All multinational states. The most multinational countries in the world. Latin American countries

The ethnic composition of the population of foreign Europe is heterogeneous, there are single-national states and states with complex structure ethnically. What are these countries? What are the main groups distinguished by ethnic composition? What factors influenced the formation of the ethnic composition of European countries? This and much more will be discussed in the article.

Factors influencing the national composition of foreign Europe

Currently, more than 62 nations live in Europe. Such a motley national mosaic has been formed on this territory for several millennia under the influence of historical and natural factors.

The flat territories were convenient for the settlement of people and the emergence of ethnic groups. Thus, for example, the French nation was formed on the territory of the Paris Basin, the German people were formed on the North German Plain.

Mountainous territories complicated the ties between ethnic groups, in such territories, as a rule, a motley ethnic composition was formed, for example, the Balkans and the Alps.

Migration processes had a significant impact on the ethnic composition of Europe. From the 16th century. and until the beginning of the 20th century. Europe was mainly a region of emigration, and from the second half of the 20th century. became a region of immigration.

After the 1917 revolution, a stream of migrants flooded from Russia to the countries of foreign Europe, the number of which amounted to about 2 million people. They formed ethnic diasporas in France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia.

They had a huge impact on the ethnic composition of foreign Europe and numerous internecine wars and conquests, as a result of which many peoples have a very complex gene pool. So, for example, the Spanish people were formed as a result of mixing Arab, Celtic, Romanesque, Jewish blood for several centuries. The Bulgarian ethnos was influenced by Turkish rule for 4 centuries.

Since the middle of the 20th century, migration to Europe from former European colonies has increased. Thus, millions of Asians, Africans, Arabs, Latin Americans settled permanently in foreign Europe. In the 70s and 90s, there were several waves of political and labor migration from Yugoslavia and Turkey. Many of them were assimilated into Britain, France and Germany, which led to a change in the modern face of the French, British and Germans.

The most acute ethnic problems in Europe are national separatism and ethnic conflicts. As an example, we can recall the confrontation between the Walloons and the Flemings in the 80s in Belgium, which almost split the country. For more than a decade, the radical organization ETA has been operating, which requires the creation of a Basque state in southwestern France and northern Spain. IN recent times relations between Catalonia and Spain worsened, in October 2017, a referendum for independence was held in Catalonia, the turnout was 43 percent, 90% of those who came voted for independence, but it was declared illegal and not legally binding.

Types of countries in foreign Europe by nationality

In this respect, they are divided into:

  • Mono-ethnic, when in the share of the country's population the main nation is approximately 90% or more. These include Norway, Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia.
  • With the predominance of one nation, but with a significant percentage of national minorities in the structure of the country's population. These are, for example, France, Finland, Great Britain, Romania, Spain.
  • Binational, that is, the national composition of the country is dominated by two nations. Belgium is an example.
  • Multinational - Latvia, Switzerland.

Three types of countries in foreign Europe are predominant in terms of ethnic composition - single-national, with a predominance of one nation and bi-national.

In many European countries, very complex inter-ethnic relations have developed: Spain (Basques and Catalans), France (Corsica), Cyprus, Great Britain (Scotland), Belgium.

Language groups of the population of foreign Europe

In terms of language, the overwhelming majority of the population of Europe belongs to the Indo-European language family. It includes:

  • Slavic branch, which is divided into two groups: southern and western. The South Slavic languages \u200b\u200bare spoken by Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Serbs, Macedonians, Bosnians, and the West Slavic languages \u200b\u200bare spoken by Czechs, Poles, Slovaks.
  • The Germanic branch, which is divided into western and northern groups. The West Germanic group includes German, Flemish, Frisian, english languages... To the North Germanic group - Faroese, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic,
  • The Romanesque branch, its basis was the Latin language. This branch includes the following French, Italian, Provencal, Portuguese, Spanish.
  • The Celtic branch is currently represented by only 4 languages: Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Breton. Approximately 6.2 million people speak the language group.

The Indo-European language family includes Greek (spoken by over 8 million people) and Albanian (2.5 million people). is also Indo-European. Before World War II, there were about 1 million Roma in Europe; today, about 600 thousand of them live in countries of foreign Europe.

In foreign Europe, the following languages \u200b\u200bare spoken:

  • Uralic language family - its Finno-Ugric branch - Finns, Hungarians, Sami.
  • Altai language family - Turkic branch - Tatars, Turks, Gagauz.

A special place is occupied by the Basque language, it does not belong to any language family, it is a so-called isolated language, historical links of which have not been established, about 800 thousand people are native speakers of the language.

National and religious composition of foreign Europe

The dominant religion in Europe is Christianity, only Jews profess Judaism, and Albanians and Croats are Islam.

Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, French, Irish, Austrians and Belgians, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks profess Catholicism.

It should be noted that there are many Protestants among Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians.

In Switzerland and Germany, Catholics are approximately 50%.

Protestantism is practiced by the Norwegians, Swedes, Finns and Germans. Moreover, Lutheranism is widespread.

Orthodox Christianity is widespread in the countries of the southeast and east of Europe - in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria.

However, according to the religious principle, it is impossible to judge the nationality of a person. Many peoples adopted the religion of the state in which they lived. For example, many gypsies profess Christianity, but there are whole camps who consider Islam their religion.

History of statistical accounting of the national composition of the population of Europe

Europe is home to about 500 million people, the predominant part of the population on anthropological grounds is the Caucasian race. Europe can rightfully be considered the ancestral home of the national identity of peoples. It was here that national groups began to emerge, the relationship between which created the history of Europe and not only. Here, population statistics began to develop, taking into account the national composition. But the principles of determining a particular nationality in different countriesah Europe were different.

Initially, the nationality of the people was associated with linguistic affiliation. Belgium in 1846 and Switzerland in 1850 were one of the first countries in foreign Europe that carried out statistical accounting of the national composition of their citizens depending on their language proficiency (during the census the question was: "What is your main spoken language?"). Prussia took up this initiative, and in the 1856 census, the question of the "mother" (native) language was used.

In 1872, at the Statistical Congress in St. Petersburg, it was decided to introduce a direct question of nationality into the list of issues of statistical accounting of citizens of the country. However, until the 20s of the 20th century, this decision was never implemented.

All this time, they kept statistical records of citizens on a religious or linguistic basis. This situation in the census persisted almost until the beginning of World War II.

The complexities of ethnic statistics today

In the post-war period, many countries of foreign Europe either did not set the task of taking into account the national composition of the population at all, or limited it too much.

More reliable information is based on accounting for nationality in five European countries: Albania (census 1945, 1950, 1960), Bulgaria (census 1946, 1956), Romania (census 1948, 1956), Czechoslovakia (census 1950) and Yugoslavia (census 1948, 1953, 1961). All censuses included the question of nationality and mother tongue.

In countries where only the linguistic affiliation of the population was recorded, the ability to determine the ethnic composition becomes more difficult. These are Belgium, Greece, Finland, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Liechtenstein. Nationality does not always coincide with linguistic, many peoples speak the same language, for example, Swiss, Germans, Austrians speak German. In addition, many peoples have completely assimilated in the territory to which they moved, and the concept of "mother tongue" as a determinant of ethnicity does not work in this case.

Countries such as Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, France did not set themselves the task of determining the national composition of the population during the census. First, in these countries, the concept of "nationality" is synonymous with "citizenship"; secondly, in some countries, a relatively homogeneous national composition (Iceland, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland); thirdly, in some countries relatively accurate information is available only for certain peoples, for example, for the Welsh in Great Britain.

Thus, the weak development of statistics on the national question and the multiple changes in the political boundaries of states have created significant problems in the formation of reliable data on the ethnic composition of the population of foreign Europe.

The dynamics of the number of peoples in foreign Europe

The dynamics of the population of the peoples of foreign Europe was not quite the same over the course of centuries of history.

In the Middle Ages, the number of Romanic peoples increased most rapidly, since they were more developed culturally and economically. In modern times, the leadership was taken over by the Germanic and Slavic peoples.

The normal natural development of some European peoples has been disrupted by the world wars. Significant losses during the last world war were among the Jewish people, whose number decreased by more than 3 times, and among the Gypsies by 2 times.

As for forecasts for the future, in the national composition of European countries, an increase in the percentage slavic peoples and a decrease in the percentage of German.

Factors affecting the dynamics of the number of peoples of foreign Europe

One of the main factors affecting the number of individual peoples in the national structure of the countries of foreign Europe is migration, as a result of which the number of people decreases. For example, after the resettlement of Jews to Israel, their number in Europe sharply decreased. But there were exceptions. For example, the Greeks, whose number has increased dramatically due to the resettlement of Greeks to Europe from Turkey.

The dynamics of the number of a people is influenced by the birth rate and mortality rate, but most of all it depends on the degree of its assimilation in the country of residence. Many second- and third-generation immigrants lose their national identity, almost completely assimilated. For example, in France, the Spaniards and Italians are gradually becoming French.

Instead of output

The ethnic composition of foreign Europe is comparatively homogeneous. Europe is dominated by single-ethnic countries and countries where the overwhelming majority are representatives of a particular nation. There are very few countries that are nationally difficult, but national issues they are very sharp.

There are about 3 thousand ethnic units on the globe. There are much fewer states - only a little over 200. It is clear that people of different nationalities live in each of them. In this case, we will only talk about the most multinational countries and their constituent peoples.

A country adored by numerous immigrants. Hence the national diversity. Why is she so attractive?

  • High quality of life.
  • Excellent ecology.
  • Quality education system.

Today, many Russians have settled there, as well as former residents of Ukraine. For several centuries, the most different peoplespeaking different languages. Before that, Indians and Eskimos lived there.

The French, who colonized the land, established their own rules, including the state language. According to some sources, Canada is classified as a bi-national state.

7.Turkey

For european states Turkey is very multi-ethnic. Mostly indigenous Turks live, but you can always meet Armenians and Greeks. Other indigenous people are Kurds. There are few of them left, only 6 million.

Another 8% of all citizens of Turkey are Crimean Tatars, who chose her as their place of residence back in the 18th century. A large community of Christians, mostly Greeks, has settled since the Byzantine period.
The total number of nationalities in the country is 25.

If we take the minimum number, then it will inspire respect - 56. This is how many nationalities live in China.
The placement is uneven. For example, the Han people are common everywhere, but especially in the most largest rivers... They are among the most significant, since historically they always closely interact with their neighbors.
There are numerous Uighurs, there are Kazakhs, Tibetans, Koreans. There are also very small peoples that few people know about.

However, more than 90% of the Celestial Empire are still native Chinese. There are minorities that have their own dialects.

The main peoples of the PRC:

  • gaoshan (Taiwanese);
  • tibeto-Burmese;
  • she, yao, miao;
  • mongolian;
  • turkic;
  • gelao (kadai);
  • han people;
  • hueizui others.

In the south, residents speak the northern dialect of the Han group.

The state in many respects became the successor of the USSR, including with regard to the population. A lot of representatives of the nations of the post-Soviet space live in modern Russia... Most of them are Russians (80%), but there are several dozen others with them (20%).

The largest are Tatars, Bashkirs, Armenians, Ukrainians, Chuvash. There are other peoples inhabiting the Volga region, Zap. Siberia, the Far East.

3. Indonesia

One more interesting country in terms of its national composition. With the available state language, they live here:

  • javanese - 67 million (42%), most of them,
  • sudanese - 15% of all people living in Indonesia,
  • malaysians.

The population speaks 7 hundred different dialects.
It is noteworthy that most of these are non-indigenous people, or rather they were born in Indonesia, but their parents are foreigners. There are a lot of visitors, mostly Japanese, the same Indians, Chinese. The country is not deprived of national groups, this

  • madurians
  • bujis
  • durre
  • betavi and many others. dr.

2. Brazil

South American state has a rich palette in terms of cultures different nations... Surprisingly, according to statistics, Brazil has almost every member of the nation on the planet.
On average, so-called whites account for 54%. These are mainly Germans, Portuguese, Spaniards, Arabs. There are also many mulattos - 38.5%, and blacks - 6.5%.

Asians are also quite common (0.5%). And representatives of the indigenous population are few, only 0.45% of all Brazilians.

There are a lot of nationalities in the country (more than 100), and the population density is high (20 people / sq. M). Mostly inhabited coastal areas, the growth of cities is noticeable. Many Brazilians are now urbanites. If we compare the composition of the population in different years, then in 1960 only half lived in the city, and the figures from ten years ago are already higher - 85%.

Tops this rating in terms of saturation with nations and peoples. In addition, there is a huge number of tribes, caste division. If you imagine the image of India, then this is something whole, made up of many multi-colored pieces of different sizes and shapes. There are several hundred nations, tribes and various nationalities.

These are Bengalis, Tamils, Kannara, Hindustans, Gujarati, Punjabis and many more. Considering that the entire Indian population is one-sixth of the earth's, according to 2016 data, this is not surprising.

The country owes its diversity to the influence of neighboring peoples and the British, who once dominated its territory. Who lives in this fabulous world?

  • Indo-Aryans - 70%
  • Their religion is usually Hinduism or Islam. They have European facial features, but have a dark skin.
  • Dravidians. They are considered the most ancient inhabitants of the territory of India. Their religion is Hinduism, they consider themselves indigenous Indians.
  • Mongoloid race 3% formed under the influence of neighbors: Chinese, Nepalese, Burma. Most are Buddhists.
  • Negroids. Residents of the south. the bulk settled on the Andamsky Islands. There are even Christians among them.

In terms of the number of inhabitants, India lagged slightly behind China, about 1.2 billion citizens now live on its territory, but in terms of its ethnic composition and its diversity it has no equal.

The concept of a multinational state

Definition 1

A multinational state is a state that includes various nationalities and nations that have historically formed on its territory.

A multiethnic state must be distinguished from a multiethnic state, which is characterized by the presence of many ethnic groups within the borders of one nation. For example, the United States does not appear to be a multinational state, because a single American nation has been formed in it, consisting of many ethnic groups.

Formed in different ways multinational states... In one of the cases, this happened where the unification of peoples into a single state took place before their national identity began to form, and a movement of nations for political independence had not yet emerged.

This often happened through conquest. This happened, for example, in Eastern Europe and in many Asian regions. In Africa, multinational states were formed most often in the process of colonial expansion. Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Russia, Vietnam, Iran, China and many others should be considered typical multinational states, in other words, over half of the world's population lives in multinational states.

The existing multinational states can be divided into two types:

  • states dominated by the size of one nation;
  • states in which no nation dominates over others.

Remark 1

Most of the multinational states are classified as those where the dominance of one nation is manifested. Usually it is they who are the most durable, stable in interethnic relations, there are practically no interethnic clashes in them.

According to the forms of territorial state structure, multinational states are both federal and unitary. Traditionally, in a multinational state, multinationality is taken into account in the arrangement of organs state power, in ethno-linguistic politics, in social and cultural life, etc.

The Russian Federation is a multinational state

Russian Federation appears to be a multinational state in which over 140 peoples live. The most numerous nation is Russian, its number is approximately eighty percent of the total population of the state.

A characteristic feature of multinational Russia is the dispersed settlement of ethnic groups, especially in the republics from the Russian Federation. Together with this, the overwhelming majority of regions is characterized by the predominance of the Russian population.

Multinationality is not a defining feature that characterizes the type of state, its social nature. But along with political, economic, spiritual characteristics, the sign of multinationality leaves a certain imprint on the historical fate of the state and its functioning. Traditionally, multinationality is seen as an additional factor that complicates life within a multinational state.

Remark 2

With the right national policy a democratic multinational state can ensure normal mutual relations between peoples, and multinationality itself does not violate the stability and stability of the state.

Features of multinational states

A plurinational state includes more than one ethnic group in its composition, in contrast to ethnically homogeneous societies. In fact, virtually all modern national communities appear to be multinational.

David Wilsh in Labor " Domestic policy and ethnic conflicts ”, published in 1993 at Princeton University, noted that less than twenty out of one hundred and eighty independent states can be called ethnically and nationally homogeneous, but they can be called such only if the national minorities in them make up less than five percent of the total population size.

In the Russian Federation, according to the educational standard for secondary or complete general education (the profile level of the subject is "geography"), the term "multinational" means those states within which several groups of ethnic groups live simultaneously, and all multinational states are subdivided into states:

  • with a pronounced, sharp predominance of any one nation in the presence of more or less significant national minorities, we are talking about France, Great Britain, Spain, China, Mongolia, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, USA, Australia;
  • bi-national, we are talking about Belgium, Canada;
  • with a complex, but ethnically homogeneous composition of nationalities, we are talking about Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Laos;
  • with a varied and complex ethnic ratio nationality, we are talking here about India, Switzerland, Indonesia, Russia.

The pros of multinational states are traditionally considered the flourishing of ethnic and cultural phenomena, friendship of peoples, the ability of nations to execute large-scale projects and survive together in difficult conditions.

The disadvantages are not tolerance, when some nations are intolerant of other nations.

National composition of the population - distribution of people according to ethnicity. Ethnicity (or people) is a historically established stable community of people, united by the unity of language, territory, economic life and culture, and national identity. The forms of ethnic community change and become more complex in the process of development human society - from clan and tribal associations under the primitive system, nationalities under early class societies to independent nations - under the conditions of the merging of local markets into a single national market. If, for example, the formation of nations has long been completed, then in some underdeveloped, and (, etc.) tribal associations are widely represented.

Today there are 2,200 - 2,400 ethnic groups in the world. Their number varies greatly - from several tens of people to hundreds of millions. The largest nations are (in millions of people):

  • chinese - 11 70,
  • hindus (the main people of India) - 265,
  • bengalis (in India and) - 225,
  • americans - 200,
  • – 175,
  • russians - 150,
  • japanese - 130,
  • punjabis (main people) - 115,
  • – 115,
  • biharians - 105.

Thus, at the beginning of the 21st century, 10 ethnic groups account for about 45% of all humanity.

In many states and regions of the world, different ethnic groups are represented differently. Therefore, the main peoples are usually distinguished, that is, ethnic groups that make up the bulk of the population, and national minorities.

According to their origin and social status, national minorities are usually divided into two types:
autochthonous, i.e. indigenous peoples, ethnic groups born of immigration.

So, for the national composition of the modern, the following proportions are characteristic. The main ethnic group - the British - make up 77% of the total population; autochthonous ethnic groups, including Scots, and others - 14% and immigrants from different countries - 9%.

IN last years in countries with a complex ethnic composition, interethnic contradictions have intensified.

a state in whose territory various ethnic groups live - nations, nationalities, national and ethnographic groups.

Historically G.m. formed where the state rallying of more or less vast territories took place before the formation of nations began and national movements developed ( Eastern Europe, including Russia, a number of regions of Asia). Often G.m. formed in the course of colonial expansion (for example, in Africa), in the framework of which many ethnic groups were dismembered by the borders of different states. G.m. were also approved as a result of intensive migrations (for example, to the USA). There are many gems in the world, including India, Indonesia, Russia, China, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and others. were Austria-Hungary, USSR, former Yugoslavia, former colonial empires. In the CIS, the most multinational are the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. Part G.m. are unitary (China, Iran, Vietnam, etc.), while others are federal (Russia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, etc.). Multinationality in itself is not a sign of the weakness and lack of vitality of the state, as is eloquently evidenced by the historical example of democratic Switzerland, although it gives rise to many additional problems.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

A MULTINATIONAL STATE

a state in which none of the peoples living on the territory this state, does not have a dominant position. In other words, interethnic parity remains, when no nationality can be considered an ethnic majority. According to international standards, a state is considered to be multinational when there are no ethnic groups in it that make up more than two-thirds of the population.

According to the puppeteers, the Russian Federation is a multinational state. At the same time, the data of any census will show that the Russian people constitute the overwhelming majority - more than 80% of the country's population. Moreover, if we count together with Belarusians and Ukrainians, then there will be all 85%. This is well over two thirds of the population, with no other ethnic community going beyond 10%. However, the myth of Russia's multinationality continues to be imposed day after day. Every politician considers it his duty to mention the multinationality and multi-confessional nature of Russia, while it even reaches the point of absurdity when Judaism is declared the traditional religion of Russia.

Such a situation should suggest that those in power are projecting their desires onto reality. So far, Russia is a national state of the Russian people with minor ethnic inclusions. But someone really wants to turn it into a multinational state, where any ethnic community will be balanced by other peoples. Thus, ethnic parity will be achieved and a system of checks and balances will be built, which will allow the anti-national forces that have seized it to retain power for as long as they want, since any actions on ethnic grounds will be suppressed by the forces of other peoples. That is why there is a purposeful hammering of this myth into the minds of the man in the street with the aim of making it a reality soon. Thus, this is one of the instruments of the genocide of the Russian people.