Turkic Peoples of Russia Observatory
Peoples, languages and religious life, with separate regional census and survey profiles.
Initial research edition
38 community profiles · 20 mapped contexts · 10 statistical profiles
Ethnicity: 1 October 2021 census. Religion: 2012 adult survey, covering residents of all ethnicities in each region.
The map locates selected administrative contexts, not ethnic borders or complete settlement areas.
Karachay-Cherkessia
Open full profileA region’s population and religious distribution are not the population or religion of its titular people.
Religious composition
CSVHistorical survey · 2012[3][4]
Religious self-identification · adult respondents aged 18+ · one answer.
29 May–25 June 2012
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 Church13.6%
- Belief without a specific religion11.8%
- No belief in God6.6%
- Islam, neither Sunni nor Shia34.4%
- Christian, neither Orthodox, Catholic nor Protestant1.6%
- Sunni Islam12.6%
- Other Orthodox affiliation, excluding Old Believers0.2%
- Traditional ancestral religion12.2%
- Buddhism0%
- Old Believers0%
- Protestantism0%
- Shia Islam1%
- Catholicism0%
- Judaism0%
- Eastern religions and spiritual practices0.2%
- Pentecostal Christianity0%
- Other response0.4%
- Unable to choose an answer5.4%