According to the census conducted in 2002, Russian people comprise 80% of the 145.2 million people living in Russian federation. They are part of a huge community of more than 160 nationalities and ethnic groups. Although the official language spoken across the territory is Russian, local languages are very important too. Linguists have named about 150 different languages spoken in Russia. Each nation or ethnic group observes its own traditions and customs, and the five main religions are orthodoxy, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism or Buddism. People speaking Finno-ugorian languages (e.g. Karelians, mordovians, Maris, koumiss, khanty and mansi) live mostly in the European part of Russia and are mainly orthodox believers. Turkic and Mongolian peoples inhabit huge territories of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Though the physical features of these people are very different, their languages are alike. Within this group, Tatars and Bashkirs are mainly Muslim, and tuvinians and buryats are mainly buddhist. The Yakuts, who live in the largest republic in the federation, were converted to orthodox Christianity in the 18th century, but strong elements of their animist beliefs survived. The Caucasian people who live in the republics of Adygeya, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan are mostly Muslims, whereas most Ossetians are orthodox. They speak about forty different languages and have their own traditions and customs, which are sometimes very similar. Slightly fewer than one third of a million people live in the north east and Far East, but they represent around ten language groups. Though they were converted to Christianity long ago, their traditional religion survived. The Koryaks and Chukchis of this region have much in common with inhabitants of Alaska.

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