Editing Sakhalin (section)

==Demographics==
[[File:V.M. Doroshevich-Sakhalin. Part II. Nivkh Children.png|thumb|[[Nivkh people|Nivkh]] children in Sakhalin {{circa|1903}}]]
According to the 1897 census, Sakhalin had a population of 28,113, of which 56.2% were Russians, 8.4% [[Ukrainians]], 7.0% [[Nivkh people|Nivkh]], 5.8% [[Polish people|Poles]], 5.4% [[Tatars]], 5.1% [[Ainu people|Ainu]], 2.82% [[Oroks]], 0.95% [[Germans]], 0.81% [[Japanese people|Japanese]], with the non-indigenous people living mainly from agriculture, or being convicts or exiles.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Первая Всеобщая перепись населения Российской империи, 1897 г.|volume=LXXVII|year=1904|language=ru|pages=34–37, 56–63}}</ref> The majority of Nivkh, Ainu and Japanese lived from fishing or hunting, whereas the Oroks lived mainly by livestock ([[Reindeer herding|reindeer]]) breeding.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Первая Всеобщая перепись населения Российской империи, 1897 г.|volume=LXXVII|pages=64–65}}</ref> The Ainu, Japanese and [[Koreans]] lived almost exclusively in the southern part of the island.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Первая Всеобщая перепись населения Российской империи, 1897 г.|volume=LXXVII|pages=36–37}}</ref> Since 1925, many Poles fled Soviet Russian persecution in the north to the then Japanese south.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Winiarz|first=Adam|year=1994|title=Książka polska w koloniach polskich na Dalekim Wschodzie (1897–1949)|magazine=Czasopismo Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich|language=pl|publisher=[[Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich]]|volume=5|page=66}}</ref>

The 400,000 [[Japanese diaspora|Japanese]] inhabitants of Sakhalin (including the Japanized indigenous [[Ainu people|Ainu]]) who had not already been [[Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles|evacuated]] during the war were deported following the invasion of the southern portion of the island by the Soviet Union in 1945 at the end of World War II.<ref>Carson, Cameron, "[https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3563&context=honors_theses Karafuto 1945: An examination of the Japanese under Soviet rule and their subsequent expulsion]" (2015). Honors Theses. Western Michigan University.</ref>

In 2010, the island's population was recorded at 497,973, 83% of whom were ethnic [[Russians]], followed by about 30,000 [[Sakhalin Koreans|Koreans]] (5.5%). Smaller minorities were the [[Ainu people|Ainu]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Tatars]], [[Sakhas]] and [[Evenks]]. The native inhabitants currently consist of some 2,000 [[Nivkh people|Nivkhs]] and 750 [[Orok people|Oroks]]. The Nivkhs in the north support themselves by fishing and hunting.

The administrative center of the oblast, [[Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk]], a city of about 175,000, has a large Korean minority, typically referred to as [[Sakhalin Koreans]], who were forcibly brought by the Japanese during [[World War II]] to work in the coal mines. Most of the population lives in the southern half of the island, centered mainly around Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and two ports, [[Kholmsk]] and [[Korsakov (town)|Korsakov]] (population about 40,000 each). In 2008 there were 6,416 births and 7,572 deaths.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vostokmedia.com/n36536.html |script-title=ru:Сахалин становится островом близнецов? |trans-title=Sakhalin is an island of twins? |date=February 13, 2009 |language=ru |publisher=Восток Медиа [Vostok Media] |access-date=June 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717093922/http://www.vostokmedia.com/n36536.html |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>