Hierarchy of National-Territorial Entities and Changes in the Ethnic Composition of Eastern Siberia from 2010 to 2021

This article systematizes the national-territorial units of the state and municipal structure, as well as other ethnic entities of Eastern Siberia, the hierarchy of which is presented as follows: republics–administrative-territorial units with a special status (former autonomous okrugs)–places of traditional residence of indigenous small-numbered peoples. An analysis of changes in the ethnic composition of the population of Eastern Siberia between the 2010 and 2021 censuses is provided at three territorial levels—macroregional, regional, and municipal. Of the ten groups of peoples identified by geographical location, an increase in the number and a rise in their share are observed only among the major indigenous ethnic groups and small-numbered peoples and the peoples of Central Asia. Ethnic Russians and indigenous peoples predominate in the total population, the increase in the total share of which reflects an ongoing trend toward decreasing ethnic diversity. Based on the share of the ethnic Russian population in municipalities in 2021, the ethnic space of Eastern Siberia was divided into zones, identifying the Russian ethnic core, the contact zone of the Russian ethnic megacore, and its internal and external periphery. It has been established that the dominant trend from 1989 to 2010 toward the increasing polarization of the ethnic space into opposite components—the Russian ethnic core and its external polyethnic periphery, i.e., into “Russian” and “ethnic” districts and cities—has weakened significantly and has mostly exhausted itself in the period of 2010–2021. This is largely due to the slowdown in growth (Yakuts) or even a decrease in the number (Buryats and especially Khakass) of major ethnic groups. Therefore, a certain stabilization of the process of monoethnicization in the republics of the macroregion (with the exception of Tuva and partly Yakutia) can be expected.