[6] In modern times, they live in the area between Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega and Lake Beloye – in the Russian Republic of Karelia in the former Veps National Volost, in Leningrad Oblast along the Oyat River in the Podporozhsky and Lodeynopolsky Districts and further south in the Tikhvinsky and Boksitogorsky Districts, and in Vologda Oblast in the Vytegorsky and Babayevsky Districts.

[7] Archeological and linguistic studies suggest that Vepsians lived in the valleys of the Sheksna, the Suda, and the Syas rivers, developing, according to Kalevi Wiik, from the proto-Vepsian Kargopol culture to the east of Lake Onega.

[9] Evidence from tombs proves that they had contact with Staraya Ladoga, Finland and Meryans, other Volga Finnic tribes and later with the Principality of Novgorod and other Russian states.

When Finland invaded East Karelia in the Continuation War, some Vepsians joined the so-called Kindred Battalion of the Finnish Army.

[10][11][12] In the postwar period, many Veps moved from their historic villages to larger cities.

[12] Since 1926, The Vepsian population has been significantly declining likely due to multiple factors such as Stalin's mass forced deportation and assimilation within the Soviet Union.

[13] However, it could also be attributed to other factors such as immigration after the Collapse of the Soviet Union or Russia's aging population.

[17] Vepsians share more IBD (identity-by-descent) segments with several Uralic-speaking populations, including geographically distant ones like the Mansis and the Nganasans, than with Russians or other non-Uralic groups near to them.

[17] The most common maternal haplogroups among Vepsians include H (57.6%) and U5 (16.8%), showing similarity with other Baltic Finnic groups.

56.4% of Vepsian men have the haplogroup N, which is of East Eurasian origin and commonly found among Uralic-speaking populations.

[17] The paternal lineages of the Veps may have been influenced by the Zavoloch Chuds, who are thought to have possibly mixed with them[19].