Circumpolar peoples and Arctic peoples are umbrella terms for the various indigenous peoples of the Arctic region.

Approximately four million people are resident in the Arctic among which 10 percent are indigenous peoples belonging to a vast number of distinct communities. They represent a minority with the exception of Greenland of which 90 percent of its population is composed of Inuit.

It is difficult to find an exact number of the indigenous peoples in the Arctic as states have a tendency to downplay the numbers. Moreover, each state has its own different methods to count its indigenous population. For instance, Russia excludes from the official status of "small peoples of the North" (Russian: "малые народы Севера" or "Коренные малочисленные народы Севера") every community that exceeds 50,000 people. They are therefore excluding from the definition certain numerically large indigenous communities like the Komi peoples, Karelians or Yakuts.

The earliest inhabitants of North America's central and eastern Arctic are referred to as the Arctic small tool tradition (AST) and existed c. 2500 BCE. The AST consisted of several Paleo-Eskimo cultures, including the Independence cultures and Pre-Dorset culture. The Dorset culture (Inuktitut: Tuniit or Tunit) refers to the next inhabitants of central and eastern Arctic. The Dorset culture evolved because of technological and economic changes during the period of 1050–550 BCE. With the exception of the Quebec / Labrador Peninsula, the Dorset culture vanished around 1500 CE.

Dorset / Thule culture transition dates around the 9th–10th centuries. Scientists theorize that there may have been cross-contact of the two cultures with sharing of technology, such as fashioning harpoon heads, or the Thule may have found Dorset remnants and adapted their ways with the predecessor culture. Others believe the Thule displaced the Dorset.^{[citation needed]}

By 1300, the Inuit, present-day Arctic inhabitants and descendants of Thule culture, had settled in west Greenland, and moved into east Greenland over the following century. Over time, the Inuit, and other related peoples, have migrated throughout the Arctic and subarctic regions of Canada (Inuit Nunangat), Greenland, Russia (Siberia), and the United States (Alaska).

Other Indigenous peoples of the circumpolar north include the Chukchi, Evenks, Iñupiat, Khanty, Koryaks, Nenets, Sámi, Yukaghir, and Yupik. Yupik people still refer to themselves as Eskimo which means "snowshoe netters", not "raw meat eaters" as it is sometimes mistakenly translated.

The voice of indigenous people in the Arctic is important as they have usually been seen as the representatives and voices of the impact of climate change in the Arctic. Some numerically large indigenous communities hold a role in the geopolitics of the Arctic region through the status of permanent participant in the Arctic Council. It is the case of the Aleuts though the Aleut International Association, the Canadian and Alaskan Athabaskans through the Arctic Athabaskan Council, the Gwichʼin through the Gwich'in Council International, the Inuit through the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Sámi through the Saami Council and the Indigenous peoples of the Russian north through Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON). Generally, when indigenous peoples participate in international discussion, they have the status of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in order to differentiate them from states. However, the Arctic Council established a unique model of indigenous participation by giving them the status of Permanent Participants.