| Kabardino-Balkarian Republic | |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Settlement Type: | Republic |
| Mapsize: | 300px |
| Subdivision Name: | Russia |
| Coordinates: | 43.5833°N 67°W |
| Subdivision Type2: | Federal district |
| Subdivision Name2: | North Caucasian |
| Subdivision Type3: | Economic region |
| Subdivision Name3: | North Caucasus |
| Leader Title: | Head[1] |
| Leader Name: | Kazbek Kokov[2] |
| Total Type: | Total |
| Area Total Km2: | 12470 |
| Population Rank: | 56th |
| Population As Of: | 2021 Census |
| Population Total: | 904,200[3] |
| Timezone1: | MSK[4] |
| Blank Name: | OKTMO ID |
| Blank Info: | 83000000 |
| Native Name: | |
| Iso Code: | RU-KB |
| Registration Plate: | 07 |
| Utc Offset: | +3 |
| Anthem: | State Anthem of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic [5] |
| Flag Size: | 120px |
| Flag Link: | Flag of Kabardino-Balkaria |
| Shield Link: | Coat of arms of Kabardino-Balkaria |
| Seat Type: | Capital |
| Seat: | Nalchik[6] |
| Population Urban: | 51.9% |
| Population Rural: | 48.1% |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Official language(s) |
| Blank Info Sec1: | Balkar[7] Kabardian[8] Russian[9] |
| Government Type: | Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic[10] |
Kabardino-Balkaria (Russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рия), officially the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic,[11] [12] [13] is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 904,200. Its capital is Nalchik. The area contains the highest mountain in Europe, Mount Elbrus, at 5642m (18,510feet). Mount Elbrus has 22 glaciers that feed three rivers — Baksan, Malka and Kuban. The mountain is covered with snow year-round.
The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part. The republic shares an international border with Georgia.
Kabardino-Balkaria is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
Major rivers include:
There are about 100 lakes in the Republic, none of which is large. Just over half (55) are located between the Baksan and Malka Rivers, the largest each of an area of no more than 0.01km2. Some of the lakes are:
Other major mountains include:
Kabardino-Balkaria's natural resources include molybdenum, tungsten, and coal.
The republic has a continental-type climate.
See main article: History of Kabardino-Balkaria. It is known that modern-day Circassians also called Kassogs were inhabiting Kabardino Balkaria since at least the 6th century BCE, then known as Zichia.[14] On 1 July 1994 Kabardino-Balkaria became the second republic after Tatarstan to sign a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy.[15]
The head of government in Kabardino-Balkaria is the Head. The current Head is Kazbek Kokov.[16] The legislative body of the Republic is the Parliament comprising 72 deputies elected for a five-year term.[17]
The republic adopted a new constitution in 2001 which prevents the republic from existing independently of the Russian Federation.
Population:
| 2019 | 2021 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Average: | 76.5 years | 73.8 years | |
| Male: | 72.6 years | 69.9 years | |
| Female: | 79.9 years | 77.3 years |
| Average population (x 1000) | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate (per 1000) | Crude death rate (per 1000) | Natural change (per 1000) | Fertility rates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 592 | 11,683 | 3,913 | 7,770 | 19.7 | 6.6 | 13.1 | ||
| 1975 | 634 | 12,315 | 4,717 | 7,598 | 19.4 | 7.4 | 12.0 | ||
| 1980 | 680 | 14,098 | 5,457 | 8,641 | 20.7 | 8.0 | 12.7 | ||
| 1985 | 725 | 15,941 | 5,854 | 10,087 | 22.0 | 8.1 | 13.9 | ||
| 1990 | 772 | 15,412 | 6,573 | 8,839 | 20.0 | 8.5 | 11.5 | 2.45 | |
| 1991 | 788 | 14,952 | 6,995 | 7,957 | 19.0 | 8.9 | 10.1 | 2.35 | |
| 1992 | 799 | 13,728 | 7,093 | 6,635 | 17.2 | 8.9 | 8.3 | 2.16 | |
| 1993 | 807 | 11,781 | 7,864 | 3,917 | 14.6 | 9.7 | 4.9 | 1.86 | |
| 1994 | 816 | 11,407 | 8,052 | 3,355 | 14.0 | 9.9 | 4.1 | 1.79 | |
| 1995 | 828 | 10,844 | 8,236 | 2,608 | 13.1 | 9.9 | 3.2 | 1.67 | |
| 1996 | 840 | 10,293 | 8,199 | 2,094 | 12.2 | 9.8 | 2.5 | 1.56 | |
| 1997 | 853 | 10,016 | 7,985 | 2,031 | 11.7 | 9.4 | 2.4 | 1.47 | |
| 1998 | 866 | 9,997 | 8,201 | 1,796 | 11.5 | 9.5 | 2.1 | 1.44 | |
| 1999 | 875 | 9,221 | 8,292 | 929 | 10.5 | 9.5 | 1.1 | 1.30 | |
| 2000 | 883 | 9,207 | 8,792 | 415 | 10.4 | 10.0 | 0.5 | 1.26 | |
| 2001 | 891 | 8,892 | 8,778 | 114 | 10.0 | 9.9 | 0.1 | 1.19 | |
| 2002 | 897 | 9,119 | 8,954 | 165 | 10.2 | 10.0 | 0.2 | 1.20 | |
| 2003 | 896 | 9,294 | 9,202 | 92 | 10.4 | 10.3 | 0.1 | 1.20 | |
| 2004 | 889 | 9,414 | 8,695 | 719 | 10.6 | 9.8 | 0.8 | 1.22 | |
| 2005 | 882 | 8,991 | 9,034 | align="right" style="color: red" | - 43 | 10.2 | 10.2 | -0.0 | 1.13 |
| 2006 | 875 | 9,308 | 8,764 | 544 | 10.6 | 10.0 | 0.6 | 1.16 | |
| 2007 | 870 | 11,397 | 8,441 | 2,956 | 13.1 | 9.7 | 3.4 | 1.41 | |
| 2008 | 866 | 12,052 | 8,095 | 3,957 | 13.9 | 9.3 | 4.6 | 1.49 | |
| 2009 | 863 | 12,143 | 8,406 | 3,737 | 14.1 | 9.7 | 4.3 | 1.62 | |
| 2010 | 860 | 12,576 | 8,080 | 4,496 | 14.6 | 9.4 | 5.2 | 1.66 | |
| 2011 | 860 | 12,848 | 8,136 | 4,712 | 14.9 | 9.4 | 5.5 | 1.70 | |
| 2012 | 859 | 13,786 | 7,709 | 6,077 | 16.0 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 1.83 | |
| 2013 | 859 | 13,365 | 7,712 | 5,653 | 15.6 | 9.0 | 6.6 | 1.80 | |
| 2014 | 860 | 13,397 | 7,571 | 5,826 | 15.6 | 8.8 | 6.8 | 1.83 | |
| 2015 | 861 | 12,627 | 7,582 | 5,045 | 14.6 | 8.8 | 5.8 | 1.75 | |
| 2016 | 863 | 12,191 | 7,386 | 4,805 | 14.1 | 8.5 | 5.6 | 1.72 | |
| 2017 | 865 | 11,092 | 7,391 | 3,701 | 12.8 | 8.5 | 4.3 | 1.61 | |
| 2018 | 865 | 10,881 | 7,044 | 3,837 | 12.5 | 8.1 | 4.4 | 1.61 | |
| 2019 | 866 | 9,973 | 7,142 | 2,831 | 11.5 | 8.2 | 3.3 | 1.51 | |
| 2020 | 10,604 | 8,624 | 1,980 | 12.2 | 9.9 | 2.3 | 1.64 | ||
| 2021 | 10,462 | 9,436 | 1,026 | 12.0 | 10.8 | 1.2 | 1.67 | ||
| 2022 | 10,049 | 8,010 | 2,039 | 11.5 | 9.2 | 2.3 | 1.51 | ||
| 2023 | 9,941 | 6,827 | 3,114 | 11.0 | 7.5 | 3.5 | 1.53 |
Kabardino-Balkaria includes two major ethnic communities, the Kabardins (Circassians), who speak a North-West Caucasian language, and the Balkars who speak a Turkic language. According to the 2021 Census,[23] Kabardins make up 57.1% of the republic's population, followed by Russians (19.8%) and Balkars (13.7%). Other groups include Cherkess (3.0%), Turks (1.9%), Ossetians (0.8%), Romani (0.5%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.
| Ethnic group | 1926 Census1 | 1939 Census | 1959 Census | 1970 Census | 1979 Census | 1989 Census | 2002 Census | 2010 Census | 2021 Census3 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | ||
| Kabardin | 122,237 | 54.2% | 152,237 | 42.4% | 190,284 | 45.3% | 264,675 | 45.0% | 303,604 | 45.5% | 364,494 | 48.2% | 498,7022 | 55.3% | 490,453 | 57.2% | 502,615 | 57.1% | |
| Balkars | 33,197 | 14.7% | 40,747 | 11.3% | 34,088 | 8.1% | 51,356 | 8.7% | 59,710 | 9.0% | 70,793 | 9.4% | 104,951 | 11.6% | 108,577 | 12.7% | 120,898 | 13.7% | |
| Russians | 32,622 | 14.5% | 129,067 | 35.9% | 162,586 | 38.7% | 218,595 | 37.2% | 234,137 | 35.1% | 240,750 | 31.9% | 226,620 | 25.1% | 193,155 | 22.5% | 174,768 | 19.8% | |
| Ossetians | 3,839 | 1.7% | 4,608 | 1.3% | 6,442 | 1.5% | 9,167 | 1.6% | 9,710 | 1.5% | 9,996 | 1.3% | 9,845 | 1.1% | 9,129 | 1.1% | 6,877 | 0.8% | |
| Ukrainians | 24,723 | 11.0% | 11,142 | 3.1% | 8,400 | 2.0% | 10,620 | 1.8% | 12,139 | 1.8% | 12,826 | 1.7% | 7,592 | 0.8% | 4,800 | 0.6% | 1,461 | 0.2% | |
| Cherkess | 8,803 | 3.9% | 21,328 | 5.9% | 18,315 | 4.4% | 33,790 | 5.7% | 47,246 | 7.1% | 614 | 0.1% | 725 | 0.1% | 2,475 | 0.3% | 26,544 | 3.0% | |
| Others | 55,058 | 7.3% | 53,059 | 5.9% | 49,081 | 5.7% | 47,748 | 5.7% | |||||||||||
| 1 The results of the 1926 census refer to the present territory, which is a combination of the Kabardo-Balkarian AO and a part of the Terek district. The latter area was mainly inhabited by Russians and Ukrainians.[24] 2 In view of the results of the 1989 census and the 2010 census, the number of Kabardins in 2002 seems unlikely high. 3 23,289 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.[25] | |||||||||||||||||||
According to a 2012 survey which interviewed 56,900 people, 70.8% of the population of Kabardino-Balkaria adhered to Islam, 11.6% to the Russian Orthodox Church, 3.8% were non-Orthodox Christians, and 1.8% followed Adyghe (Kabardian) folk religion and other indigenous faiths. In addition, 12% of the population declared to be "spiritual but not religious" and 5.6% was atheist or followed other religions, including Jehovah's Witnesses.