Coverage Area

Data on Indigenous Peoples are not consistently available across all circumpolar regions. The data presented in CircHOB are regionally based and not broken down by ethnicity or nationality within regions. A separate section on Indigenous Peoples’ Health in the Observatory provides a compilation of available statistical data and results of research studies.

The whole of Alaska and Greenland are included. Northern Canada includes only the three northern territories, all located above 60º N latitude. While the Nunavik region in northern Québec province and the Nunatsiavut region in Labrador are often regarded as part of the Canadian Arctic, health data from these regions are generally difficult to extract from the provinces to which they belong.

The northernmost counties in Norway, Sweden, and Finland constitute the northern regions of those countries. [“County” here refers to fylke in Norway, län in Sweden, and lääni in Finland]. These regions, plus those of Murmansk Oblast, Kareliya Republic, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Nenets AO, and Komi Republic in European Russia, are also members of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council.

The situation in Russia is quite complex. The Russian Federation is composed of different types of administrative divisions called federal “subjects” (subyetkty), including republic, kray, oblast, autonomous okrug, and federal city, with varying degrees of autonomy, but all sending representatives to the Federal Council (Sovet Federatsii), the upper house of the Russian parliament.

Autonomous okrugs (hereafter AO), with the exception of Chukotka, are generally part of some higher level units such as oblasts or krays, and usually represent the traditional territories of some indigenous ethnic groups. Demographic and health data are usually available for these AO separately. Both the Nenets AO and Arkhangelsk Oblast, to which the Nenets AO is subordinate, are included on our list. The Yamalo-Nenets, Khanty-Mansi, Taymyr, Evenki, and Koryak AO are included, but not their “parent” Tyumen Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and Kamchatka Krai (see below), which extend far into the southern parts of Siberia. All 13 Russian regions selected here are among those designated as “Far North districts and equivalents” under Decision #1029 of the USSR Council of Ministers adopted in 1967. Part or all of their territory lies above the Arctic Circle. For further information on definitional issues of the Russian North, see Kozlov et al (2007).

* Note that as of January 1, 2010, Finland abolished the lääni and replaced it with the aluehallintovirasto or AVI, translated as regional state administrative agency. For the northern boundaries of Oulu (now called Puhjois-Suomi) and Lappi, there is little boundary change. For the 2000-04 and 2005-09 datasets, these regions will continue to be referred as Oulu and Lappi.

** Note that as of January 1, 2007, the Taymyr, Evenki (merged with Krasnoyarsk Krai) and Koryak AO (merged with Kamchatka Oblast to form Kamchatka Krai) ceased to exist as distinct federal subjects. This change may affect part of the 2005-2009 dataset.