
Lutherans 1,739,814 1,832,839 3,572,653 2.84
Old Believers 1,029,023 1,175,573 2,204,596 1.75
Armenian Apostolic 625,592 553,649 1,179,241 0.94
Buddhists 240,739 193,124 433,863 0.34
Reformed 42,877 42,523 85,400 0.07
Mennonite 33,598 32,966 66,564 0.05
Armenian Catholic 20,028 18,812 38,840 0.03
Baptist 18,372 19,767 38,139 0.03
Karaite 6,372 6,522 12,894 0.01
Anglican 2,042 2,141 4,183 0.00
Other Christian denominations 2,371 1,581 3,952 0.00
Other non-Christian denominations 144,983 140,338 285,321 0.23
TOTAL 62,477,348 63,162,673 125,640,021 100.00

Population by modern-day countries

Largest cities
See also: List of cities of the Russian Empire in 1897

Largest cities of the Empire according to the census:

Data availability

Each enumeration form was copied twice, with the three copies filed in the Volost (county) archives, the governorate archives, and the Central Statistical Bureau in St. Petersburg. The copies in St. Petersburg were destroyed after they had been tabulated.[6][2] Most of the copies stored locally and regionally have also been destroyed; however, the complete census for the Arkhangelsk and Tobolsk governorates has been preserved, and the census for portions of several other governorates is also extant.[7][8]

Assessment

The results may have been influenced by national policy of the authorities: the population of Russian ethnicity was somewhat exaggerated.[9] Thus for example, the number of Poles is underrepresented.[10][11] Imperial officials classified the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages as belonging to the Russian group and labeled those nationalities as Little Russian for Ukrainians and White Russian for Belarusians.[9]

The census did not contain a question on ethnicity, which was deduced from data on mother tongue, social estate and occupation. There was also a 1916 and 1917 "agricultural census" that was carried out throughout the empire (except in some parts of the Caucasus, Eastern Russia, and Siberia), and a 1920 "general census" (except in the Russian far north, far east, Ukraine, and the Caucasus).[12]

Notes
  1. Termed as Great Russian (Великорусский).
  2. Termed as Little Russian (Малорусский).
  3. Termed as White Russian (Белорусский).
  4. Includes Crimean Tatar, Volga Tatar and Azerbaijani.

See also

References
  1. История российской государственной статистики: 1811-2011 [History of Russian State statistics: 1811–2011] (PDF) (in Russian). ИИЦ «Статистика России». 2013. p. 70. ISBN 978-5-4269-0029-5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 November 2022.
  2. "Russia Census". FamilySearch. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  3. Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку, губерниям и областям (in Russian). Demoscope Weekly. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  4. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". 2010-11-05. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  5. Korkotyan 1932, p. 167.
  6. "Russia, Jewish Families in Russian Empire Census, 1897". Ancestry. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  7. "1897 Census of Imperial Russia". Find Russian Heritage. Archived from the original on 2018-02-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "Documents of the First General Census of the population of Russian Empire in the Ukrainian Archives". Alex Dunai's personal website. Archived from the original on 2019-04-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. Anna Geifman, Russia Under the Last Tsar: Opposition and Subversion, 1894-1917, Wiley-Blackwell, 1999, ISBN 1-55786-995-2, Google Print, p. 118-119
  10. Piotr Eberhardt, Jan Owsinski, Ethnic groups and population changes in twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe, M.E. Sharpe, 2003, ISBN 0-7656-0665-8, Google Print, p.27
  11. Jerzy Borzęcki, The Soviet-Polish peace of 1921 and the creation of interwar Europe, Yale University Press, 2008, ISBN 0-300-12121-0, Google Print, p.10
  12. Anderson 2011, p. 29.

Bibliography

Other websites
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