Ukrainian Population of Crimea in 1989-2014: Specifics of Demo-Graphic Transformations

Abstract

The specificity of the demographic transformations of the Ukrainian population of Crimea in the period from 1989 to 2014 is considered. Based on the analysis of the population censuses of 1989, 2001 and 2014, demographic changes within the Ukrainian ethnos are revealed during two periods: from 1989 to 2001 and from 2001 to 2014. The analysis of changes in the number of the Ukrainian ethnic group in the context of the municipalities of the Crimean Peninsula is carried out. It is concluded that the percentage of the Ukrainian ethnic group in the structure of the population of the Crimean Peninsula, which we could observe in the period from 1989 to 2001, was formed as a result of the policy of resettlement of citizens to this region in the late 1940-s and early 1950-s from various republics of the Soviet Union, mainly the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR. It is noted that the regions with the maximum number of the Ukrainian ethnic group are historically located in the northern regions of the Crimean Peninsula, and with the smallest – in the southern regions. The study showed that changes in the ethnic structure began to occur after the events of 2014 and the entry of Crimea into the Russian Federation, when, according to the 2014 population census, the number of Ukrainians in the republic, compared to 2001, decreased by almost 9%. According to the analysis, if in the period from 1989 to 2001 the maximum scale of the decrease in the number of the Ukrainian ethnic group took place in the central part of the Crimean peninsula, then in the period from 2001 to 2014 the largest scale of the decrease in the number of the Ukrainian ethnic group was observed in the municipalities of the northern part of the Republic of Crimea, which, in our opinion, this is mainly due to the outflow of the population from these territories, due to the negative reaction of some Ukrainians to the events of the "Crimean Spring" 2014.