{{Short description|Residents of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone}} {{Italic title}} thumb|right|250px|Two ''samosely'' in 2007<!--village is not specified--> '''''Samosely''''' ({{langx|uk|самосели}}; {{langx|ru|самосёлы}}; {{langx|be|самасёлы}}, {{lit|self-settlers}}) are residents of the 30-kilometer Chernobyl Exclusion Zone surrounding the most heavily contaminated areas near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Belarus and Ukraine. In Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian the ''semosel''{{refn|{{langx|uk|самосел}}, {{translit|uk|samosel}}; {{langx|ru|самосёл}}, {{translit|ru|samosel, samosyol}}; {{langx|be|самасёл}}, {{translit|be|samasyol}}}} is a generic reference to these who settle without an official approval or permission.
The zone contains a number of abandoned towns and villages whose current population is made up of people who either refused to evacuate the area or secretly resettled in the relatively unprotected region after it was cordoned off. The majority of the ''samosely'' are elderly people who made their home in the area prior to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, although some are disaffected settlers from outside the region. When the population was evacuated, they were initially told they could return in a few days, and many faced discrimination in areas of government resettlement.<!--info from ruwiki following:--> Originally there were 1,200 people who returned into the area in 1986 after evacuation.<!--ruwiki does not provide an inline citation for that claim--> As of 2007, there were 314 ''samosely'' remaining (out of the 100,000 previous inhabitants of the area that have been evacuated), according to the last official ''samosely'' census.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://112ua.tv/video/kak-seychas-zhivut-samosely-v-chernobylskoy-zone-otchuzhdeniya-268108.html|title=Как сейчас живут самосёлы в Чернобыльской зоне отчуждения|publisher=112 Украина|date=2018-04-26|access-date=2018-10-29}}{{dead link|date=November 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In 2017, there were only 135 ''samosely'' left.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ru.tsn.ua/video/video-novini/poslednie-samosely-chernobylskoy-zony-rasskazali-o-svoem-hozyaystve-i-neobychnyh-suvenirah-ot-turistov.html|title=Последние самосёлы Чернобыльской зоны рассказали о своем хозяйстве и необычных сувенирах от туристов|publisher=ТСН|date=2017-10-18|access-date=2018-10-29|archive-date=2018-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030035401/https://ru.tsn.ua/video/video-novini/poslednie-samosely-chernobylskoy-zony-rasskazali-o-svoem-hozyaystve-i-neobychnyh-suvenirah-ot-turistov.html}}</ref> Most are concentrated in the town of Chernobyl itself, with about half the population dispersed in 11<!--according to ruwiki, but no inline citation given for that claim--> other villages throughout the zone. The average age of the ''samosely'' is 63<!--according to ruwiki, but no inline citation given for that claim-->. The main reason for the decline of the ''samosely'' population is their advanced age.<!--according to ruwiki, but no inline citation given for that claim-->
==Population== In Ukraine, the population was estimated at 197 in 2012, down from 328 in 2007 and 612 in 1999 {{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}. During the past 25 years, there were more than 900 deaths and just one birth in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The only known birth occurred on 25 August 1999, when 46-year-old Lydia Sovenko gave birth to a healthy girl. Both Lydia and her husband, Mikhailo Bedernikov had returned to Chernobyl a few months earlier. The child, Maria Sovenko lived in Chernobyl until 2006. She moved to a village outside the Exclusion Zone, where she attended boarding school. Maria returned to Chernobyl only on weekends, to meet her mother who still lived there. {{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}
The average age of a ''samosel'' was 63 in 2007. In 2012, the local administration unofficially granted permission to the elderly ''samosel'' to live in the area, but ordered all the younger inhabitants to move out. The total population in 2009 was reported to be 271. By 2016, the total population had fallen to about 180, most of them women.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/17/chernobyl-30-anniversary-babushka-ukraine/82887336/|title=Why a babushka in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone refuses to leave home|website=USA Today }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable" !width="120px"| Settlement !width="30px"| Pop. ({{small|2000s}}) !width="70px"| Pop. ({{small|1986}}) !width="100px"| Ukrainian |- | Chernobyl {{small|(city)}} | <div align=right>1,054</div> | <div align=right>13,700</div> | Чорнобиль |- | Pripyat {{small|(city)}} | <div align=right>1,000</div> | <div align=right>49,360</div> | Прип'ять |- | Illintsi | <div align=right>37</div> | <div align=right>1,059</div> | Іллінці |- | Teremtsi | <div align=right>36</div> | <div align=right>463</div> | Теремці |- | Kupuvate | <div align=right>32</div> | <div align=right>324</div> | Купувате |- | Opachychi | <div align=right>20</div> | <div align=right>681</div> | Опачичі |- | Paryshiv | <div align=right>16</div> | <div align=right>678</div> | Паришів |- | Lubianka | <div align=right>12</div> | <div align=right>612</div> | Луб'янка |- | Poliske | <div align=right>10</div> | <div align=right>12,000</div> | Поліське |- | Otashiv | <div align=right>10</div> | <div align=right>71</div> | Оташів |- | Ladyzhychi | <div align=right>8</div> | <div align=right>683</div> | Ладижичі |- | Rudnia-Illinetska | <div align=right>8</div> | <div align=right>114</div> | Рудня-Іллінецька |- | Zapillia | <div align=right>5</div> | <div align=right>2,849</div> | Запілля |- | Vilcha | <div align=right>3</div> | <div align=right>3,000</div> | Вільча |- | Novoshepelychi | <div align=right>2</div> | <div align=right>1,683</div> | Новошепеличі |}
A few families live in the city of Chernobyl illegally, after migrating from areas outside the Exclusion Zone to escape poverty. These people have ignored government orders to leave the area and are hostile to journalists. Local administration claims the squatters have occupied several houses in the city, without proper permission from the original owners.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}
In April 2013, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Natalia Korolevska said the settlers are getting full social support from the government, but she excluded the possibility of legalizing their settlements in the Zone, as it is still prohibited to live there. Korolevska confirmed the Social Policy of Ukraine does not register illegal settlers but estimates their number to be about 200–2,000 people in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ukranews.com/uk/news/ukraine/2013/04/24/94973 |script-title=uk:Королевська: у Чорнобильській зоні відчуження проживають до 2000 самоселів 2013-04-24 13:38:00. |publisher=Ukrainian News Agency |date=2013-04-24 |access-date=2013-06-10|language=uk}}</ref>
Following the outbreak of the war in Donbas in 2014, refugees from that conflict settled in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone or nearby.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/moving_to_Chernobyl The people who moved to Chernobyl] by Zhanna Bezpiatchuk, BBC News (12 October 2018)</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Samosely}} * [http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/137/ Jeremiad for Belarus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028043739/http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/137/ |date=2014-10-28 }} - Orionmagazine.org, Apr 2004, Vol. 23 Issue 2, p26 * [http://www.earthtimes.org/energy/tourists-welcomed-chernobyl/131/ Tourists Welcomed to Chernobyl] - Earthtimes.org, 15 Dec 2010 * [http://ukranews.com/ua/news/191262-korolevska-u-chornobylskiy-zoni-vidchuzhennya-prozhyvayut-do-2000-samoseliv Королевська: у Чорнобильській зоні відчуження проживають до 2000 самоселів] - Ukranews.com, 24 April 2013 {{in lang|uk}}
{{Chernobyl disaster}}
Category:Chernobyl exclusion zone Category:Ukrainian slang Category:Pejorative demonyms Category:Society of Ukraine Category:Social groups