Genetic and demographic characteristics of rural populations of Altai Republic: Sex-Age composition,surname and tribal structure

The sex, age, tribal, and surname compositions of the populations of three villages of Altai Republic, Kulada (Ongudaisk raion), Beshpeltir (Chemal raion), and Kurmach-Baigol (Turochak raion) have been studied. Altaian populations are characterized by a high proportion of persons under 20 years of age (35.3–46.1%); however, there is a tendency towards a narrow base of the sex-age pyramid. The sex ratios in the total populations and in individual age groups are unfavorable. The rural populations studied differ in the spectrum and pattern of surname accumulation. The Kurmach-Baigol population (which consists of Northern Altaians) considerably differs from the Beshpeltir and Kulada populations (which are mostly Southern Altaian) with respect to the calculated parameters characterizing the population structure (random isonymy, migration index, the parameter of tribe diversity, entropy, and the redundancy of surname distribution). Isonymy coefficients of relationship between individual populations have been calculated from the data on tribes (surnames). These coefficients for pairs of populations are the following: for the Beshpeltir and Kulada populations, 0.3035938 (0.0000443 and 0.0000378 for the Altaian and total populations, respectively); for the Beshpeltir and Kurmach-Baigol populations, 0.0026788 (0.0000172 and 0.0000121 for the Altaian and total populations, respectively); and for the Kulada and Kurmach-Baigol populations, 0.0054811 (no common surnames have been found).Translated from Genetika, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2005, pp.254–260.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Kucher, Tadinova, Puzyrev.