International Union for Circumpolar Health Ministry of Public Health and Social Development of RF Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Medical Polar Fund “Science” The Northern Forum

Abstracts

Genetics, demography, anthropology

The Kildin (Kola) Saami is a slowly growing during the last 80 years population. Presently 38,44% of Saami live in towns and cities (while for indigenous peoples of northern Russia the index averages 28,07%). In spite of the high level of urbanization, there are no indications of ethnic assimilation in the group. On the contrary, the last 20 years the population is being upheld mainly by non-demographic gain – the constantly increasing number of the descendants of inter-ethnic marriages identifying themselves as Saami.

However, judging by the results of analysis of population changes during 1969-2005 among the Saami living in Lovozero settlement, the demographic situation is uneasy.

At the end of the 1960s the structure of the population reflected its growing type. The prereproductive fraction was considerable; the share of children 0-14 years of age was relatively big. The high and poorly controlled birth rate is characteristic for the people having traditional style of life.

Since the mid 1970s the population structure began to transform. The number of children and the prereproductive fraction of the population in a whole were reducing while the volume of postreproductive cohort growing. By the end of 1985 the tendencies became more prominent. Net reproduction rate had decreased, sex-age structure of the population instead of being look like a wide base pyramid shaped into a rhomboid with the narrow bottom.

By the mid 1990s, the sex-age structure of the Saami population sharply differed from those of groups having traditional style of life with simple reproduction. The fraction of children below 14 reduced from 38% in 1969 to 19,1% in 1995 and did not change afterward (20,45% in 2005). In the last decade a tendency to a contraction of the reproductive fraction of the population has appeared (45,2% in 1994, 38,38% in 2005). The volume of the postreproductive cohort, in the contrary, in 1969-2005 was growing steady. By 2005, the number of Saami over 60 years old has reduced sharply at the expense of high mortality rate among males.

The total Saami population in Russia between years 1989 and 2002 has been increasing exclusively at the cost of non-demographic extend: the number of deaths in the group exceeds the number of births. However the potential of non-demographic sources supplying the population is almost depleted. Low birth rate may lead to sharp population decline of the ethnic group in the nearest future.

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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Last update: 06-Jul-2012 (11:52:05)