Dr. Davydova

Research Fellow, Arctic Research Center,

Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences

The Chuvans. Demographics (population dynamics, urban/rural population, gender and age breakdown, youth cohort) 

The 2020 census recorded 900 Chuvans in Russia, 439 men and 461 women; 349 urban Chuvans, and 551 rural Chuvans (2020 census). 

The dynamics of Chuvans’ numbers from the 17 th century and until today arguably remains one of the most convoluted questions in their ethnic history largely because of intense interethnic contacts in their settlement areas and assimilation patterns. At one point, Chuvans completely vanished from official lists and records. In the Soviet era, the authorities recorded Chuvans as multiple different peoples, and even children of the same parents could be listed as having different ethnicities.

Boris O. Dolgikh believed that the overall numbers of Chuvans at Anadyrsk and Srednekolymsk (Kolyma ostrog ) in the mid-17 th century were presumably 600 persons, and 520 persons at the end of the 17 th century. In the mid-18 th century, Chuvan numbers around the Anadyr fell sharply, and in the late 18 th century, settled Chuvans and some of the nomadic ones were relocated to the Bolshoy Anyuy and the Maly Anyuy. In the late 19 th century, Alexey V. Olsufiev counted the entire settled population of Anadyr and recorded 250 Chuvans.

The 1897 census arguably provided the most accurate data. It recorded 275 Russian-speaking and 177 “roaming” Chuvans, of them 262 settled and 144 nomadic Chuvans in the Anadyr district of the Primorye region, 15 Chuvans in the Gizhiginsk district, and 32 Chuvans in the Kolyma district in Yakutia. Rural household registers for 1926/27 recorded 707 Chuvans; 55% of them were settled, and 45% were nomadic. The 1959, 1970, and 1979 censuses do not have data on Chuvans as an ethnicity in its own right.

The 1989 census recorded 1.511 Chuvans in the USSR; 1.384 of them lived in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, including 944 Chuvans in the Chukotka autonomous area and 470 Chuvans in Yakutia (1989 Census). In 2002, Russia had 1.087 Chuvans ( 2002 Census ) , and the 2010 census recorded 1.002 Chuvans (2020 census). 

Chuvan numbers’ sustainability per Censuses (1989–2020.)

The 2023 data recorded two settlements where Chuvans constitute a large share of the overall population. For instance, Chuvans account for 70% of indigenous residents in the village of Markovo, which is 38% of the total village population; the share is still higher in the village of Chuvanskoye, 71% of the indigenous population and 60 % of the overall number of residents. Many believe that Chuvans in Markovo mostly descended from the settled (river) Chuvans, while those in Chuvanskoye are mostly descended from nomadic (reindeer-owning) Chuvans.

Chukotkan population in general and Chuvans in particular demonstrate a trend for increasing share of the indigenous population in the total number of urbanites. This is largely caused by “higher education levels, job shortages and low wages in villages, isolated villages that make for poor recreation opportunities; the young generation does not wish to engage in traditional occupations; rural population has a noticeably lower quality of life compared to the urban population.”