Sami Culture - Demographics

Demographics

In the geographical area of Sápmi, the Sami are a small population. According to some, the estimated total Sami population is about 70,000. One problem when attempting to count the population of the Sámi is that there are few common criteria of what "being a Sámi" constitutes. In addition, there are several Sámi languages and additional dialects, and there are several areas in Sapmi where few of the Sami speak their native language due to the forced cultural assimilation, but still consider themselves Sami. Other identity markers are kinship (which can be said to, at some level or other, be of high importance for all Sámi), the geographical region of Sápmi where their family came from, and/or protecting or preserving certain aspects of Sami culture.

All the Nordic Sámi Parliaments have included as the "core" criterion for registering as a Sámi the identity in itself – one must declare that one truly consider oneself a Sámi. Objective criteria vary, but are generally related to kinship and/or language.

Still, due to the cultural assimilation of the Sami people that had occurred in the four countries over the centuries, population estimates are difficult to measure precisely. The population has been estimated to be between 80,000 and 135,000 across the whole Nordic region, including urban areas such as Oslo, Norway, traditionally considered outside Sápmi. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sámi if he or she has one great-grandparent whose home language was Sámi, but there is not, and has never been, any registration of the home language spoken by Norwegian people.

Roughly half of all Sámi live in Norway, but many live in Sweden, with smaller groups living in the far north of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The Sámi in Russia were forced by the Soviet authorities to relocate to a collective called Lovozero/Lujávri, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.