At the
2011 census, Jurilovca had 3,935 inhabitants; 60.7% were
Romanians and 38.8% Russian
Lipovans. At the
2021 census, the commune had a population of 3,694; of those, 52.9% were Romanians and 39.66% Lipovans. The
Lipovans are
Russians by ethnicity and
Old Believers Orthodox by confession. This confession is the result of
Nikonite Reform. In 1652,
Nikon, the Patriarch of
Russian Orthodox Church, initiated a religious reform which had in view adaptation of Russian Church at the rest of the Orthodox Churches, in fact a formal reform. The result was the division of Russian society in two:
Nikonites, those who accepted the Reform, and
Starovers (Old Believers), those who did not accept the Reform. The last ones, being chased, emigrated outside
Russia, a part of them arriving on Romanian territory, north of
Moldavia and Dobruja. ==See also==