Sakhalin Oblast

Sakhalin four autonomous districts and three federal cities make up the eighty-three federal subjects of Russia. Its capital is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. It is located in the Far East district and includes the island of Sakhalin, which divides the Sea of Okhotsk to the north and the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Kuril Islands, which divides the Sea of Okhotsk to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It is separated from Khabarovsk by the Strait of Tartary, and from Japan by the Strait of La Pérouse.

The region has an area of 87,100 km² and a population of 490,181 (2018 census). Its administrative center and largest city is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, with a population of around 170,000.

Demography

Population

In 2018, its population was 490,181.

Ethnic groups

According to the 2010 census, Russians with (86.3%) constitute the largest population group, followed by Koreans with (5.3%), Ukrainians with (2.6%) and Tatars (1%), a plethora of smaller groups (in total, 127 distinct ethnic groups are listed in the oblast).

In addition to people from other places in the former Soviet Union, Sakhalin is home to the Nivkhs and the Ainu, the latter having recently lost their native language in Sakhalin and almost entirely in Japan.

History

Between 1905 and 1945 the southern part of Sakhalin Island (or Karafuto Island, Krafto in Ainu), along with other islands around it, was controlled by Japan as Karafuto Prefecture. The capital of Karafuto was Toyohara, now the capital of Sakhalin (called Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk). The prefecture was Ainu-speaking rather than Japanese-speaking. As of the 2002 census, 333 residents of the oblast still identified themselves as pure Japanese. Information on the Ainu population is not available; The Ainu may have been included in the "Other" category or may have identified themselves as "Japanese" during the census.