Inside a census station in Severodvinsk

The Russian Census of 2010 (Russian: Всеросси́йская пе́репись населе́ния 2010 го́да) is the first census of the Russian Federation population since 2002 and the second in its post-Soviet history. Preparations for the census began in 2007 and it took place between October 14 and October 25.

Controversy

A 10-ruble coin commemorating the 2010 Census

The census was originally scheduled for October 2010, but was moved to 2013 allegedly for financial reasons, although it was also speculated that political motives were influential in the decision. However in late 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the Government of Russia allocated 10.5 billion rubles in order to conduct the census as originally scheduled (in October 2010).

There have been reports of census takers were denying the right of citizens to have their nationality recorded as they had stated. Specifically, citizens wishing to have their ethnic identity recorded as 'Siberian', have been ascribed as Russians or "Russian Siberians". By law, “Siberian” is listed as one of the possible identities in the official protocols. Following the census, Valery Draganov, the first deputy chairman of the Duma industrial committee, noted that “according to the results of the last census, the word ‘Siberian’ in the nationality line has broken all records,” with significant numbers of residents in Tyumen, Omsk, and other cities east of the Urals identifying themselves that way.

Preliminary results

Preliminary results released in April 2011 showed the population to stand at 142,905,200, a decline of 2.6% since the 2002 census.

See also

• Russian Census (2002)
• Demographics of Russia