Murmansk Oblast - Demographics

Demographics

Population: 795,409 (2010 Census); 892,534 (2002 Census); 1,146,757 (1989 Census).

The indigenous people of the area, the Saami, are only a tiny minority today. As of the 2002 Census, 92.2% of the oblast's population live in urban areas. The most populous city is the Oblast's administrative center, Murmansk, with 336,137 inhabitants. Other large cities and towns include Severomorsk, Apatity, Kandalaksha, Monchegorsk, and Kirovsk.

According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic composition of the oblast was as follows:

• Russians: 89%
• Ukrainians: 4.8%
• Belarusians: 1.7%
• Tatars: 0.8%
• Azeris: 0.5%
• Mordvins: 0.2%
• Karelians: 0.2%
• Komi: 0.2%
• Saami: 0.2%
• others: 2.4%
• 73,484 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.