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

The number of Kets living in the ethnic territory (mainly the Turukhansky district) has increased from 867 to 935 people since 1991. The census of 2020/2021 showed that the number of Kets in the Russian Federation is 1,088. The gender ratio has been and remains approximately equal.

This is where the Kets differ from the general population of Russia, in which women predominate. This difference is due to a more active travel (migration) of women outside the Turukhansky district (Krivonogov 2003: 26).

The largest villages in the region (where the population consists mainly of newcomers) are Turukhansk, Bor and Svetlogorsk. In 1991, 54 Kets lived there, by 2001 the number went up to 211, in 2014 to 316, in 2023 to 463 people. The Ket villages proper are Kellog (the unofficial “Ket capital”, the Turukhansky district) and Sulomai (the Evenkiysky district). There are 194 Kets living in Kellog according to the data of January 1, 2023.

The main feature in the pattern of the Ket settlement is their concentration in the district center, a number that decreases in the ethnic settlements. Consequently, the interaction with the surrounding population is intensifying. The concentration of the Kets is increasing in large settlements with many newcomers, while their number and share in ethnic settlements are going down.

The cohort of children under 10 years of age had decreased from 27.1% to 15.9% by the beginning of the 21st century, but by now the situation has improved somewhat, most likely because the parents register their children as Kets in the mixed families. The life expectancy of the Kets is, unfortunately, not improving: the proportion of old people of 60 years of age and above is small and is declining (6.6% - 5.4% - 4.8%) (Krivonogov 2016: 153).

The transition to a smaller nuclear family was completed, and over the last 24 years, the average Ket family size has decreased even more. The departure from the traditional taiga-based occupations, living among the Russian majority, mastering the non-traditional occupations, and the overall alignment of the entire way of life with the newcomer population has led to the Kets following the demographic example of the surrounding, mainly Russian, population. The number of single people among the Kets is growing and has already reached 103. There are fewer and fewer large (5 people and more) families: in 1991 there were 14.4% of them, and now only 5.3%.

 Portrait of Tadiy, her sons and daughter-in-law. The Kets (Yeniseis, Ostyaks).

The Turukhansky district. 1905-1907.