The list is based on the data of the 2020-2021 Russian census – an estimation of population statistics conducted once every ten years.

Burmese 

Language family: Sino-Tibetan

Status: safe

In 2020-2021, ten people in Russia stated Burmese as their native tongue. Burmese, sometimes referred to as the Myanmar language, is the official language of Myanmar (formerly Burma), but is also native to a range of other Asian countries, including China, Thailand, and India. Overall, the Burmese-speaking community accounts for 30+ million people around the world. 

Icelandic 

Language family: Indo-European

Status: safe

Icelandic is a North Germanic language that has around 330,000 native speakers, including six in Russia. It’s most prevalent in Iceland (where it’s the national language), Denmark, the US, and Canada. The language derives from Old Norse – a dialect spoken by the Vikings and used in such seminal Scandinavian literary works as the Eddas.

Kerek 

Language family: Chukotko-Kamchatkan

Status: endangered

Some sources describe the Kerek language, found in Chukotka and Kamchatka, as extinct, as its last native speaker died in 2005. Nevertheless, four people identified Kerek as their native language in the recent census. The assumption is that these aren’t necessarily native speakers (the language is unwritten); rather, they listed it as such since it is their national language. The same applies for the remaining two languages on our list.

Yugh

Language family: Dené-Yeniseian

Status: allegedly extinct

Yugh is another unwritten, allegedly extinct language related to Kerek and was marked by three people in Russia in the census. The language was originally spoken by the Yugh people, who dwell near the Yenisei River in central Siberia.

Yuit

Language family: Eskaleut

Status: endangered 

And, finally, the 2020-2021 census found only one Yuit speaker in all of Russia. Yuit, or Siberian Yupik, is the language of the indigenous Yupik people in Chukotka. It is also found in the US, namely Alaska – and St. Lawrence Island in particular – where it’s recognized as one of the state’s official languages. The number of its speakers in the US is believed to be around 400-750; the language is at the risk of disappearing. 

Want to learn more? Discover some of the most popular national languages in Russia here, find our more about Russia's indigenous people here, or stretch your linguistics muscle via this tag.