Demographics of Alaska (The vanquished North)

Ethnicity

Alaska, like many nations in the Americas, is a nation of immigrants. The vast majority of its population (76.92%) is part of an ethnic group that is native to territory of the former Russian Empire. There is a growing number of migrant workers from Bulgaria, Ethiopia, China, Vietnam, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey and Albania, but this won't show until the next census in 2026.

A Monument to Catherine the great in Nikolayev. She is beloved by many Alaskans, especially those of non-Slavic European decent

Europeans

Russians are the largest ethnic group, as ethnic Russians constitute 49.75% of the population. Following Catharine the Great's Manifesto many non-Slavic Europeans settled in Alaska, Ukraine, Novorossiya and the Lower Volga. Each group has it's own story and reason for migrating. Non-Slavic Europeans came to Alaska looking for religious freedom, better land or seeking fortune during the gold rush. Some, such as Ukrainian, Moldovan and Baltic people, lived in the Russian Empire but migrated to Alaska as part of planned resettlement programs, or for aforementioned reasons. Around 74.86% of the population is European. Note: It is estimated that there may be as many as 107,072 Romani people in Alaska but when it was offered as an option on the census only 7648 people claimed it. It was removed but the census bureau still believes that Roma ancestry is underreported as Roma Alaskans consider themselves to be other ethnicities, especially since almost all are mixed.

1. Russian: 21,018,892
2. Ukrainian and Cossack: 4,667,162
3. German: 4,460,215
4. Scandinavian: 704,278
5. Polish: 340,470
6. Lithuanian: 97,977
7. Bulgarian: 75,060
8. Romanian: 65,906
9. Estonian: 57,404
10. Finnish: 47,990
11. Greek: 47,059
12. Serbian: 27,964
13. Hungarian: 27,598
14. Czech: 24,565
15. Albanian: 20,433

Total “European" population: 31,623,353

The flag of ethnic Koreans living in the former Soviet Union/Russian Empire

East Asians

Asians came to Alaska as Settlers, Bandits, Fishermen, Cheap labour, Prospectors, Refugees and Prostitutes and have persevered through discrimination, deportation and servitude.

1. Chinese: 2,091,180
2. Korean: 1,897,200
3. Japanese: 18,177

Total "East Asian" population: 4,006,557

Khanty Family around their Yurt

Volgans

In the late 1700's and early 1800's almost 15% of the Volga river valley's population emigrated to Alaska.

1. Bashkir: 846,200
2. Tatar: 750,000
3. Chuvash: 225,000
4. Mordvin: 126,300
5. Udmurt: 95,250
6. Komi: 82,950
7. Nenets: 6,600
8. Khanty: 4,500
9. Mansi: 1,800
10. Yakut: 150

Total “Volgan” population: 2,289,950

Caucasians and Middle Easterners

Kurdish and Assyrian people have a history in Alaska that goes back centuries. The others are Middle Eastern refugees from the same wave of migration as what has been called "The migrant crisis" in Europe. Turks are mostly migrant workers. Due to migration from Persia to the Russian empire it is believed that around 685,100 Alaskans have at least one great-grandparent from what is today Iran, around 1.62% of the entire population, although many were ethnically Azeri or Kurdish instead of Persian. Around 82% of all Alaskans with Middle Eastern heritage are Iranian, with the second largest group in this category, Turks, being 6.74%, although these numbers fall to 67.42% and 5.53% respectively when including Caucasians. Most Middle Eastern immigrants in Alaska arrived after the year 2000. This category was created when the "Caucasians" and "Middle Easterner" categories were combined into a single group, due to the overlap between them. For example, most Iranian Alaskans are ethnically Azeri, while most Kurds in Alaska come from Armenia and Azerbaijan.

1. Iranian: 685,100
2. Turkish: 56,290
3. Afghan: 42,567
4. Chechen: 37,644
5. Georgian: 36,998
6. Arab: 32,500
7. Armenian: 32,430
8. Ingush: 18,642
9. Azeri: 12,897
10. Kalmyk: 12,617
11. Kurdish: 11,076
12. Balkar: 10,001
13. Ossetian: 8619
14. Assyrian: 7228
15. Karachay: 5813
16. Abkhazian: 4096
17. Lezgin: 884
18. Circassian: 686

Total "Caucasian and Middle Easterner" population: 1,016,088

Artist's interpretation of Tlingit armour

Indigenous

The native people of Alaska are known as "Ostyaks", although this term is considered outdated and even derogatory. Alaska was the first part of the Americas to be settled by Paleo-Indians but their numbers were reduced by conquest and disease. Only 0.58% of Alaska is part of a recognised tribe but if mixed race people are counted that number may be as high as 2-5%. Recognised tribes or ethnic groups include Aleut, Athabascan (Athabascan is a language family, so it's more of a "Catch all" term), Blackfoot, Cree, Haida, Inuit, Kootenai, Lakota, Salish, Tlingit and Yupik. Each of these groups have an autonomous region.

1. Cree: 85,178
2. Salish: 56,590
3. Yup'ik: 35,567
4. Inuit: 23,809
5. Tlingit: 15,200
6. Haida: 10,764
7. Aleut: 7,234
8. Gwich'in: 4,375
9. Blackfoot: 2,784
10. Koyukon: 2,300
11. Kootenai: 1,536
12. Ahtna: 1,427
13. Denaʼina: 1,000
14. Tanacross: 900
15. Eyak: 428
16. Deg Xinag: 275
17. Tanana: 200
18. Holikachuk: 180

Total "Indigenous" population: 245,372

Central Asians

Nearly 200,00 Central Asians live and work in Alaska, mostly as migrant workers who are preferred over those of other nations due to their fluency in Russian. Many Central Asians work in technology, education and healthcare.

1. Kazakh: 97,200
2. Uzbek: 54,000
3. Tajik: 25,787
4. Kyrgyz: 13,755
5. Turkmen: 6700

Total "Central Asian" population: 197,442

Far-Easterners

“Far-easterners” are people who migrated from the pacific coast region of Russia or the nation of Manchuria. Koreans are occasionally included in this group.

1. Khakas: 26,016
2. Chukchi: 16,000
3. Buryat: 8,022
4. Shor: 7,153
5. Ainu: 2,800
6. Itelmen: 1,988
7. Koryak: 1,000
8. Evenki: 654
9. Nivkh: 248
10. Oroch: 45
11. Tofalar: 9

Total “Far-eastern” population: 63,935

Total population: 42,242,908

Religion

Christianity

Christianity is the majority religion of Alaska, practiced by 77.06% of the population. It is divided into 3 categories: Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism (incl. Jehovah's Witnesses). There are 32,555,858 Christians in Alaska.

Orthodoxy

Orthodox Churches (counting Oriental Orthodox Churches such as the Armenians and Assyrians) have 27,107,421 members, being 64.17% of the population.

Protestantism

Once again Germans form the majority of the Protestant population as well, along with Scandinavians and Estonians. There are 3,607,863 Protestants in Alaska. This number includes 19,057 Jehovah's Witnesses.

Catholicism

Catholic Church in Aleneva, Kodiak-Kenai

The first Catholics in Alaska were Ukrainians, 9% of Alaska's Ukrainian population is Catholic (419,355). Germans, Poles, Lithuanians, Czechs and Hungarians form the rest, although there are 137,231 ethnic Russians that are members of the Russian Greek Catholic Church or the main Roman Catholic Church. This leads to a total of 2,446,662 Catholics in Alaska, 5.79%.

Judaism

Synagogue in Spokan, Orpeon Oblast, c. 1954

Until the creation of the State of Israel, Russia had the largest Jewish population in the world. It is no surprise that Alaska, being a microcosm of the Russian Empire, would have over 3 million Jews, or 7.48% of the total population. Note: they are not listed as a separate ethnicity. Half of Ukrainian Alaskans are Jewish, if you are calculating the total you should not add the two million Ukrainian Jews to the rest of the population.

1. Ukrainian Jews in Alaska: 2,845,789
2. Russian Jews in Alaska: 298,119
3. Polish Jews in Alaska: 8,141
4. German Jews in Alaska: 6072
5. Georgian Jews in Alaska: 2250
6. Romanian Jews in Alaska: 902
7. Estonian Jews in Alaska: 79
8. Lithuanian Jews in Alaska: 66
9. Greek Jews in Alaska: 12
10. Armenian Jews in Alaska: 2
11. Serbian Jews in Alaska: 1

Total Jewish population: 3,161,433

Islam

Azerbaijani rug merchants in Czaringrad, 1900

The Muslim population of Alaska is 2,722,637, or 6.44% of the population. Majority are Sunni (73.62%), Shias (Mostly Azerbaijanis, Persians and Tajiks) make up 25.63% and Bektashis (almost all Albanian) are 0.75%. There are 1084 Mosques in the country. Islam was introduced to Alaska via immigration to the country from Central Asia, the Caucasus, Balkans and Middle East. The largest Muslim ethnic group in the country are the Iranians, who are Shia, but the large number of Sunni Muslims from other groups still make Sunnis the majority.

Taoism

All Taoists in Alaska are Chinese. There are 1,766,420 in Alaska.

Buddhism

Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Kalmyk and Buryat immigrants in Alaska constitute its Buddhist population. There are 1,312,175 Buddhists in Alaska.

Irreligious

Atheism, Agnosticism, Scepticism, Freethought and Secular Humanism have all been discouraged in Alaska since the 1920s, even going to persecution. This was due to Atheism often being conflated with Communism. As such, only 718,847 Alaskans (1.70%) claimed to be irreligious. This means that 98.3% of the population says that they "feel religious", one of the highest percentages in the world.

Yazidism

The Yazidi religion (the traditional faith of Kurds) is the smallest religion recognised by the government. All of its followers are Kurds. They number around 5538.