Dmitry A. Funk

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,

Russian Academy of Sciences

The Teleuts. Demographics: Population Dynamics, Urban/Rural Population, Gender and Age Breakdown

Teleuts are one of the small Turkic peoples of Southern Siberia. The total number of this ethnic group, according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002, was 2,650 people, in 2010 – 2,643 people, and according to the 2020 census - ,2217. About 94% of Teleuts live in the Kemerovo region, mainly in villages and towns of Belovsky, Guryevsky and Novokuznetsk districts. Small groups of Teleuts, some of whom still retain Teleut ethnic identity, live in the Zarinsky and Kytmanovsky districts of the Altai Territory, as well as in the Altai Republic.

Today, the Bachat Teleuts live in communities in the villages of Bekovo (including the hamlets of Chelukhoevo and Verkhovskaya), Ulus (Bolshe-Bachatsky), and Novo-Bachaty of the Belovsky district, in the city of Belovo, in the village of Shanda of the Gurievsk district, in the Teleut (Chartuu) neighborhood, and on the outskirts of the 13 th neighborhood (this is the location of three streets of the former Teleuty village) and in the new Iliinka neighborhood of Novokuznetsk, one of Siberia’s largest cities. Almost a third of all Teleuts now live in cities.

Persons identifying as Teleuts have somewhat fewer men than women, which reflects the overall demographic trend in Russia and the Kemerovo region in particular. The 2002 and 2010 censuses show the 0.8:1 men to women ratio, that is, men accounted for 45% and women for 55% of Teleuts. This ratio is typical for both rural and urban Teleuts (the percentage of men in cities is a little higher than the average).

Despite their small numbers, Teleut groups are balanced both in gender and age. According to the 2002 and 2010 Censuses, children and teenagers under 14 accounted for one fifth of Teleuts, and the entire under-29 youth cohort is twice the number of children and exceeds other age groups (in 2010, persons aged 0-9 accounted for 45% of Teleuts, persons aged 30-54 accounted for 38%, and persons over 54 accounted for 18%). A significant children and youth cohort shows Teleuts’ stable self-identification, which is, incidentally, not so typical for other indigenous small-numbered peoples. 

Scholarship suggests that if people over 60 account for over one tenth of population, while children under 14 account for about a quarter, this ratio indicates demographic aging. In 2010, Teleuts’ average age was over 30 (34.9), which thus reflects the overall aging trend. For Teleuts, the share of the elderly is above the cutoff line (11%), while the share of children is below (20%). For women, this ratio is more troubling since the share of girls is smaller and the share of elderly women is larger.

Former Censuses did not contain information on inter-ethnic marriages. Some idea can be gleaned from the 2015 micro-Census, although the limited selection of population polled makes this assessment approximate. Selected data showed that, out of the overall number of marriages, both common-law and officially registered, two thirds of marriages among Teleuts were monoethnic. Precise data will be available for the first time after the 2020/21 census.

The current demographic situation may change significantly for Teleuts. Given their small numbers, their increasing migration out of the Kemerovo region can significantly disrupt both demographic ratios and social ties and thereby increase the likelihood of their total numbers falling in future.