"Hayk's Arrow" Armenian Strategic Center
North Caucasus Observatory

North Ossetia–Alania

Reviewed

Initial research edition

Capital
Vladikavkaz[14]
Administrative status
Republic[6]
Population · 1 Jan 2025
678,826[1]

Ethnic composition

CSV

2021 census · [22][3]

Share of residents who stated their ethnicity in the census.

  • Ossetians68.1%
  • Russians18.9%
  • Ingush3.8%
  • Kumyks2.8%
  • Armenians1.8%
  • Georgians1%
  • Turks0.6%
  • Chechens0.4%
  • Azerbaijanis0.4%
  • Kabardians0.3%
  • Roma0.3%
  • Other ethnicities1.6%

Published one-decimal percentages among residents who stated ethnicity. Nonresponse is outside this denominator; exact counts are not supplied by this source.

Religious composition

CSV

Historical survey · 2012[24][25]

Religious self-identification · adult respondents aged 18+ · one answer.
29 May–25 June 2012

  • Christianity62.2%
  • Islam4%
  • Traditional ancestral religion29.4%
  • Belief without a specific religion0.8%
  • No belief in God3%
  • Other religions0%
  • Other response0.2%
  • Unable to choose an answer0.4%

Survey results describe 2012 adult respondents, not the present-day population. Percentages are rounded. The publisher reports 500–800 interviews per region; the exact achieved sample for this republic is unverified. Overview groups combine the original response options, listed below.

Survey method & grouping

Historical adult survey, 29 May–25 June 2012; one answer per respondent. Shares concern regional respondents aged 18+, not the current population. The publisher reports 56,900 interviews overall and 500–800 per participating region; the exact achieved sample for this republic was not established. The eight overview groups are our aggregation of the 18 original response options, all retained below, including zero values. Christianity combines seven Christian options; Islam combines three Muslim options; other religions combines Buddhism, Judaism and Eastern religions/spiritual practices. These survey groupings describe self-identification, not practice or ethnicity.

All survey response options
  • Orthodox, Russian Orthodox Church49.2%
  • Belief without a specific religion0.8%
  • No belief in God3%
  • Islam, neither Sunni nor Shia3%
  • Christian, neither Orthodox, Catholic nor Protestant9.8%
  • Sunni Islam1%
  • Other Orthodox affiliation, excluding Old Believers2.2%
  • Traditional ancestral religion29.4%
  • Buddhism0%
  • Old Believers0.2%
  • Protestantism0.8%
  • Shia Islam0%
  • Catholicism0%
  • Judaism0%
  • Eastern religions and spiritual practices0%
  • Pentecostal Christianity0%
  • Other response0.2%
  • Unable to choose an answer0.4%

Institutions

The republic’s Parliament hosts the constitutional source used in this profile. Article 15 records a March 2021 amendment to its language provision; the formal text is not an assessment of language-policy implementation.[15]

Languages

The posted article 15 identifies Ossetian and Russian as state languages and explicitly names the Iron and Digor dialects of Ossetian. These provisions do not establish everyday language-use proportions.[15]

Method & limitsSources