ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of the population of the circumpolar North. It presents population data for northern regions for the period 1900–1990, with brief descriptions and comparisons of population density, growth rates and the relative shares of Native and non-Native groups in the northern population. Measurements of the ‘Native’ population of northern regions are complicated by numerous problems of definition, in particular how persons of mixed aboriginal and non-aboriginal ancestry are counted. Native population data for Alaska include Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians. Native population data for Canada were for ‘aboriginal population’ as defined by Statistics Canada. Russian Native peoples account for four-fifths of the Native population of the North. The Komi, Kareli and Yakuty together account for two-thirds of the northern Native population. Northern population data show substantial differences between northern regions in population density, Native population share, and population growth rates.
