Demographics

Difficulties in researching Kumandin demographics stem from the fact that not every census records them as Kumandins. Depending on the political situation, census campaigns listed Kumandins either as an independent ethnicity or recorded them as Russians or Altaians, which certainly complicates the analysis of the trends in the Kumandin environment.

The total number of Kumandins according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002 was 3,114 people, in 2010 - 2892 people, and according to the 2020 census – 2,408 people. 

A study of archives led Boris O. Dolgikh to peg the overall number of Kumandins in the 17th at 360 persons. Gerhardt F. Miller had data stating that in the 1730s, the Kumandin district (volost) had 105 yasak (natural tax) payers. Vasily I. Verbitsky’s data stated that in 1860, two Kumandin districts (volost) had 576 men. Vasily V. Radlov reported that in 1869 Lower Kumandins numbered 831 men and 740 women, while Upper Kumandins numbered 322 men and 284 women. The historian Natalya A. Maidurova cited archival sources and listed the following data on Kumandin numbers in the 19th century: in 1894, Kumandins numbered a little over 4,000 persons. The Ethnic Affairs Department at the Biysk district (uyezd) executive committee reported that in 1921, there were 4.534 Kumandins. Nadezhda P. Dyrenkova who studied Kumandins in the 1930s reported that there were around 9 Kumandins in 1933 The 1926 Census put the number of Kumandins at 6,334 persons (3.228 men and 3.106 women). Of them, 4.948 lived in the Altai territory and 1.384 lived in Gorny Altai (the Altai Republic).

There is no information on Kumandin numbers in subsequent years since the censuses held after 1926 did not record Kumandin as a separate ethnicity. Alexander A. Tkachenko pegged the number of Kumandins in the early 1990s in the Altai territory at the meager 681 persons. The 2002 census yielded relatively reliable information on the number of Kumandins recording 3.114 Kumandins, out of whom 1.663 lived in the Altai territory, 931 in the Altai Republic, and 294 in the Kemerovo region. The 2010 census recorded a drop in the number of Kumandins. According to its data, in 2010, there were 2.892 Kumandins living in the Russian Federation, 1.4 of them living in cities and 1.492 living in rural areas.

In the mid-20th century, most Kumandins lived in small settlements. Recently, they have mostly moved to cities (such as Biysk, Gorno-Altaisk, and the cities in the Kemerovo region) or district centers. Only a few villages traditionally populated by Kumandins still exist: Uzhlep (Krasnogorskoye district), Suzop, Tostok, Shatobal (Solton district), Sankin Ail, and Shunarak (Turochak district).

The Kumandins of the Krasnogorskoye district migrated in particularly large numbers. In consequence, with the exception of Krasnogorskoye itself, the district did not develop other points of attraction for the indigenous population. On the contrary, Kumandins in the Solton and Turochak districts moved not only to the district centers but also to other large villages (Nizhnyaya Neninka, Suzop, Sankino, etc.). Since these are remote and hard-to-reach territories, the autochthons first moved from unpromising villages to large ones, and later (mostly their children) moved to cities. By 2002, urban Kumandins had accounted for 54.7% of their overall number, and by 2010, the numbers of urban Kumandins had fallen to 48.4%. It is partially connected with some Biysk residents, including Kumandins, being reassigned to the rural population in the course of the 2006 municipal reform. Kumandin migrations had logical consequences: accelerated assimilation amid greater numbers of inter-ethnic marriages, and interrupted family, clan, and neighborly ties. Biysk Kumandins have largely lost their ties with their rural relatives.

Urban Kumandins of the Altai territory (mostly in the cities of Biysk and Barnaul) demonstrate the following indicators: 9% are in the younger age group; 74.3% are in the middle age group, and 16.7% are in the senior age group. The situation amid Gorno-Altaisk Kumandins is much better: their indicators are 16.4%, 66.6%, and 17%, respectively.