Census of the Russian Empire in 1897. First general population census

The census of the Russian Empire (1897) was not the first such event in Russia. It is well known that individual censuses were made periodically on the territory of Russian principalities, khanates, and kaganates in order to determine what income can be received from the population of a given territory. For example, historians have established that the census of the times of Peter the Great determined the general population of the Russian Empire (at that time) at the level of thirteen million people. In the period since the abolition of serfdom in 1917 in Russia, about two hundred accounting activities were carried out in various cities, including in the Liflyandsky, Courland and Estland provinces, a total record was made of people living there.

The results of the census took almost 90 volumes

The census of the population of the Russian Empire of 1897 was prepared since 1874. In particular, two years before the registration of events in Russia, statistical work related to obtaining data from the population was banned. From June 1895, Tsar Nicholas II signed a decree that determined that the census should determine the composition, size and distribution of the population, including all Russian citizens and foreigners. To carry out such a large-scale event, 7 million rubles were allocated. And the results were collected and published definitively only by 1905, almost in ninety volumes.

In the Russian Empire spoke a hundred languages

The census of the population of the Russian Empire (1897) found that the total population of the country is about 125.64 million people, of which 55.6 million are considered Russian, 22 million are Russian, and 5.8 million are Belarusian. As part of the empire That time the Polish lands were included, then in this language 7,9 million inhabitants spoke, and on the Moldavian and Romanian - 1,21 million people. The Hebrew language at that time was used by about 5.06 million citizens. The smallest languages spoken at that time in Russia were: Spanish and Portuguese - 138 people, Dutch - 335 native speakers, as well as Hindu, Kistin, Lezghin, Chuvansky, Afghan.

The census of the population of the Russian Empire (1897) showed that in Russia there are native speakers of such foreign languages as: Chinese - 57 thousand people, Japanese - only 2,6 thousand people, Korean - about 26 thousand people. There were a lot of speakers speaking German - about 1.7 million, Armenian - 1.17 million people. A significant group consisted of native speakers of the Tatar language - 3.73 million, Bashkir - 1.31 million people, Kyrgyz - about 4 million people.

Historical documents preserved for us the position of scientists regarding the origin of a particular language at a time that is sometimes erroneous with respect to modern data. For example, the Yakut language was referred to the Turkish-Tatar dialects. In total in the Russian Empire of that time there were more than hundred officially established languages and dialects that were native to the population in this or that region. Systemic language and in those days, and today is the Russian language, which allows peoples to understand each other, while retaining their identity.

Literate was only one in five

The first general census of the Russian Empire (1897) was conducted by specially trained copyists who received a medal for participating in such an event. They did a great job filling in a total of about thirty million questionnaires, as in rural areas many peasants were illiterate or illiterate. And this indicator was reflected in the statistics - at that time in Russia only one in five people were literate, while among men the percentage of "educated" was about 30%, while among women only about 13%. An interesting fact is that in the peasant environment, when asked about the name of the wife, many answered that they were simply calling the wife "a woman".

There were fewer merchants than priests

According to the census of the Russian Empire (1897), the majority of the population lived in rural areas (about 87 percent) and was a peasant class (77 percent of all citizens). Further on the number were philistines - about 11 percent, "aliens" - about 6.5 percent, Cossacks - 2.3 percent. The people of the Russian Empire at that time were mainly engaged in cultivating the land, and not trading. The merchants were counted at 0.2 percent, which was less than the representatives of the clergy (half a percent) and the nobles (one and a half percent). Also on the lists were other persons - 0.4 percent.

Many needed permission to move

The census of the population of the Russian Empire (1897) established that Rus was then a peasant-philistine, where the petty bourgeois represented a collection of small traders, artisans, urban residents who owned most of the real estate in the cities and were the main taxpayers. By the time of the census, this estate was no longer subject to corporal punishment, which was applicable to it until the middle of the nineteenth century. The petty bourgeois in their position in society were lower than the merchants, they were attributed to a certain city (in the urban philistine book). To leave his place of residence, a bourgeois could temporarily be on a temporary passport, but to move to another locality - only with the permission of the authorities. Perhaps in those days when it was possible to move across Russia only through bureaucratic formalities, the low mobility of the modern population was laid.

Between merchants and nobles

What interesting facts has history preserved for us? The census of the population of the Russian Empire (1897) recorded that there were so-called "honorary citizens" in Russian society, which amounted to 0.3% of the total population. This was an intermediate class between noble nobles and merchants, which allowed to protect the first from the penetration of "ignoble blood" and satisfy the personal ambitions of the latter. Honorable citizenship, like the nobility, could be personal and hereditary. Personal honorable citizenship extended only to the bearer of this title and his wife, while the hereditary, respectively, belonged to the descendants of the holder of this title.

In those days there were more believers and temples than now

The census of the population of the Russian Empire (1897) showed that the main religion was Orthodoxy, which was professed by about 70 percent of the population. In second place after the Christians, then there were Muslims - about 11.1 percent, followed by followers of the Roman Catholic Church - about nine percent, and 4.2 percent of the population were Jews. The peoples of Russia were then extremely pious, and a large number of religious institutions were erected in connection with this. For example, in Russia at the time of the Great October Socialist Revolution there were about 65,000 Orthodox churches and churches, while the modern Russian Orthodox Church has 29-30 thousand temples, including those located in Belarus, the Baltic States, Ukraine, etc.

Cities with over one million inhabitants

What facts did the population census reveal (1897)? The results of this study give us an opportunity to find out which in Russia at that time there were large populated areas. The capital of the state at that time (not Moscow, St. Petersburg) was a city of a million. It was home to over 1.2 million people. The second largest metropolis was Moscow - 1.038 million people. More than half a million people lived in Warsaw (683 thousand), which was then part of the Russian Empire (the territory of the Polish kingdom). In addition to the above, on the map of the country at that time there were about 40 cities with a population of more than 50,000 people.

Of particular value for modern historians are the census forms themselves, where the primary information is reflected. You could learn a lot from them. However, most of the papers were destroyed, so we are satisfied with the processed data.