Armenians of Russia: geo-demographic trends of the past, modern realities and prospects

Аннотация

The article analyzes the quantitative growth, spatial dynamics, gender structure and form of resettlement of the Armenian population of Russia in the 18th-20th centuries. The demographic correlation of the largest regional communities at different stages of their development are studied, and the main historical periods of the geo-demographic dynamics of the Armenians of Russia are determined.

The first stage can be designated as "South Russian" (second third of the 18th century – 1920s). At this time, the overwhelming majority of the Armenian population of Russia was concentrated within the southern macroregion. In the second stage (mid-1920s – first half of the 1980s), Armenians resettled almost throughout the entire territory of the RSFSR, but represented internally weakly connected ethnic groups. The third period (the second half of the 1980s – the present) is associated with the transformation of these groups into developed regional communities.

Three centuries of quantitative growth allowed Armenians to become one of the largest ethnic groups in the Russian Federation by the beginning of the 21st century. In the medium term (by 2030), with a favorable scenario of demographic dynamics, Armenians will be able to take the third position in the demographic ranking of the peoples of Russia (after the Russians and Tatars).