О КМНС

Demographics

According to various researchers, at the beginning of the 18th century, there were from 10 to 25 thousand people in Kamchatka. Of those, according to Boris Dolgikh, the Itelmens/Kamchadals amounted to approximately 13 thousand people; they represented the indigenous people of the Peninsula. The number of Itelmen villages was close to one hundred. In 1822, the population went down to about 1.7 thousand Kamchadals living in 35 villages: such was the devastating consequences of the epidemics of the last third of the 18th – early 19th centuries. The population classified as Russian was 1.4 thousand people living in 9 villages. During the 19th century, a convergence process took place between the various Kamchadal tribes and between the Kamchadals and the sedentary Koryaks.

According to the census of 2002, 2.293 Kamchadals lived in Russia, of which 2.013 resided in the Kamchatka Territory and 280 in the Magadan region. The largest number of Kamchatka Kamchadals dwelled in the villages of Klyuchi (472 people), Milkovo (388 people), and Ust-Kamchatsk (182 people). In the Magadan region, the places most populated by the Kamchadals are the city of Magadan, and the villages of Ola, Arman, and Evensk.

Distribution by areas of primary residence according to the census of 2010 (persons)

Area of residence:	Urban and rural populations			Urban population			Rural population
Area of residence:	Men and women	men	women	Men and women	men	women	Men and women	men	women
Total	1927	919	1008	566	267	299	1361	652	709
Areas of primary residence	1831	875	956	503	238	265	1328	637	691
Kamchatka Territory	1551	725	826	304	136	168	1247	589	658
Magadan region	280	150	130	199	102	97	81	48	33
Below working age	386	177	209	81	35	46	305	142	163
Working age	1110	606	504	317	172	145	793	434	359
Older than working age	335	92	243	105	31	74	230	61	169
Median age	36,1	32,9	39,4	37,4	35,0	40,4	35,4	31,9	39,2

Source: All-Russian Population Census of 2010

Distribution by areas of primary residence according to the census of 2020/2021 (persons)

Area of residence:	Urban and rural populations			Urban population			Rural population
Area of residence:	Men and women	men	women	Men and women	Men	Women	Men and women	Men	Women
Total	1564	718	846	523	241	282	1041	477	564
Areas of primary residence	1478	672	806	458	207	251	1020	465	555
Kamchatka Territory	1322	599	723	352	158	194	970	441	529
Magadan region	156	73	83	106	49	57	50	24	26
Below working age	333	138	195	121	60	61	212	78	134
Working age	936	495	441	329	165	164	607	330	277
Older than working age	295	85	210	73	16	57	222	69	153
Median age	37,9	37,6	38,3	36,8	34,7	37,8	39,4	39,9	39,0

Source: Federal State Statistics Service

The number of people who consider themselves Kamchadals is steadily falling. The total number of Kamchadals, according to the results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2010, was 1,927 people, according to the census of 2020/2021, 1,547. The majority of Kamchadals (84.5%) traditionally inhabit the Kamchatka Territory. There is a small group of Okhotsk Kamchadals living in the Magadan region, 156 people (almost 10%). Yet the official data does not reflect the state of affairs, since the people listed as Itelmens in the Magadan region (541 people), in fact, also belong to the Kamchadals.