during two years the COVID-19 pandemic the region had one of the largest summary fall in life expectancy in Russia, and in 2021 it became 69.70 years (65.31 for males and 73.96 for females) Ethnic groups According to the 2014 Crimean Federal District census, carried out by Russia after its occupation of Crimea in 2014, the ethnic makeup of the population of the whole Crimean Federal District at the time comprised the following self-reported groups: Russians: 1,188,978 (65.2%) Ukrainians: 291,603 (16.0%) Crimean Tatars: 229,526 (12.6%) Tatars: 42,254 (2.3%) Belarusians: 17,919 (1.0%) Armenians: 9,634 (0.5%) In 2021, the Russian figure had risen to 67% while the Ukrainian figure had declined to 7.5%, 161,230 people (amounting to 8.3%) did not declare an ethnicity according to the Russian census. Languages According to the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea: According to the 2014 census, 84% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their native language; 7.9% named Crimean Tatar; 3.7% Tatar and 3.3% Ukrainian. The previous census was held more than decade ago in 2001, when Crimea was still controlled by Ukraine. According to the Republic of Crimea Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth, most primary and secondary school pupils have decided to study in Russian in 2015. In Russian – 96.74% In Crimean Tatar – 2.76%. 5083 pupils (+188 to 2014 year) study in Crimean Tatar language in 53 schools in 17 districts. 37 1st grade classes of primary school have been opened. In Ukrainian – 0.5%. 949 pupils study in Ukrainian language in 22 schools in 13 districts. 2 1st grade classes of primary school have been opened. Its Education Minister Natalia Goncharova announced mid-August 2014 that (since no parents of first-graders wrote an application for learning Ukrainian) Crimea had decided not to form Ukrainian language classes in its primary schools. Goncharova said that since more than a quarter of parents at the Ukrainian gymnasium in Simferopol had written an application to teach children in Ukrainian; this school might have Ukrainian language classes. Goncharova also added that the parents of first-graders had written application for learning the Russian language, and (in areas inhabited by Crimean Tatars) for learning Crimean Tatar. Goncharova stated on 10 October 2014 that at that time Crimea had 20 schools where all subjects were conducted in Ukrainian. A report (realised in the summer of 2015) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) claimed that the