Mapping spatial anomalies of ethnolinguistic dynamics in the results of the 2019 Belarus census

Abstract

Using the cartographic method, the article analyzes the spatial features of the distribution of ethnolinguistic characteristics of the population of Belarus, published by the National Statistical Committee based on the results of the 2019 population census, as well as the dynamics of these characteristics for the intercensal period 2009–2019. It is shown that a significant number of indicators have pronounced distribution anomalies, which were not observed according to the results of previous censuses – a fairly strict localization of a number of phenomena within the administrative boundaries of the regions, multidirectional dynamics of the same indicator in different regions, slight changes across the republic in the indicators of the shares of Russian and Belarusian languages as native and home for the entire population, as well as for Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians, with very significant and multidirectional changes in these shares within the administrative regions. The anomalous results were mainly related to the increase in the share of the Belarusian language as a native and home language and the decrease in the corresponding shares of the Russian language. Such results allow us to conclude that the census results were deliberately distorted in order to prevent a significant reduction in the spread of the Belarusian language, the trend of which is clearly visible in the results of the 2009 census, and to preserve Belarusian language as a symbol of national ethno-consolidation.