North Asia | |
---|---|
States and territories | |
Largest City | |
Major cities | |
Population (2017) | |
• Total | 33,765,005 |
Time zone | |
Languages and language families |
North Asia | |
Russian name | |
---|---|
Russian | Северная Азия |
Romanization | Severnaya Aziya |
North Asia or Northern Asia, sometimes known as Siberia, is a subregion of Asia, consisting of Siberia and the Russian Far East in the Asian region of Russia – an area east of the Ural Mountains. The region is sometimes also referred to as Asian Russia (as opposed to the smaller but more densely populated European Russia to the west). The total population of North Asia is about 33 million. North Asia makes up more than 75% of the territory of Russia, but only 22% of its population, at a density of 2.5 people per km2 (6.5 per sq mi).
Most estimates are that there are around 38 million Russians living east of the Ural Mountains, a widely recognized but informal divide between Europe and Asia. The native Siberians now are a minority in Siberia/North Asia due to the Russification process during the last three centuries. Russian census records indicate they make up only an estimated 10% of the region's population with the Buryats numbering at 445,175, which makes them the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia. There are 443,852 Yakuts (Russian Census of 2002) living in Siberia. According to the 2002 census there are 500,000 Tatars in Siberia, but 300,000 of them are Volga Tatars who settled in Siberia during periods of colonization. Other ethnic groups that live in the region and make a significant portion are ethnic Germans and they number about 400,000.
In 1875, Chambers reported the population of Northern Asia to be 8 million. Between 1801 and 1914 an estimated 7 million settlers moved from European Russia to Siberia, 85% during the quarter-century before World War I.