Censuses of the Indigenous Sami-Saami Population

An initial inhabiting of this territory by Sami is not exactly established. However, it is considered and believed that Sami have come from areas of Ladoga and Onega lakes to Kola Peninsula and to the north of Scandinavia approximately about 8000 BC; though the recent discovery of non-Sami skeletons and artifacts in Norway dated prior to the end of last ice age counters this argument. They are considered the first residents of this area.

The Sami followed their food sources that moved northward behind the retreating glaciers. There are indications that the Sami have lived together with reindeer for more than 1,000 years.

The total number of Sami/Lapps in Northern Europe is problematic due to the application of various criteria of their ethnic identification. In Finland until 1996, the language was accessory; in Norway, Lappish language is used at the house; in Sweden, there is law about heritage of employment of reindeer breeding; and, in Russia, the ethnic consciousness was considered as the most essential factor.

Censuses of the Lappish population were not used anywhere except for Russia. Therefore, the data cited in various sources is mere estimation and fluctuates from 35,000 to 70,000 people. Thus, some researchers consider it possible to define the maximum number of all Sami at about 35,000 people.

It is necessary to mention that Sami are a minority not only in relation to the population of the national states, but also in relation to the population of the territory of their primordial residence. Only in internal areas of Finnmarka (Norway) and in Utsjoki (Finland), Sami continue to remain to be the ethnic majority. In Russia and Sweden, the Sami are today a distinct minority.

Sami divided to four basic economic-cultural types.

The most numerous group concerns the first mountain Sami, living mainly in Sweden, with only a small number in Norway and Finland. They are engaged mainly in mountain reindeer breeding and conduct a nomadic life.

The second group is a settled seaside or coastal Sami to which the majority Sami belongs in Norway. Their basic employment is sea fishery. In the summer and in the autumn, Sami fish for salmon, and in the spring, they undertake coastal fishing for cod.

The third group is so-called forest. They occupy basically wooded areas of Sweden and Finland and are engaged mainly in hunting for wild reindeer and fur-bearing animals, and they also participate in domestic reindeer breeding. Their way of life is a semi-nomadic.

Sami of Kola Peninsula represent an absolutely independent ethnographic group named Kola Sami (Lapps). These are the fourth type, defined by a combination of reindeer breeding, fishery, hunting, semi-nomadic, and, in the last decades, a settled way of life.