Indigenous peoples
There are over 476 million indigenous people living in 90 countries across the world, accounting for 6.2 per cent of the global population. Of those, there are more than 5,000 distinct groups. Indigenous people speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages.In Russia, indigenous peoples are recognized as peoples living in the territories of the traditional settlement of their ancestors, preserving traditional crafts, management, lifestyle and realizing themselves as independent ethnic communities. There are 47 such ethnic groups in the Russian Federation, where 40 indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East are distinguished. They live compactly in more than 30 regions of the Russian Federation, more than 65% of them in rural areas.
Indigenous peoples have in common a historical continuity with a given region prior to colonization and a strong link to their lands. They maintain, at least in part, distinct social, economic and political systems. They have distinct languages, cultures, beliefs and knowledge systems. They are determined to maintain and develop their identity and distinct institutions and they form a non-dominant sector of society.
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples does not include a definition of indigenous peoples. According to the Declaration, self-identification as indigenous is considered a fundamental criterion. The Declaration refers to their right to determine their own identity or membership in accordance with their customs and traditions.
Cultural diversity of indigenous peoples
Most part of cultural diversity still exist thanks to indigenous peoples. They differ each other in a special way of life depending on the place of living.- Out of about six thousand cultures, five thousand are indigenous cultures.
- About three quarters of the six thousand languages in the world are indigenous languages.