Demographics

The total number of Dolgans, according to the 2020 All-Russian Population Census, is 8,182 people (3,695 men and 4,487 women).

The 2010 Census put the overall number of Dolgans in the Russian Federation at 7.885 persons, with 1.84 persons living in urban localities and 6,045 persons living in rural areas.

The 2010 Census puts the number of indigenous peoples of the North living in the Dolgan-Nenets municipal district of the Krasnoyarsk territory at 10.132 persons, or 32.2% of the entire district population, with 5.393 of them being Dolgans. The 2010 Census put the number of Dolgans in the Anabar ulus of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) at 1.484 persons, or 42.39% of the overall population.

Between the 2002 and 2010 Censuses, the number of Dolgans in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) increased 1.5 times to 1.9 persons (as opposed to 1.3 persons in 2002); 86.4% of them lived in rural areas (87.7% in 2002), and about 80% lived in the Anabar ulus.

The 2002 Census contains the following data on the numbers of Dolgans in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (broken down by settlement): the city of Dudinka - 757 persons; the villages of Khatanga - 637 persons, Novorybnaya - 635 persons, Syndassko - 523 persons, Kheta - 402 persons, Katyryk - 362 persons, Popigay - 346 persons, Volochanka - 300 persons, Ust- Avam 300 persons, Kresty - 289 persons, Novaya - 247 persons, Zhdanikha - 244 persons, Khantayskoy Ozero - 224 persons, the city of Norilsk - 152 persons, the village of Levinskie Peski – 112 persons.

The same year, Dolgans in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) lived in the village of Yuryung-Khaya (611 persons), in the village of Saskylakh (364 persons), and in the city of Yakutsk (107 persons).
The 2002 Census showed that the age makeup of Dolgans in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) manifested a large share of children and teenagers that was 14 p.p. (42.5 %) greater than this indicator value in the entire republic and a small share of people above employable age: 5.9 % vs. 10 % republic-wide (Filippova 2020: 2287).*

The 2010 Census revealed several socio-demographic problems that affect the Dolgans. For instance, as per the Census, there were more women than men in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): 1.242 women and 1 men. Compared to 2002, the Dolgan population has aged: the share of the population below employable age shrank from 42.5% to 34.9%, while the share of the employable age population, on the contrary, increased from 51.6 to 59%. The share of Dolgans over employable age increased, too, from 5.9% to 6%. The Dolgans’ average age increased from 23.6 to 25.1. The share of married people dropped compared to 2002 from 567 to 473 for men and from 565 to 503 for women.

The gender makeup of hunting and fishing outposts changed, too. While previously entire families frequently stayed at these outposts, these days, many outposts have turned into a largely masculine space populated mostly by men; the young generation also visits them rather infrequently.