Demographics of Central Asia

Central Asia is a diverse land with many ethnic groups, languages, religions and tribes. The nations which make up Central Asia are five of the former Soviet republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which have a total population of about 72 million.[1][2] Afghanistan is not always considered part of the region, but when it is, Central Asia has a total population of about 122 million (2016).[1][2] Most central Asians belong to religions which were introduced to the area within the last 1,500 years, such as Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, Ismaili Islam, Tengriism, and Syriac Christianity.[3] Buddhism, however, was introduced to Central Asia over 2,200 years ago, and Zoroastrianism, over 2,500 years ago.[4]

The ethnolinguistic patchwork of Central Asia in 1992
Map of the countries of Central Asia, Afghanistan (occasionally included), the Caspian Sea, and surrounding countries
Main article: Demographics of Asia

Ethnic groups
See also: Ethnic demography of Kazakhstan, Ethnic groups in Afghanistan, and List of ethnic groups in Tajikistan

The below are demographic data on the ethnic groups in Central Asia [3]

Ethnic Group Center of population in Central Asia Total roughly estimated population in Central Asia
Uzbek Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan 29,000,000
Tajik Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. It includes the Pamiri people, who are officially categorized as Tajiks in Tajikistan. 25,000,000
Kazakh Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan 16,500,000
Kyrgyz Kyrgyzstan 4,100,000
Russians Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan 4,000,000 [5][6][7][8]
Koreans Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan 500,000 [9]
Ukrainian Northern Kazakhstan 250,000 [5][7][8]
Turkmen Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Iran 6,500,000
Volga German Kazakhstan 200,000[7][8]
Uyghur Northwest China, Eastern Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan 13,000,000
Dungan or Hui Northwest China, Kyrgyzstan 10,500,000
Bukharian Jew Uzbekistan 1,000
Tatar Uzbekistan 700,000
Karakalpaks North western Uzbekistan 500,000
Bashkirs Kazakhstan 30,000
Meskhetian Turks Kazakhstan 200,000
Armenians Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan 100,000
Altai Northern Kazakhstan 10,000
Pashtun Afghanistan, Northwest Pakistan and Razavi Khorasan in Iran[10] 12,500,000
Hazara Central Afghanistan 3,500,000
Aimak Central and Northwest Afghanistan 1,500,000
Nuristani Far eastern and northern Afghanistan 200,000+
Belarusians Northern Kazakhstan 100,000-200,000 [8]
Romanians Kazakhstan 20,000
Greeks Kazakhstan 30,000
Mordvins Kazakhstan 20,000
Moldovans Kazakhstan 25,000
Chechens Kazakhstan 40,000
Poles Northern Kazakhstan 50,000-100,000
Azeri Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan 100,000
Chuvash Northern Kazakhstan 35,000

Genetic history
Further information: Ancient North Eurasian, Indo-Iranians § Genetics, and Genetic studies on Turkish people

The ancestry of modern Central Asian populations is significantly derived from the Indo-Iranian and Turkic expansions. Most modern populations can be aligned with either Indo-Iranian or Turkic descent, with ancestry corresponding well with ethnic boundaries.[11] Mongoloid (East Asian) admixture was found to correlate inversely with Alu deletion at the CD4 locus.[12]

Archaeogenetic studies on the remains from Iron Age Pazyryk culture burials suggest that after the end of the Indo-Iranian (Scythian) expansion, beginning in c. the 7th century BC, there was a gradual east-to-west influx of East Eurasian admixture to the Western steppes.[13]

Populations of farmers and nomadic pastoralists coexisted in Central Asia since the Chalcolithic (4th millennium BC). The two groups differ markedly in descent structure, as pastoralists are organized in exogamous patrilineal clan structures, while farmers are organized in extended families practicing endogamy (cousin marriage). As a consequence, pastoralists have a significantly reduced diversity in patrilineal descent (Y-chromosome) compared to farmers.[14]

Religion
See also: Buddhism in Central Asia and Islam in Asia
Religion[3] Approximate population Center of population
Sunni Islam 103,000,000[15][16][17][18][19][20] South and East of region: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Eastern Xinjiang and Southern Kazakhstan.(most dense in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan)
Buddhism 9,084,000[21][22][23][24][25] 500,000 in Russia, 8.44 million in Xinjiang, 140,000 people in Kazakhstan and Afghanistan; (Mongols, Koreans, Daur, Mongour, Tungusic peoples, Tibetans, Tuvans, Yugur)
Shia Islam 4,000,000 Hazaras, Central Afghanistan
Eastern Christianity 4,000,000 Northern Kazakhstan
Atheism and Irreligion 2,500,000+ Throughout the region
Western Christianity 510,000 Kazakhstan
Judaism 27,500 Uzbekistan
Zoroastrianism 10,000 Historically Afghanistan

See also

References
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  11. Heyer, Evelyne; Balaresque, Patricia; Jobling, Mark A.; Quintana-Murci, Lluis; Chaix, Raphaelle; Segurel, Laure; Aldashev, Almaz; Hegay, Tanya (2009). "Genetic diversity and the emergence of ethnic groups in Central Asia". BMC Genetics. 10: 49. doi:10.1186/1471-2156-10-49. PMC 2745423. PMID 19723301. Our analysis of uniparental markers highlights in Central Asia the differences between Turkic and Indo-Iranian populations in their sex-specific differentiation and shows good congruence with anthropological data.
  12. Khitrinskaya, I. Yu.; Stepanov, V. A.; Puzyrev, V. P.; Spiridonova, M. G.; Voevoda, M. I. (2003). "Genetic Differentiation of the Population of Central Asia Inferred from Autosomal Markers". Russian Journal of Genetics. 39 (10): 1175–1183. doi:10.1023/A:1026183112690.
  13. González-Ruiz, Mercedes; Santos, Cristina; Jordana, Xavier; Simón, Marc; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Gigli, Elena; Aluja, Maria Pilar; Malgosa, Assumpció (2012). "Tracing the Origin of the East-West Population Admixture in the Altai Region (Central Asia)". PLOS ONE. 7 (11): e48904. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...748904G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048904. PMC 3494716. PMID 23152818.
  14. Chaix, Raphaëlle; Quintana-Murci, Lluís; Hegay, Tatyana; Hammer, Michael F.; Mobasher, Zahra; Austerlitz, Frédéric; Heyer, Evelyne (2007). "From Social to Genetic Structures in Central Asia". Current Biology. 17 (1): 43–48. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.10.058. PMID 17208185. S2CID 16405468.
  15. Min Junqing. The Present Situation and Characteristics of Contemporary Islam in China. JISMOR, 8. 2010 Islam by province, page 29. Data from: Yang Zongde, Study on Current Muslim Population in China, Jinan Muslim, 2, 2010.
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