The Nganasans. Demographics (Population Dynamics, Urban/Rural Population, Gender and Age Breakdown, Youth Cohort )

The total number of Nganasans, according to the 2020 All-Russian Population Census, is 687 people. (293 men and 394 women). The main area of settlement is the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

In recent decades, the urban population among Nganasans has been on the rise. Originally, it included retirees living in Dudinka which had been the capital of the Taymyr autonomous area, but in 2007, when the region lost its autonomous area status, out-of-region people began leaving Dudinka, apartments dropped in price, and not only retirees, but the young population began buying them, too. Also, with out-of-region personnel employed by Nornickel leaving the area, the young and middle-aged Nganasan generations began buying apartments in Talnakh and Kayerkan, but on a smaller scale. According to the 2010 Census, Nganasans number 834 people, 811 of them live in the Krasnoyarsk territory, and 766 live on the Taymyr Peninsula, that is, at that time, few of them were inclined to radically change their place of residence. A noticeable gender imbalance (362 men and 472 women) causes concern. Most likely, it evidences unfavorable living conditions with men dying quicker and in larger numbers owing to their less flexible psychological makeup. In handling such issues, members of indigenous small-numbered peoples usually take recourse to alcohol (with all attendant consequences) and suicide. Urban vs. rural Nganasan ratio (165: 669) demonstrates that urban residents are a minority, while gender imbalance exacerbates among the urban population (60 men vs. 105 women), that is, women are most likely to move to urban environments. Yet the rural population demonstrates approximately the same imbalance with 302 men vs. 367 women, that is, the same root causes underlie this imbalance for both urban and rural populations.