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Ethnicities in region of Latvia. Statistics| Several surveys of population statistics took place in the
Russia Empire locally, but only one Census of the Empire level was organized
on January 28, 1897. The questionnaire of the Census did not contain any
question concerning the ethnic origin of the questioned person. Therefore
the population by ethnicity for 1897 now is calculated of person's mother
tongue, that was registered. In case of Jews, the ethnic origin and the
religion practically coincided, so their number could be derived much better
from the information on the religion than on the mother tongue, because
the vast majority of Jews declared the German language as their mother tongue
in 1897; at that time Yiddish was not considered as a language. It means
that converted Jews were counted as Germans or Russians depending on the
mother tongue they showed and were not distinguishable of them. Another
difficulty is that the region of today's Latvia belonged to three different
provinces of the Empire (see
the special page with this information), which makes the calculation
more complicated.
The population of region
of Latvia by ethnicity in 1897 |
The population of the region of Latvia by ethnicity in 1897
| Latvians | 1,318,112 |
| Russians | 152,681 |
| Jews | 142,315 |
| Germans | 120,191 |
| Belorussians | 79,523 |
| Poles | 65,056 |
| Lithuanians | 26,033 |
| Estonians | 17,990 |
| Others | 7,486 |
Total |
1,929,387 |
The figures of this table were calculated by M.Skujenieks
/Skujenieks/
Latvia population by ethnicity in 1920-1935
| The first Census in Latvia took place in summer 1920. It registered 49 ethnicities in Latvia. Later the censuses were carried out each 5 years except 1940. |
|
Etnicity |
1920 |
1925 |
1930 |
1935 |
| Latvians | 1,161,404 | 1,354,126 | 1,394,957 | 1,472,612 |
| Russians | 124,746 | 193,648 | 201,778 | 206,499 |
| Jews | 79,644 | 95,675 | 94,388 | 93,479 |
| Belorussians | 75,630 | 38,010 | 36,029 | 26,867 |
| Germans | 58,113 | 70,964 | 69,855 | 62,144 |
| Poles | 54,567 | 51,143 | 59,374 | 48,949 |
| Lithuanians | 25,588 | 23,192 | 25,885 | 22,913 |
| Estonians | 8,769 | 7,893 | 7,708 | 7,014 |
| Ukrainians | 1040 | 512 | 1,629 | 1844 |
| Gipsies | 1023 | 2870 | 3,217 | 3839 |
| Swedes | 313 | 451 | 324 | 292 |
| Danes | 236 |
409
|
364
|
236 |
| Frenchmen | 160 |
214
|
211
|
182 |
| Englishmen | 151 |
497
|
462
|
319 |
| Finns | 131 |
161
|
166
|
118 |
| Tartars | 115 |
72
|
43
|
39 |
| Czechs and Slovaks | <100 |
216
|
210
|
200 |
| Greeks | <100 |
72
|
100
|
118
|
| Livs | 1,268 | 962 | 944 | |
| Norwegians |
100
|
101
|
72
|
|
| Greeks |
72
|
100
|
118
|
|
| Dutchmen |
81
|
98
|
63
|
|
| Armenians |
58
|
79
|
83
|
|
| Hungarians |
50
|
74
|
49
|
|
| Italians |
54
|
56
|
62
|
|
| Turks |
24
|
39
|
28
|
|
| Georgians |
34
|
28
|
38
|
|
| Serbs |
7
|
17
|
5
|
|
| Japaneses |
6
|
15
|
21
|
|
| Irishmen |
2
|
14
|
2
|
|
| Rumanians |
10
|
11
|
17
|
|
| Persians |
7
|
11
|
17
|
|
| Spaniards |
5
|
9
|
14
|
|
| Bulgars |
7
|
6
|
9
|
|
| Osetins |
5
|
4
|
4
|
|
| Chineses |
2
|
1
|
6
|
|
| Unknown | 3829 |
2542 |
1505 |
1079 |
| Total | 1,596,131 | 1,844,805 | 1,900,045 | 1,950,502 |
| The serious differences in figures for 1920 and 1925 are
explained by the movement of refugees during this time period to and from
various neighboring countries, mainly from the Soviet Russia (USSR).
This table is based on the data of the statistical survey "Latvija skaitļos 1938" (Latvia in figures 1938) and of statistical survey concerning ethnicities of the 4th Census in 1935 (Ceturtā Tautas skaitīšana Latvijā 1935. gadā. Sastādījis V.Salnītis un M.Skujenieks. IV Tautība, Rīga, 1937). The table contains information on all inhabitants regardless of their citizenship. Some people in 1935 declared their citizenship as their ethnicity. So the Census registered 124 Switzerlanders, 61 Austrian, 45 Belges, 39 Americans, 22 Karaites (rather a religion), 3 Mulates, 2 Slaves, 2 Brazilians. |
Number of non-citizens by ethnicity in 1935
| At that time the non-citizens were divided into two groups - foreigners, who lived in Latvia and were citizens of other country, and those who had no citizenship. The latter were refugees from Russia, who did not go back to the USSR, and had passports issued by the League of Nations. The registration of these refugees and their pasportisation were lead by the High Commissioner for Refugees, a well-known Norwegian polar investigator Fridtjöf Nansen, hence these passports were called Nansen passports and their holders nansenists. |
|
Ethnicity |
Foreigners |
Nansenists |
Total |
| Latvians | 3333 | 1743 | 5076 |
| Russians | 1722 | 3178 | 4900 |
| Jews | 3625 | 3313 | 6938 |
| Belorussians | 810 | 775 | 1585 |
| Germans | 4315 | 1336 | 5651 |
| Poles | 5239 | 1271 | 6510 |
| Lithuanians | 9979 | 497 | 10476 |
| Estonians | 1233 | 53 | 1286 |
| Others | 1466 |
278 |
1744 |
|
Total |
31,722 | 12,444 | 44,166 |