Population of Bashkortostan: number, national composition, religion

The Bashkirs are an ancient people living in the south of the Urals for at least 12 centuries. Their history is extremely interesting, and surprisingly, despite encirclement by strong neighbors, the Bashkirs have retained their uniqueness and traditions to this day, although, of course, ethnic assimilation does its job. The population of Bashkiria in 2016 is about 4 million people. Not all residents of the region are native speakers of the language and ancient culture, but the spirit of the ethnos is preserved here.

Geographical position

Bashkortostan is on the border of Europe and Asia. The territory of the republic is slightly more than 143 thousand square meters. Km and covers part of the East European Plain, the mountain system of the Southern Urals and the Upland of the Trans-Urals. The capital of the region - Ufa - is the largest populated point of the republic, the rest of the city of Bashkiria in terms of population and size of the territory is much inferior to it.

The relief of Bashkortostan is extremely diverse. The highest point of the region is the Zigalga Range (1427 m). Plains and hills are well suited for agriculture, therefore the population of Bashkortostan has long been engaged in cattle breeding and plant growing. The republic is rich in water resources, there are swimming pools of such rivers as the Volga, the Urals and the Ob. There are 12 thousand rivers of different sizes on the territory of Bashkiria, there are 2700 lakes here, mostly of spring origin. Also, 440 artificial reservoirs have been created here.

The region has large reserves of minerals. So, there are deposits of oil, gold, iron ore, copper, natural gas, zinc. Bashkiria is located in the temperate zone, on its territory there are many mixed forests, forest-steppes and steppes. There are three large reserves and several nature reserves. Bashkortostan borders on such subjects of the Federation as the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Orenburg regions, with Udmurtia and Tatarstan.

History of the Bashkir people

The first people on the territory of modern Bashkiria lived another 50-40 thousand years ago. Archaeologists have found traces of ancient sites in the cave of Imanay. In the era of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes there lived tribes of hunters and gatherers, they mastered local territories, tamed animals, left drawings on the walls of caves. The genes of these first settlers became the basis for the formation of the Bashkir people.

The first mention of Bashkirs can be read by the works of Arab geographers. They say that in the 9th-11th centuries a people called "bashkort" lived on both sides of the Ural Mountains. In the 10th and 12th centuries the Bashkirs were part of the state of the Volga Bulgaria. Since the beginning of the 13th century, they furiously fought against the Mongols, who wanted to seize their lands. As a result, a partnership agreement was concluded, and during the 13-14 centuries the Bashkir people became part of the Golden Horde on special terms. The Bashkirs were not a tribute to the people. They kept their own social structure and were at the Kagan in military service. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Bashkirs were part of the Kazan and Siberian Hordes.

In the 16th century, a strong pressure on the independence of the Bashkirs from the Russian kingdom began. In the 1550s, Ivan the Terrible urged the people to voluntarily join his state. The talks were held for a long time, and in 1556 an agreement was concluded on the entry of the Bashkirs into the Russian kingdom on special terms. The people retained their rights to religion, administration, the army, but paid the Russian tsar a tax, for which they received help in repelling external aggression.

Until the 17th century, the terms of the treaty were respected, but with the coming to power of the Romanovs, attempts began on the sovereign rights of the Bashkirs. This led to a series of uprisings of the 17th and 18th centuries. The people suffered huge losses in the struggle for their rights and independence, but was able to defend its autonomy within the Russian Empire, although it still had to make certain concessions.

In the 18-19th centuries, Bashkiria was repeatedly subjected to administrative reform, but on the whole retained the right to live in historical boundaries. The population of Bashkiria throughout its history was an excellent warriors. Bashkirs actively participated in all the battles that Russia waged: in the war of 1812, the First and Second World Wars. The losses of the people were great, but the victories are glorious. Among the Bashkir there are a lot of real heroes-warriors.

At the time of the 1917 coup, Bashkiria was first on the side of the resistance of the Red Army, the Bashkir army was created, which defended the idea of the independence of this people. However, for a number of reasons, in 1919 the Bashkir government passed under the control of the Soviet government. In the framework of the Soviet Union, Bashkortostan wanted to form a union republic. But Stalin said that Tatarstan and Bashkortostan can not be union republics, since they are Russian enclaves, and therefore the Bashkir Autonomous Republic was created.

In Soviet times, the region had to endure the difficulties and processes characteristic of the entire USSR. Collectivization and industrialization took place here. During the war years, many industrial and other enterprises were evacuated to Bashkiria, which formed the basis for postwar industrialization and reconstruction. In the years of perestroika, in 1992, the Republic of Bashkortostan with its Constitution was proclaimed. Today, Bashkiria is actively engaged in the revival of national identity and traditional traditions.

Total population of Bashkortostan. Dynamics of indicators

The first census of the population of Bashkiria was carried out in 1926, then 2 million 665 thousand people lived on the territory of the republic. Later estimates of the number of inhabitants of the region were conducted at different intervals, and only from the end of the 20th century such data began to be collected annually.

Before the beginning of the 21st century, the dynamics of numbers was positive. The largest increase in the number of residents occurred in the early 50's. In other periods, the region has consistently increased by an average of 100 thousand people. A slight slowdown in growth was recorded in the early 1990s.

And only since 2001 there has been a negative population dynamics. Every year, the number of residents was reduced by several thousand people. By the end of the 2000s, the situation had improved a bit, but in 2010 the number of residents began to decrease again.

Today the population in Bashkiria (2016) has stabilized, the number is 4 million 41 thousand people. While demographic and economic indicators do not allow to expect improvement of the situation. But the leadership of Bashkortostan sets as its first priority the reduction of mortality and the increase in the birth rate in the region, which should positively affect the number of its inhabitants.

Administrative division of Bashkortostan

Beginning in the middle of the 16th century, Bashkiria, as part of the Russian Empire, united around Ufa. At first it was the Ufa district, then the Ufa province and the Ufa province. In Soviet times, the region experienced several territorial and administrative reforms, connected either with enlargement or with fragmentation into districts. In 2009, today's division of Bashkortostan into territorial units was adopted. According to the republican legislation 54 regions and 21 cities are allocated in the region, 8 of them are republican subordination, 4,532 rural settlements. Today, the population of the cities of Bashkiria is gradually growing mainly due to internal migration.

Population distribution

Russia is mainly an agrarian country, about 51% of Russians live in rural settlements. If we estimate the population of the cities of Bashkiria (2016), we can see that they are home to about 48% of the population, that is, 1.9 million out of a total of 4 million. That is, the region fits into the all-Russian trend. The list of cities in Bashkiria in terms of population is as follows: the largest population center is Ufa (1 million 112 thousand people), the remaining settlements are much smaller in size, the top five also include Sterlitamak (279,000 people), Salavat (154,000) Neftekamsk (137 thousand) and October (114 thousand). Other cities are small, their number does not exceed 70 thousand people.

Age and sex composition of the population of Bashkortostan

The all-Russian ratio of women to men is approximately 1.1. And at an early age the number of boys exceeds the number of girls, but with age, the picture changes to the opposite. Considering the population of Bashkiria, one can see that this trend is preserved here. On average, there are 1,139 women per thousand men.

The distribution of the population by age in the Republic of Bashkiria is as follows: under 750,000 people are younger than the able-bodied population, 830,000 are older than the able-bodied person, and 2.4 million people of working age. Thus, about 600 people of young and old age per 1,000 people of working age. On average this corresponds to all-Russian trends. The gender-age model of Bashkiria allows us to refer the region to an aging type, which indicates the future complication of the demographic and economic situation in the region.

National composition of the population

Since 1926, the national composition of the inhabitants of the Bashkir Republic has been monitored. During this time, the following trends were revealed: the number of the Russian population is gradually decreasing, from 39.95% to 35.1%. And the number of Bashkirs is increasing, from 23.48% to 29%. And the ethnic Bashkir population of Bashkiria in 2016 is 1.2 million people. The remaining national groups are represented by such figures: Tatars - 24%, Chuvash - 2.6%, Mari - 2.5%. Other nationalities are represented by groups of less than 1% of the total population.

In the region there is a big problem in preserving small nations. Thus, the population of the Kryashens in the last 100 years has grown, the Mishars are on the verge of extinction, and the Teptyars have completely disappeared. Therefore, the leadership of the region is trying to create special conditions for the preservation of the remaining small subethnoses.

Language and religion

In the national regions there is always the problem of preserving religion and language, and Bashkortostan is no exception. Confession of the population is an important part of national identity. For Bashkirs, the original faith is Sunni Islam. In Soviet times, religion was under an unofficial ban, although the internal family structure was often built according to Muslim traditions. In post-perestroika times in Bashkiria the revival of religious customs begins. Over 20 years in the region were opened more than 1000 mosques (in the Soviet time there were only 15), about 200 Orthodox churches and several religious institutions of other faiths. Yet the dominant religion of the region remains Islam, about 70% of all churches in the republic belong to this religion.

Language is an important part of national identity. In Bashkiria in the Soviet era there was no special language policy. Therefore, part of the population began to lose their native language. Since 1989, the republic has been carrying out special work to revive the national language. Introduced training in the school in their native language (Bashkir, Tatar). Today, 95% of the population speaks Russian, 27% speak Bashkir, and 35% speak Tatar.

Economy of the region

Bashkortostan is one of the most economically stable regions in Russia. The bowels of Bashkiria are rich in mineral resources, for example, the republic takes the 9th place in the country for oil production and the 1st - for its processing. The economy of the region is well diversified and therefore well overcomes the difficulties of crisis times. Several industries ensure the stability of the development of the republic, this is:

- a petrochemical industry represented by large plants: Bashneft, Sterlitamak Petrochemical Plant, Bashkir Soda Company;

- machine building and metallurgy, including the Trolleybus Plant, Neftemash, Kumertau Air Enterprise, Vityaz All-Terrain Vehicles Enterprise, Neftekamsk Automobile Plant;

- power industry;

- manufacturing industry.

Agriculture plays an important role for the economy of the region, Bashkir peasants are successfully engaged in livestock farming and plant growing.

The region has a well-developed trade and services sector, which is negatively affected by the declining incomes of the population (2016) in Bashkortostan, but the situation in the republic is much better than in the subsidized regions of the country.

Employment

In general, the population of Bashkortostan is in better economic conditions than residents of many other regions. However, in 2016 unemployment was registered here, in six months the indicator grew by 11% compared to the previous year. There is also a decrease in trade and consumption of services, a reduction in wages and real incomes of the population. All this leads to another round of unemployment. First of all young specialists and graduates of higher educational institutions get hit without any work experience. This leads to the outflow of young people and skilled employees from the region.

Infrastructure of the region

For any region, social infrastructure is important , which allows residents to experience satisfaction from living in one place or another. The population of Bashkortostan for 2016 highly appreciates the living conditions in its region. In Bashkortostan, a lot of effort and money invested in the repair and construction of roads, bridges, health facilities. The republic develops transport and tourist infrastructure. However, of course, there are also problems, in particular, with the provision of the population with educational and cultural institutions. The region has obvious difficulties with ecology, numerous production enterprises negatively affect the purity of water and air in the vicinity of large cities. However, urban infrastructure is much better developed than rural infrastructure, which leads to outflow of rural population to cities.

Demographic characteristics of the population

According to demographic indicators, Bashkortostan differs favorably from many regions of the country. Thus, the birth rate in the republic is small, but it has been growing for the last 10 years (except for 2011, when there was a decrease of 0.3%). But, unfortunately, mortality is also growing in recent years, although at a slower pace than the birth rate. Therefore, the population of Bashkiria shows a small natural increase, which is not typical for the country as a whole.