North Ossetiya - Атлас этнических региональных автономий - Сеть по исследованию идентичности

Description of the autonomy

One of the 22 republics of the Russian Federation. It is located on the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus Ridge and on the sloping plains adjacent to it, and part of the Middle Valley (Mozdok district). In the south, it borders on Georgia. The economic base of the region is the industrial complex, which distinguishes it against the background of neighboring predominantly agrarian republics.

Since 1920, North Ossetia was part of the Mountain Republic, in 1924 became North Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, and in 1936 the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. In 1990, it was renamed the Republic of North Ossetia, and since 1995 it became known as the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.

The titular ethnic group is the Ossetians, who are regarded as descendants of Alans. Language is the defining marker of their differences from the titular nation of the country. The Ossetian language belongs to the Iranian group (northeastern subgroup) of the Indo-European family of languages. In the Ossetian language are divided into dialects: the Digor(distributed in the west of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania) and the Iron. Ossetians are Orthodox, although traditional Ossetian beliefs that have pre-Christian roots persist.

According to the results of the All-Russian population census of 2010, Ossetians make up the largest share of the population of the republic (65.1%), while Russians make up 20.8%.Наиболее крупными межэтническими конфликтами в регионе в постсоветское время был осетино-ингушский, вопрос о статусе некогда входившего в Ингушетию Пригородного района Северной Осетии остается до конца не разрешенным.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer