Lesson video

Hello, my name's Miss Gilliat and I'm going to be your geography teacher for today.

In today's lesson, we are going to be learning about rural Russia and Indigenous peoples.

Our lesson outcome for today is that you can describe the inequality between rural and urban areas of Russia and the challenges Indigenous peoples face.

We've got three key words for today's lesson.

The first one is Indigenous peoples, and those are descended from the original inhabitants of a country or region living in culturally distinct communities.

The second key word is inequality, which is the uneven distribution of resources, opportunities and living conditions.

And finally, a tradition is something that has been done the same way for a long time over generations.

We've got two learning cycles.

So first we're gonna have a think about what is life like in rural Russia and then, what challenges do Indigenous peoples face? Over 70% of Russia is considered to be rural.

Rural Russia is home to 25% of the population.

So if we have a look at the map that I've got here, cities have been represented in the circles and the size of the circles represents the population.

Okay, and we can see that looking at Russia, the majority of the cities are located in the south and in the west of the country.

Now, the majority of the country is rural areas.

However, only 25% of the population live there.

Now, rural areas consist of villages, hamlets and isolated dwellings, and there are often long distance between places.

Okay, so we've got two images here of some of the rural areas within Russia, and what we'll find out is that a lot of these rural areas are actually located in Siberia and they can be very, very cold, especially in winter.

Life in rural Russia is slower and often follows traditional ways, meaning people live in small communities, they do manual work and keep local customs. Many people rely on primary industries such as farming, fishing, and forestry for their livelihoods.

Now, inequality within a country measures how evenly wealth is shared.

Now we can measure inequality using a score from zero to 100.

Okay, so zero is perfect equality.

So everyone has the same wealth.

It's distributed equally amongst a country's inhabitants.

100 is perfect inequality.

So one person holds all the wealth, okay? So we'll look at some scores of different countries.

Now, the Slovak Republic is the most equal country in the world, okay? With a score of 24.

And South Africa is the most unequal country in the world with a score of 63.

So I want you to have a quick guess.

What do you think inequality is like in Russia and what do you think inequality is like in the UK? Have a quick chat with the person you are sat next to.

Okay, so the UK gets a score of 32, okay? And Russia gets a score of 35.

Now globally, the average inequality is 38.

2.

So the UK and Russia are actually slightly better than the global average.

Right, then which statement about inequality in Russia is correct? Pause the video and have a read through.

The answer is D.

Russia's levels of inequality are close to the global average.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, inequality in Russia is most marked between rural and urban areas.

In 2022, average rural incomes were 57% lower than average urban incomes.

Tyumen Oblast is considered to be an urban area, and Ingushetia is considered to be a rural area.

Okay, so we're going to look at these two examples.

So an average income in Tyumen Oblast is the equivalent of 49,000 US dollars.

Okay, so that's the urban area, whereas in Ingushetia, the average income is 2000 US dollars.

Okay, so there's a massive difference there.

Inequality in income leads to a number of differences between urban and rural areas.

So rural areas often have lower life expectancies, fewer job opportunities, poorer infrastructure and services, and they tend to have higher unemployment and higher rates of poverty.

The differences have led to depopulation of rural populations in Russia as people seek higher standards of living in the urban areas.

Okay, so this is known as rural to urban migration.

So people tend to leave the rural areas to live in urban areas.

So we can have a at the line graph here.

So in 1960, the rural population of Russia was just under a half at 46%, whereas in 2023, the rural population was 25%.

Okay, so people are leaving those rural communities to live in towns and cities.

Okay, let's check our understanding, which three impacts of inequality are true of rural Russia? So fewer job opportunities, poorer infrastructure and services and lower life expectancy.

Well done if got those correct.

Now, living standards in rural Russia are on average lower than in urban areas.

However, we cannot assume everywhere and everyone is the same.

Okay, so for example, it is true that people are likely to die earlier in rural areas than urban areas.

However, that does not mean that everyone in rural areas will die two years earlier than those living in urban areas.

That is not true, we cannot assume that.

It is true, the average life expectancy in rural areas is 71 years, whereas in urban areas it is 73 years.

That's a fact, however, it is not true that all rural areas will have the same life expectancy.

So it is important that we cannot assume everywhere and everyone is the same.

Okay, we've got three statements here from Laura, Aisha and Jun.

I'd like you to read the statements and decide who is correct.

Jun is correct.

People living in rural Russia are more likely to have a low income, low life expectancy and be unemployed.

Okay, so we're onto to our first task for the lesson.

What I'd like you to do is answer the following questions about rural Russia.

Okay, so describe some of the characteristics of Russia.

Define inequality.

How does inequality in Russia compare globally? How do incomes between rural and urban areas of Russia evidence inequality? What impact does inequality have on rural areas? Why has inequality led to the depopulation of rural areas? And seven, do all rural Russians have the same living standards? Okay, so pause the video and good luck with these questions.

Okay, let's go through some answers then.

So first question.

Now over 70% of Russia is considered to be rural.

It is home to 25% of the population.

Rural areas consist of villages, hamlets, and isolated dwellings.

There are often long distances between places, life in rural Russia tends to be slower and more traditional than in cities.

And many people rely on primary industries such as farming, fishing, and forestry.

Okay, so it might be worth pausing the video and seeing if you can add any extra detail to your answer.

So for question two, inequality is a lack of fairness in the sharing of wealth or opportunities.

Well done if you've got that correct.

So for question three, how does inequality in Russia compare globally? Globally, inequality is on average measured at 38.

2.

A score of zero means a perfectly equal society where all wealth is shared evenly.

A score of 100 means an unequal society where one person holds all the wealth, Russia's score is 35, meaning there is lower inequality than the global average.

And for question four, how do incomes between rural and urban areas of Russia evidence inequality? In 2022, average rural incomes were 57% lower than average urban incomes.

Well done if got that right.

Question five, what impact does inequality have on rural areas? Well, inequality has led to a number of differences between urban and rural areas.

Rural areas tend to have poorer infrastructure and services, lower life expectancies, fewer job opportunities, high rates of unemployment and high rates of poverty.

And why has inequality led to the depopulation of rural areas? Well, the differences have led to depopulation of rural populations as people seek higher standards of living in urban areas.

And finally, do all rural Russians have the same living standards? Well, living standards in rural Russia are on average lower than in urban areas, but it cannot be assumed that all rural areas and all rural people that live in them are the same, for example, although life expectancy is two years lower in rural than urban areas, not everyone who lives rurally will die two years earlier.

Okay, well done if you've got those answers correct.

Okay, so we're moving on to our second learning cycle now looking at what challenges do Indigenous peoples face.

Now Russia officially recognises 40 Indigenous peoples.

They make up 0.

2% of Russia's population, but they live across 65% of its territory.

Most of the Indigenous peoples live in the north and the east of the country, and 2/3 of the Indigenous peoples live in rural areas.

Okay, so on the slide here I have highlighted where the majority of these populations live.

Okay, so 2/3 live in rural areas, but 1/3 of them do now live in towns and cities.

Now the population size of Indigenous peoples varies, and some groups such as the Enets and the Ket have very small populations.

So the Enets have a population of 350 people as the Ket have a population of 1,100.

So really not that many people at all.

The Chukchi have more people with 16,000 and the Evenki are the largest Indigenous peoples group with 30,000 people.

Indigenous peoples usually have their own unique languages, traditions, clothing, ways of life and specific customs and spiritual beliefs.

So we can see on the slide here that we've got an Evenki birch bark tent, which is where a lot of the Evenki people traditionally used to live.

And there's also a picture on the right with a man wearing some of the traditional clothing.

So we can see here that the Evenki people use nature and their surrounding ecosystems for their settlement, and also things like their clothing.

Traditionally, the Evenki were reindeer herders, hunters and fishers, and they were known for their nomadic lifestyle.

That meant that they didn't just stay in one place, they would move about.

Okay, so there's a picture here from 1907, which shows a family riding some reindeers, and on the right here we can see a modern day campsite and their sleds.

Okay, that looks pretty cold, doesn't it? Okay, how many Indigenous peoples does Russia officially recognise? The answer is 40, well done if you remembered that.

And which Indigenous people of Russia have the largest population? That is the Evenki, well done if you got that correct.

Okay, so we're now going to think about some of the challenges for the Indigenous peoples.

Okay, and these include cultural erosion, access to services, population decline and loss of land.

So I've got a question at the bottom here.

What are these challenges and what impact may they have? So I'd like you to have a chat with the person that you are sat next to.

Okay, we're going to look at these in a little bit more detail then.

So for loss of land, a description of that is that the ancestral lands are taken for mining and oil projects.

Okay, so that means that mining and oil companies are coming in and they are extracting those resources.

But what that can mean is that the Indigenous people can't live there anymore.

So they're being forced from their very own land.

The impact of that is there's harm to forests and rivers, disruption to hunting and herding and threatening sacred and cultural sites.

So access to services.

And that means that remote areas often have poor access to healthcare and education and language barriers make it harder still.

The impact of this is that health problems are more common and overall living conditions are worse compared to the general population.

So for cultural erosion, younger generations adopt Russian customs and don't use the Indigenous language.

And the impact of that is that cultures are eroding, making it harder to keep traditions alive and languages are disappearing sadly.

Population decline, most experience a decrease in population in modern times, the trend accelerating in the last decade.

So we are seeing fewer and fewer of these Indigenous peoples with fewer people.

It is harder to sustain cultures, knowledge and language is not passed to the next generation.

Okay, looking at that, which challenge to Indigenous peoples is missing? That's access to services.

Well done if you've got that correct.

Okay, so we're onto to our final task for this lesson.

So on the slide here, I've got a table which shows the challenges that Indigenous peoples face.

What I would like you to do is fill in a description and an impact, okay? Now for the first one, I've given the description.

So you need to figure out what the challenge is, and I've also given the impact of one of the challenges down there.

So you also need to figure out which challenge that one is.

Okay, so pause the video and complete the table.

Okay, so I've got the answers on the slide here, so I'm not going to go through them with you, but you can pause the video and just double check what you have got compared to mine.

Okay, so we've got a summary for today's lesson here.

Now, over 70% of Russia is considered to be rural.

It is home to 25% of the population, and there is inequality between rural and urban areas.

Okay, and remember, Russia got a 35 score on the inequality index.

Inequality results in lower incomes, lower life expectancy, and higher unemployment in rural areas, Russia officially recognises 40 Indigenous peoples, and they make up not 0.

2% of Russia's population yet they live across 2/3 of its territory.

Indigenous peoples normally have their own unique languages, traditions, clothing and ways of life and challenges to their ways of life include loss of land, cultural erosion, population decline, and access to services.

Okay, that's it from me today.

Fantastic job on today's lesson and I'll see you next time, bye.