Assessment of the degree of heterogeneity of the ethnic structure of the population of the Crimea from 1897 to 2014

Abstract

The Republic of Crimea is one of the most multi-ethnic subjects of the Russian Federation, the territory of which can also be described as a pronounced ethno-contact zone. The aim of the study is to assess the heterogeneity of the ethnic structure of the Crimean population in the period between the 1897 and 2014 censuses, using two indicators: the ethnic mosaic index and the polarization index. Research methods are statistical, graphic and comparative descriptive. The high level of indicators characterizing the heterogeneity of the ethnic composition of the Crimean population during most of the 20th and early 21st centuries was determined by the three most numerous ethnic communities: Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars. The dynamics of indicators of the heterogeneity of the ethnic structure of the Crimean population was primarily influenced by migration processes, including the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 and their return to the peninsula since the late 1980s. The results of the study confirmed that the indices of ethnic mosaicity and polarization can be used in the process of a comprehensive analysis of ethno-demographic processes, but their use does not give a complete picture of ethnic dynamics without an accompanying analysis of changes in the number and proportion of the main ethnic communities of the study area. At the same time, the most suitable for assessing ethnic heterogeneity is the ethnic mosaic index proposed by B. M. Eckel.