The Sámi people are the only European people recognized as an indigenous community by a State administration. Norway and Sweden were the only European States that acknowledged the presence of indigenous people within their boundaries when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Although they are widely known as Lapps, Sámi consider that to be a derogatory word. Instead, they use the stem 'sámi' (probably meaning "land") to name their community, their languages (Davvisámegiella, Northern Sámi), and their country (Sápmi). The Sámi people are the native people of the Northern Scandinavian Peninsula -where Norway, Sweden and Finland merge- and the Kola Peninsula in the Russian Federation. It is estimated that their population is about 80.000, the majority living in Northern Norway (40.000 to 100.000, according to estimate), between 15.000 and 25.000 in Sweden, 7.500 in Finland and over 2.000 in Russia.

As regards their language, the Sámi people speak ten different Sámi language varieties. The differences among them are large enough to be considered as separate languages. Unfortunately, at least two languages have extinguished and the rest are spoken by less than few hundred people, which means language survival is not guaranteed. Only the Northern Sámi variety has considerable presence, with approximately 20.000 speakers. It also serves as lingua franca among Sámi -it is the working language, for instance, of the Saami Council.

Sámi people in Norway, Sweden and Finland have their own institutions which only have powers in cultural affairs. In the Russian Federation, they are taking decisive steps to obtain cultural autonomy (See news at MónDivers). These institutions are representative chambers democratically elected in each of the three States, which, apart from being limited to legislate over cultural matters, have some influence on State governments.