Vepsians

Veps
Vepsläižed
Flag of Vepsians[1]
Total population
4,877
Regions with significant populations
 Russia4,534 (2021)[2]
 Ukraine281 (2001)[3]
 Estonia54 (2011)[4]
 Belarus8 (2009)[5]
Languages
Vepsian and Russian
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy majority
Related ethnic groups
Other Baltic Finns
Especially Karelians and Finns

Veps, or Vepsians (Veps: vepsläižed), are a Baltic Finnic people who speak the Veps language, which belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages.

According to the 2002 Russian census, there were 8,240 Veps in Russia. Of the 281 Veps in Ukraine, 11 spoke Vepsian according to the 2001 Ukrainian census.

The self-designations of these people in various dialects are vepslaine, bepslaane and (in northern dialects, southwest of Lake Onega) lüdinik and lüdilaine. Almost all Vepsians are fluent in Russian. The younger generation, in general, does not speak Vepsian although many have an understanding of the language.[6]

  1. ^ Paškov, Aleksandr (1994). Karjalan vaakunat ja liput. Petroskoi: KAREKO. p. 327-330. ISBN 5-88129-010-0.
  2. ^ Russian census 2010 Archived October 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Ukrainian census 2001". Ukrcensus.gov.au. Retrieved 24 October 2017.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Population by Ethnic Nationality, Mother Tongue, Citizenship, Sex, Age Group and Place of Residence, 31 December 2011". Pub.stat.ee. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Население по национальности и родному языку" [Population by nationality and mother language] (PDF). Перепись населения Республики Беларусь 2009 года (in Russian). Нацыянальны статыстычны камітэт Рэспублікі Беларусь. 12 August 2010.
  6. ^ "Russian Veps: We talk to the Finns without an interpreter".