The 1926 Soviet Census took place in December 1926. It was an important tool in the state-building of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

, provided the government with important

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

information, and helped in the transformation from

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

n society to Soviet society. The decisions made by ethnographers in determining the ethnicity (''narodnost'') of individuals, whether in the Asiatic or European parts of the former Russian Empire, through the drawing up of the "List of Ethnicities of the USSR", and how borders were drawn in mixed areas had a significant influence on Soviet policies. Ethnographers, statisticians, and linguists were drawing up questionnaires and list of ethnicities for the census. However, they also had the more ambitious goal of deliberately transforming their identities according to the principles of

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and vario ...

. As

Anastas Mikoyan Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (; russian: Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н; hy, Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան; 25 November 1895 – 21 October 1978) was an Armenian Communist revolutionary, Old Bolshevik an ...

put it, the Soviet Union was: "creating and organising new nations".

Previous censuses

The First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union followed two partial censuses carried out by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

following their seizure of power in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. The first, the '' general census of 1920'', took place during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

and the Soviet-Polish War. It was thus unable to deal with the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

, much of

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, Byelorussia, Far Eastern,

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

n, and Central Asian parts of the Soviet Union as well as with its Far Northern parts. Yet it is worth to note that there was only 15,000,000 population increase between 1920 and 1926 constituting in some 131,304,931 people according to the TIME magazine while is still undisclosed in Russian history. The ''1923 Census'' was restricted to cities. Prior to the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, the only

Russian Empire Census The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897 ( pre-reform Russian: ) was the first and only nation-wide census performed in the Russian Empire (the Grand Duchy of Finland was excluded). It recorded demographic data as ...

was done in 1897.

Methodology

By classifying the population in terms of ''narodnosti'' (nationalities)—as opposed to tribe or clan—along with policies which gave these nations land, resources, and rights, experts and local elites were encouraged to interfere with the information collecting.

List of ethnicities

This list, called , vol. 7, , Moscow 1927, was developed by the Central Statistical Administration of the USSR. #Russian – 77 791 124 #

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

– 31 194 976 # Belarusian – 4 738 923 # Polish – 782 334 # Czech # Slovak #

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

# Bulgarian – 111 296 #Latvian – 151 410 #Lithuanian – 41 463 #Latgalian # Samogitian (Zhmud) #German – 1 238 549 #British # Swedish # Dutch #Italian #French #Romanian – 278 903 # Moldovan – 278 903 # Greek – 213 765 # Albanian ( Arnaut) #

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

(

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

) – 2,599,973The total population of the six different Jewish recognized groups was 2,680,823; Ashkenazim were listed simply as "Jewish", being seen as default. James Stuart Olson, ''An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. pp. 317-321 etc. # Crimean Jewish – 6,383 #

Mountain Jewish Mountain Jews or Caucasus Jews also known as Juhuro, Juvuro, Juhuri, Juwuri, Juhurim, Kavkazi Jews or Gorsky Jews ( he, יהודי קווקז ''Yehudey Kavkaz'' or ''Yehudey he-Harim''; russian: Горские евреи, translit=Gorskie Yevrei ...

(Dag Chufut) – 25,974 # Georgian Jewish – 21,471 # Bukharan Jewish (Dzhugur) – 18,698 # Karaim – 8,324 # Finnish # Leningrad Finnish (Chukhon) # Karelian # Tavastian #Estonian – 154 666 # Vepsian (Chud) # Vod (Vote) # Izhorian (Ingrian) # Kven # Lopar (Sami people) # Zyrian # Permyak # Udmurt (Votiak) #

Besermyan The Besermyan, Biserman, Besermans or Besermens (russian: бесермяне, besermyane singular: besermyanin, udm, бесерманъёс, tt-Cyrl, бисермәннәр, translit=bisermännär) are a numerically small Finnic people in Russia ...

# Mari (Cheremis) # Mordva (Moksha, Erzya, Teryukhan, Karatai) # Magyar (Hungarian) # Gagauz # Chuvash – 1 117 419 #

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

– 2 916 536 # Mishar (Meshcheriak) # Bashkir – 713 693 # Nagaybak # Nogai # Gypsy # Kalmyk #

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

# Buryat # Sart-Kalmyk # Mansi (Vogul) # Khanty (Ostyak) # Selkup (Ostyak-Samoyed) # Nenets (Samoyed) # Yurak #

Soyot The Soyot are ethnic group of Turkic origin live mainly in the Oka region in the Okinsky District in the Buryatia, Russia. According to the 2010 census, there were 3,608 Soyots in Russia. Their extinct language (partly revitalized) was of a T ...

(Uriankhai) # Barabin (Barbara Tartar) # Bukharan (Bukharlyk) # Chernevyy Tatar (Tubalar, Tuba-Kizhi) # Altai (Altai-Kizhi, Mountain or White Kalmyk) #

Teleut ''Telenget, Telengut'' , native_name_lang = alt , image = TeleutsinRussia.png , population = , region1 = * , pop1 = 2,643 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = , ref2 ...

Telengit Telengits or Telengut are a Turkic ethnic group primarily found in the Altai Republic, Russia. Telengits mainly live in a territory of Kosh-Agach District of the Altai Republic. They are part of a larger cultural group of Southern Altaians. T ...

(Telengut) # Kumandin (Lebedin, Ku-Kohzi) # Shors # Kharagas (Tuba, Kharagaz) # Kızıl (Kyzyl) # Kachin # Sagai # Koybal # Beltir # Dolgan (Dolgan-Iakut) # Yakut (Sakha, Urangkhai-Sakha) – 240 709 # Tungus (Ovenk, Murchen) # Lamut # Orochon # Goldai (Nanai) # Olchi (Mangun, Ulchi) #

Negidal Negidals (; Negidal: ''элькан бэйэнин'', ''elkan bayenin'', "local people") are a people in the Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, who live along the Amgun River and Amur River. The ethnonym "Negidal" is a Russification of the Ewenki te ...

(Negda, Eleke Beye) # Orochi # Udegei (Ude) # Orok # Manegir # Samogir # Manchurian # Chukchi #

Koryaks Koryaks () are an indigenous people of the Russian Far East, who live immediately north of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Kamchatka Krai and inhabit the coastlands of the Bering Sea. The cultural borders of the Koryaks include Tigilsk in the south ...

Kamchadal The Kamchadals (russian: камчадалы) inhabit Kamchatka, Russia. The name "Kamchadal" was applied to the descendants of the local Siberians and aboriginal peoples (the Itelmens, Ainu, Koryaks and Chuvans) who assimilated with the Russi ...

(Itel'men) # Gilyak (Nivkhi) # Yukagir # Chuvan #

Aleut The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the ...

Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related ...

# Enisei (Ket, Enisei Ostiak) # Aino (Ainu, Kuchi) #Chinese # Korean #Japanese # Georgian (Kartvelian) – 1 821 184 # Ajar # Megeli (Mingrelian) # Laz (Chan) # Svan (Svanetian) # Abkhaz (Abkhazian) – 56 957 #

Cherkes The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia i ...

s ( Adyghe) # Beskesek-Abaza (Abazin) #

Kabard The Kabardians ( Highland Adyghe: Къэбэрдей адыгэхэр; Lowland Adyghe: Къэбэртай адыгэхэр; russian: Кабардинцы) or Kabardinians are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of t ...

# Ubykh # Chechen (Nakh, Nakhchuo) # Ingush (Galgai, Kist) # Batsbi (Tsova-Tish, Batswa) # Maistvei # Lezgin # Tabasaran # Agul # Archi # Rutul (Mykhad) # Tsakhur # Khinalug # Dzhek (Dzhektsy) #

Khaput Haput (also, Hapıt, Chagadzhik Gaput, Gapyt, Khapit, and Khaput) is a village in the Quba Rayon of Azerbaijan. References

* Populated places in Quba District (Azerbaijan) {{Quba-geo-stub ...

(Gaputlin, Khaputlin) # Kryz # Budukh (Budug) # Udin # Dargin # Kubachin (Ughbug) # Lak (Kazi-Kumukh) # Avar (Avartsy, Khunzal) #

Andi Andi or ANDI may refer to: People and fictional characters * Andy (given name), including people and fictional characters with the name Andi * Andi people, an ethnic group of Dagestan, Russia Places * Andi, Guizhou, a town in Jinsha County, Guiz ...

(Andiitsy, Kwanally) #

Botlog The Botlikh people (also known as Bótligh, Botlig, Botlog or Buikhatli) are an Avar–Andi–Dido peoples, Andi–Dido people of Dagestan. Until the 1930s they were considered a distinct people. Since that time they have been classified as Cauca ...

(Buikhatli) # Godoberi # Karatai # Akhvakh #

Bagulal The Bagvalal (also called Bagulal, Kwantl Hekwa, Bagolal, Kwanadi, Bagulaltsy, Kvanadin, and Kvanadintsy) are an Avar–Andi–Dido peoples, Avar–Andi–Dido people of Dagestan, speaking the Bagvalal language. Since the 1930s they have been lar ...

(Kvanandin) # Chamalal # Tindi (Tindal, Idera) # Didoi (Tsez) # Kvarshi # Kapuchin (Bezheta) # Khunzal (Enzebi, Nakhad) # Armenian – 1 567 568 # Hemshin #

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

# Aisor (Assyrian, Syriac, Chaldean) # Kaytak (Karakaitak) #

Bosha Bosha may refer to: * The Kingdom of Garo * Bosha (Roma) The Lom people or tr, Lomlar, also known in tr, Poşa as (Bosha or Posha) by non-Loms ( hy, Բոշա, ka, ბოშა, tr; russian: Боша) or Romani (russian: армянские � ...

(Karachi, Armenian Gypsy) # Ossetian – 272 272 #

Kurd ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

# Yazid # Talysh # Tat # Persian #

Karachai The Karachays ( krc, Къарачайлыла, Qaraçaylıla or таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are an indigenous Caucasian Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus. They speak Karachay-Balkar, a Turkic language. They are mostly situat ...

# Kumyk #

Balkar The Balkars ( krc, Малкъарлыла, Malqarlıla or Таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are a Turkic people of the Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Cas ...

(Mountain Tartar, Malkar) # Karakalpak #

Turk Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

# Ottoman Turk (Osmanli) #

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

and

Fergana Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km ...

# Turkmen – 763 940 # Kirgiz (Kyrgyz, Kara-Kirgiz) # Karakalpak – 146 317 #

Kypchak The Kipchaks or Qipchaks, also known as Kipchak Turks or Polovtsians, were a Turkic nomadic people and confederation that existed in the Middle Ages, inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the 8th century as part of the Sec ...

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. ...

Taranchi Taranchi () is a term denoting the Muslim sedentary population living in oases around the Tarim Basin in today's Xinjiang, China, whose native language is Turkic Karluk and whose ancestral heritages include Tocharians, Iranic peoples such ...

# Kazakh (Kirgiz-Kazakh, Kirgiz-Kaisak) – 3 968 289 # Kurama # Uzbek – 3 904 622 #

Dungan Dungan may refer to: * Donegan, an Irish surname, sometimes spelled Dungan * Dungan people, a group of Muslim people of Hui origin ** Dungan language ** Dungan, sometimes used to refer to Hui Chinese people generally * Dungan Mountains in Sibi Di ...

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pash ...

# Tajik – 978 680 # Vakhan # Ishkashim # Shugnan # Yagnob # Yazgul #

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

# Jemshid # Beludji #

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

# Khazara #

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

(Indian) #Other Ethnicities #Ethnicities not noted or noted inexactly ::a) Tavlin ::b) Kryashen ::c) Teptyar ::d) Uigar ::e) Oirot ::f) Khakass ::g) Others 191. Foreign subjects

Composition of the USSR

For the

Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , common_name = Transcaucasian SFSR , p1 = Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicArmenian SSR , flag_p1 = Flag of SSRA ...

Georgians The Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, ...

were considered the Titular Nationality.

Population of the USSR sorted by most common nationalities in 1926

Population by republics

* – 100,891,244 (urban 17,442,655) ** Kazakh ASSR – 6,503,006 (urban 539,249) ** Kirghiz ASSR – 993,004 (urban 121,080) * – 29,018,187 (urban 5,373,553) ** Moldavian ASSR – 572,114 * – 5,272,801 (urban 1,102,218) ** Tajik ASSR – 827,200 * – 4,983,240 (urban 847,830) * ** – 2,666,494 (urban 594,221) ** – 2,314,571 (urban 649,557) ** – 880,464 (urban 167,098) * – 1,000,914 (urban 136,982) * Total in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

– 147,027,915 (urban 26,314,114)

References

External links

All-Union census 1926 (Demoskop Weekly) (in Russian)