The National and Religious Diversity of Siberia’s Regions

Abstract

This article tests the hypothesis of higher ethnic and religious heterogeneity in Siberia when compared to Russia overall. We used the 2002 and 2010 population census and 2012 and 2015 data on religious persuasion to obtain quantitative estimates of national and religious diversity in Russia as a whole and in the region of Siberia. The analysis used indexes for heterogeneity and polarization. The results did not support the hypothesis that Siberia is distinguished by a high level of national diversity; moreover, the region is experiencing a more rapid decline in ethnic heterogeneity than Russia as a whole. The level of heterogeneity of religious beliefs in Siberia is slightly above the national average, but the trend toward greater homogeneity is also more pronounced.

Keywords:

• national structure
• religion
• diversity
• population
• diversity
• Russia
• Siberia

Notes

1. These sources provided data for the Tiumenskaia oblast as a whole, including its autonomous okrugs, and for each okrug individually. To calculate the numbers for Tiumenskaia oblast without its okrugs, we therefore subtracted the population of the respective nationality in the autonomous districts from the total figure.

2. The 2012 information here and in Tables 2 and 3 comes from the “Arena” atlas of Russian religion and nationality (a noncommercial research service from Sreda), while the 2015 data come from the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs.