The Republic of Mordovia is a national entity with more than 80 years of history: it was formed in 1930. A significant part of its population is made up of representatives of the ethnic group under the general name "Mordovians". Where exactly is this territory located?
The Republic of Mordovia is a territory that is one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, located in the European part of Russia.
Territory of Mordovia
The territory of the republic is located on the East European Plain and has borders with neighboring subjects of the Federation: with the Nizhny Novgorod region - in the northern part, Chuvashia - in the northeastern part, with the Ulyanovsk region - in the eastern part, with the Penza region - in the southern part, with the Ryazan region - in the western part. The area of the republic's territory is slightly more than 26 thousand square kilometers.
The capital of the Republic of Mordovia is the city of Saransk. In addition to it, this constituent entity of the Federation includes 22 districts and two more cities of republican subordination: Ruzayevka and Kovylkino. The region itself is part of the Volga Federal District.
Population of Mordovia
The total population of the Republic of Mordovia is more than 800 thousand people, of which about 300 thousand live in the administrative center of the region - Saransk. In total, more than 60% of the total population of the region permanently lives in urban areas: thus, it is an area with a high level of urbanization.
Despite the fact that administratively the Republic of Mordovia is a part of the Russian Federation, the population belonging to the Russian nationality is here a little more than half of its total number: according to the 2010 census, they include 53.4% of the total population of the region. In this case, 40% of people living in the territory of the subject of the Federation belong to the traditional Mordovian ethnic groups - Moksha and Erzyans. At the same time, traditional ethnic groups are distinguished by a compact nature of residence: for example, the Mokshans are localized mainly in the central and western parts of the republic, and the Erzyans are located in its eastern part. Most of the population, according to the census, are adherents of the Orthodox religion.
In 5 out of 22 districts that make up the Republic of Mordovia, the national group of Mokshans constitutes the ethnic majority. Erzians have a numerical advantage in 6 districts of the region. At the same time, in the urban area of the subject of the Federation, the Russian population predominates. In this regard, on the territory of the republic, three dialects have the status of an officially recognized state language: Russian, Moksha and Erzyan languages. At the same time, the Moksha and Erzyan languages, according to experts in the field of linguistics, belong to the Finno-Ugric language group.
