 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 762 (2010) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Irkutsk Oblast (Siberia, Russia) | |
 Russia
| 719 (2021)[1] |
 Ukraine | 18 (2001)[2] |
| Languages | |
| Tofalar, Russian | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism, Russian Orthodox Christianity, Animism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tozhu Tuvans, Dukhans, Soyot | |
The Tofalar (also Karagas or Tofa; Тофалары, тофа (tofa) in Russian) people are a Turkic people who live in Tofalariya, in the southwestern part of Nizhneudinsky District, Irkutsk Oblast of Russia.[3] The Tofalar population is highly mixed with Russians due to the presence of Russian settlers and high rates of intermarriage.[4][5]
Prior to Soviet rule, the Tofalar led a nomadic lifestyle in the taiga, engaging in reindeer husbandry and hunting. Afterwards, they were resettled by the Soviet government and forced to adopt sedentarism and were discouraged from practicing hunting and shamanism. According to the 2010 census, there were 762 Tofalar in Russia.
- ^ "Оценка численности постоянного населения по субъектам Российской Федерации". Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
- ^ State statistics committee of Ukraine - National composition of population, 2001 census (Ukrainian)
- ^ Akiner, Shirin (1986). Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (with an appendix on the non-Muslim Turkic peoples of the Soviet Union). London: Routledge. pp. 428–431. ISBN 0-7103-0025-5.
- ^ Кривоногов, Виктор Павлович (2016-09-03). "Современные тофалары (опыт интервальных исследований)". Новые исследования Тувы (in Russian) (3). ISSN 2079-8482.
- ^ Krivonogov, Victor P. (August 16, 2018). "People of the Deer Living near Lake Baikal: Dynamics of Ethno-Cultural Identity of Modern Tofalars". Journal of Siberian Federal University. 11 (8): 1274–1300.