Simferopol is the very heart of Crimea. Although it is not a resort town in the literal sense of the word, because it has no access to the sea, it nevertheless takes the second place on the peninsula after Sevastopol in terms of the number of inhabitants. So what is the population of Simferopol?
A bit of the history of the city
There is evidence that the Salgir River Valley has attracted residents since ancient times. There were bisons, deer, wild horses and even mammoths. Fertile soil promoted agriculture and cattle breeding. The remains of the Taurian settlements in the valley dating back to the 9th century BC
In the 4th century BC Scythians settled in the vicinity of the present city, and already in the 3rd century their settlement became the capital of Lesser Scythia. The real name of the city has sunk into oblivion, but in Greek chronicles it is called Neapolis, that is, the "new city". Therefore, historians call it that - Naples Scythian. It was a real city with fortified walls, a square, a royal palace, noisy bazaars and crowded streets. True, all this disappeared in the 3rd century A.D. after the invasion of the Huns and was buried under piles of earth and ash. And only in 1827 on the plateau of the Peter Mountains were discovered traces of the ancient capital of the Scythians.
The next inhabitants of this territory were the Tatars, who built the town of Ak-Mosque in the 15th century, which became the residence of the governor of the khan. During the Crimean War, he was captured by the Russian army. Catherine II wanted to build the capital of the Tauride region on this site. A decree was given to the existing constructions of the Ak-Mosque to build new neighborhoods. The future capital was given the name Simferopol (from the Greek words "benefit" and "city"). The date of foundation of the present center of Crimea is considered to be 1784.
Changes in the population of Simferopol
The first residents were retired soldiers and immigrants from Ukraine and Russia. According to a census conducted in 1839, 7, 000 people lived in the settlement. The population of Simferopol was growing smoothly, a breakthrough was observed only after 1874, when the first train arrived at the newly-built railway station of the city. So, at the beginning of the 20th century, more than 60, 000 people lived in the city. In 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, the number of inhabitants was 91, 000.
After the war ended, only 71, 000 remained in Simferopol (data from 1923). The numbers speak for themselves: thousands died, and the once flourishing and developing city lay in ruins. But time does not stand still, as if a second wind opened in Simferopol, and by 1939 the above number had doubled, 143, 000 people lived and worked in the regional center.
But there were difficult years ahead: World War II claimed many lives, and the deportation of the Crimean Tatars of 1944 negatively affected quantitative indicators. This people was accused of collaborating with German occupants and massively exported to the territory of the Mari USSR, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
So, as of 1945, the city was half empty: there were only 67, 000.
But from that time on, it began to grow rapidly, new plants and factories were being built, and infrastructure was developing. As a result, in 1959 there were three times as many residents: 186, 000, and their number was growing at a tremendous pace, in 1989 reaching 343, 565.
The population of Simferopol as part of Ukraine
If we talk about average figures, then after the collapse of the Union, up to now, about 340, 000 people lived in the regional center, and this figure fluctuated slightly within 1-2%. For example, according to 2001 data, the population of Simferopol was 343, 644, and in 2009 - 337, 139.
Future prospects
Demographic growth as such has virtually ceased. This is a problem not only in Simferopol, since the birth rate has been declining in the post-Soviet space since the late 1980s, and this Crimean city was no exception. Although a special program to promote fertility was introduced (the state provided material assistance for caring for a child), but this did not significantly affect demographic indicators. In addition to natural growth, there is also migration, but this phenomenon is temporary and will not save the situation either.
Of course, you don’t need to trumpet that Simferopol is dying. This is a large comfortable city with a temperate Crimean climate and developed infrastructure.
There are many educational institutions, so the concentration of students here is ensured. And life here does not stop with the end of the tourist season, as in other cities of the southern coast of Crimea. In the end, it is still a regional center with many administrative institutions. In short, the prospects for further growth, or at least demographic stability, are evident.
The population of Simferopol since 2014
Data for 2013 indicate that 337, 285 people lived in the city. After the events of 2014, many Simferopol residents left the peninsula, and the population decreased by 5, 000 inhabitants, so there were 332, 317 people in the city. 2015 was stable, there is even a slight increase. Now the population of Simferopol is 332 608 inhabitants.
What will happen next, time will tell, is difficult to predict anything in the current political situation.
Composition of the population
There is data from 2002, which indicates that 66.8% of Simferopol citizens are Russian (at that time this figure was 225 898 people), 20.8% were Ukrainians (70, 143 people), 7.4% were Crimean Tatars (25005 people)) 5% ranked themselves among other nationalities (Jews, Armenians, Belarusians, Azerbaijanis, etc.). As can be seen from these figures, the population of the city of Simferopol is multinational, however, as in the whole of Crimea. It is especially valuable that representatives of the Crimean Tatar culture live next to the Russians and Ukrainians in their historical homeland (after the collapse of the Union they were allowed to return to Crimea).
