Lemkos

Lemkos (Rusyn: лeмкы, romanized: lemkŷ; Polish: Łemkowie; Ukrainian: лемки, romanized: lemky; Slovak: Lemkovia) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region (Rusyn: Лемковина, romanized: Lemkovyna; Ukrainian: Лемківщина, romanized: Lemkivshchyna) of Carpathian Rus', an ethnographic region in the Carpathian Mountains and foothills spanning Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland.

Lemkos are often considered to be a sub-group of Rusyns. Members of these groups have historically also been given other designations, such as Verkhovyntsi ("highlanders"). Among people of the Carpathian highlands, communities speaking the same dialect will identify with a different ethnic label when crossing borders due to the influence of state-sponsored education and media. As well, the same community may switch its preferred identification over time. In Slovakia, between the 1991 and 2001 censuses, the number of people identifying as "Ukrainian" declined by 2,467 (an 18.6% decrease), while those reporting Rusyn as their national identity increased by 7,004 people (a 40.6% increase). It is not clear, however, if this refers to the same individuals switching their identification, more young first-time respondents choosing Rusyn, or migration.

The spoken language of the Lemkos, which has a code of rue under ISO 639-3, has been variously described as a language in its own right, a dialect of Ukrainian, or a dialect of Rusyn. In Ukraine, almost all Lemkos speak both Lemko and standard Ukrainian (according to the 2001 Ukrainian Census). Ukraine itself categorizes Lemkos as an ethnic subgroup of Ukrainians and not as a separate ethnicity. In the Polish census of 2011 10,531 citizens declared Lemko nationality (compared to 51,001 declarations of Ukrainian identity, 46,787 Belarusian identity and 13,046 Russian identity). 5,612 people declared only Lemko nationality, 3,621 declared double national identity — Lemko-Polish, and 1,088 declared double identity Lemko-Ukrainian. I.D. Liubchyk (І.Д.Любчик) cites the number of around 700 thousand people with Lemko ancestry in the world, out of which 350 thousand are in Ukraine, 150 thousand in North America, 100 thousand in Poland, 100 thousand in Slovakia, and 50 thousand in post-Yugoslavia states. During the 2001 Ukrainian census, Lemko identity was not researched (option not available in survey).