Russian Empire Census
The Russian Imperial Census of 1897 was first and only census carried out in the Russian Empire. It recorded demographic data as of.
Previously, the Central Statistical Bureau issued statistical tables based on fiscal lists.
The second Russian Census was scheduled for December 1915, but was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I one and a half years earlier. It was not rescheduled before the Russian Revolution. The next census to take place in Russia only occurred at the end of 1926, almost three decades later.
Organization
The census project was suggested in 1877 by Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, a famous Russian geographer and chief of the Central Statistical Bureau, and was approved by Tsar Nicholas II in 1895.The census was performed in two stages. In the first stage the counters visited all households and filled in the questionnaires, which were verified by local census managers. In the second stage. the counters simultaneously visited all households to verify and update the questionnaires. Despite this being the only census they ever took, Historians were able to find out the Russian Empire's population in earlier periods of time still from collecting city censuses.
The data processing took 8 years using Hollerith card machines. Publication of the results started in 1898 and ended in 1905. In total, 119 volumes for 89 guberniyas, as well as a two-volume summary, were issued.
The questionnaire contained the following questions:
- Family name, given name, patronymic or nickname
- Sex
- Relation with respect to the head of the family or household
- Age
- Marital status
- Social status: sosloviye, rank or title
- Place of birth
- Place of registration
- Usual place of residence
- Notice of absence
- Faith
- Mother language
- Literacy
- Occupation, both primary and secondary
Census results
The total population of the Russian Empire was recorded to be 125,640,021 people.By native tongue
The most spoken languages, from which nationality was determined were:| Rank | Language | Speakers | % of population |
| 1 | Russian | 55,667,469 | 44.31 |
| 2 | Ukrainian | 22,380,551 | 17.81 |
| 3 | Turkic-Tatar | 13,373,867 | 10.64 |
| 4 | Polish | 7,931,307 | 6.31 |
| 5 | Belarusian | 5,885,547 | 4.68 |
| 6 | Yiddish | 5,063,156 | 4.03 |
| 7 | Finnic languages | 3,502,147 | 2.79 |
| 8 | German | 1,790,489 | 1.43 |
| 9 | Latvian | 1,435,937 | 1.14 |
| 10 | Kartvelian languages | 1,352,535 | 1.08 |
| 11 | Aukštaitian | 1,210,510 | 0.96 |
| 12 | Armenian | 1,173,096 | 0.93 |
| 13 | Moldavian and Romanian | 1,121,669 | 0.89 |
| 14 | Dagestani languages | 1,091,782 | 0.87 |
| 15 | Samogitian | 448,022 | 0.36 |
| 16 | Tajik | 350,397 | 0.28 |
| 17 | Greek, spoken especially by Greeks in southern Russia and Georgia, and by Caucasus Greeks of Russian Caucasus province of Kars Oblast | 186,925 | 0.15 |
| 18 | Bulgarian | 172,659 | 0.14 |
| 19 | Ossetian | 171,716 | 0.13 |
| Total | 125,640,021 | 100 |
By religion
| Rank | Religion | Followers | % of population |
| 1 | Eastern Orthodox | 87,123,604 | 69.34% |
| 2 | Mohammedists | 13,906,972 | 11.07% |
| 3 | Roman Catholics | 11,467,994 | 9.13% |
| 4 | Jewish | 5,215,805 | 4.15% |
| 5 | Lutherans | 3,572,653 | 2.84% |
| 6 | Old Believers and others split from Pravoslavs | 2,204,596 | 1.75% |
| 7 | Armenian Gregorians | 1,179,241 | 0.94% |
| 8 | Buddhists and Lamaists | 433,863 | 0.34% |
| 9 | Reformed | 85,400 | 0.07% |
| 10 | Mennonites | 66,564 | 0.05% |
| 11 | Armenian Catholics | 38,840 | 0.03% |
| 12 | Baptists | 38,139 | 0.03% |
| 13 | Karaites | 12,894 | 0.01% |
| 14 | Anglicans | 4,183 | 0.003% |
| 15 | Other Christian denominations | 3,952 | 0.003% |
| 16 | Other non-Christians | 285,321 | 0.23% |
| Total | 125,640,021 | 100% |
Population by modern-day countries
- Russia 67,476,000
- Ukraine 23,430,407
- Poland 9,402,253
- Belarus 6,927,040
- Kazakhstan 4,000,000
- Lithuania 3,135,771
- Georgia 2,109,273
- Uzbekistan 2,000,000
- Moldova 1,935,412
- Latvia 1,929,387
- Azerbaijan 1,705,131
- Estonia 900,000
- Armenia 829,556
- Kyrgyzstan 750,000
- Tajikistan 646,000
- Turkmenistan 350,000
Largest cities
- Saint-Petersburg – 1,264,900
- Moscow – 1,038,600
- Warsaw – 626,000
- Odessa – 403,800
- Łódź – 314,000
- Riga – 282,200
- Kiev – 247,700
- Kharkiv – 174,000
- Tbilisi – 159,600
- Vilna – 154,500
- Saratov – 137,100
- Kazan – 130,000
- Rostov-on-Don – 119,500
- Tula – 114,700
- Astrakhan – 112,900
- Ekaterinoslav – 112,800
- Baku – 111,900
- Kishinev – 108,500
- Helsinki – 93,000
- Nikolayev – 92,000
- Minsk – 90,900
- Nizhny Novgorod – 90,100
- Samara – 90,000
- Orenburg – 72,400
- Yaroslavl – 71,600
- Dvinsk – 69,675
- Vitebsk – 65,900
- Reval – 64 572
- Libava – 64,489
- Yekaterinodar – 65,600
- Tsaritsyn – 55,200
Data availability