Demographics of Kyrgyzstan - Ethnic Groups

Ethnic Groups

According to the 1999 census, the ethnic composition of the population was as follows: Kyrgyz (Kara Kyrgyz) 64.9%, Uzbeks 13.8%, Russians 12.5%, Dungans 1.1%, Ukrainians 1%, Ugyhurs 1%, other 5.7%, including Koreans 0.4% and Germans 0.4% (among them Low German-speaking Mennonites). Most Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Germans, and Koreans lived in northeast, especially around the city of Karakol. Most of the Dungans and Ugyhurs are found along the Chinese border. Most of the Tajiks and Uzbeks live in the south. The emigration of non-Turkic people to Russia, Ukraine, and Germany is now negligible, in part because most of them left prior to 1999.

The table shows the ethnic composition of Kyrgyzstan's population according to all population censuses between 1926 and 2009. There has been a sharp decline in the European ethnic groups (Russians, Ukrainians, Germans) and also Tatars since independence (as captured in the 1989, 1999 and 2009 censuses).

Population of Kyrgyzstan according to ethnic group 1926–2009
Ethnic
group		 census 19261 census 19392 census 19593 census 19704 census 19795 census 19896 census 19997 census 20098
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Kyrgyz 661,171 66.6 754,323 51.7 836,831 40.5 1,284,773 43.8 1,687,382 47.9 2,229,663 52.4 3,128,147 64.9 3,804,788 71.0
Uzbeks 110,463 11.1 151,551 10.4 218,640 10.6 332,638 11.3 426,194 12.1 550,096 12.9 664,950 13.8 768,405 14.3
Russians 116,436 11.7 302,916 20.8 623,562 30.2 855,935 29.2 911,703 25.9 916,558 21.5 603,201 12.5 419,583 7.8
Dungans 6,004 0.6 5,921 0.4 11,088 0.5 19,837 0.7 26,661 0.8 36,928 0.9 51,766 1.1 58,409 1.1
Uygurs 7,540 0.8 9,412 0.6 13,757 0.7 24,872 0.8 29,817 0.8 36,779 0.9 46,944 1.0 48,543 0.9
Tajiks 2,667 0.3 10,670 0.7 15,221 0.7 21,927 0.7 23,209 0.7 33,518 0.8 42,636 0.9 46,105 0.9
Turks 44 0.0 33 0.0 542 0.0 3,076 0.1 5,160 0.1 21,294 0.5 33,327 0.7 39,133 0.7
Kazakhs 1,766 0.2 23,925 1.6 20,067 1.0 21,998 0.8 27,442 0.8 37,318 0.9 42,657 0.9 33,198 0.6
Tatars 4,902 0.5 20,017 1.4 56,209 2.7 68,827 2.3 71,744 2.0 70,068 1.6 45,438 0.9 31,424 0.6
Ukrainians 64,128 6.5 137,299 9.4 137,031 6.6 120,081 4.1 109,324 3.1 108,027 2.5 50,442 1.0 21,924 0.4
Koreans 9 0.0 508 0.0 3,622 0.2 9,404 0.3 14,481 0.4 18,355 0.4 19,784 0.4 17,299 0.3
Azeris 3,631 0.4 7,724 0.5 10,428 0.5 12,536 0.4 17,207 0.5 15,775 0.4 14,014 0.3 17,267 0.3
Germans 4,291 0.4 11,741 0.8 39,915 1.9 89,834 3.1 101,057 2.9 101,309 2.4 21,471 0.4 9,487 0.2
Kurds - 1,490 0.1 4,783 0.2 7,974 0.3 9,544 0.3 14,262 0.3 11,620 0.2 13,171 0.3
Chechens 1 0.0 7 0.0 25,208 1.2 3,391 0.1 2,654 0.1 2,873 0.1 2,612 0.1 1,875 0.0
Belorussians 333 0.0 1,520 0.1 4,613 0.2 6,868 0.2 7,676 0.2 9,187 0.2 3,208 0.1 1,394 0.0
Jews 318 0.0 1,895 0.1 8,607 0.4 7,677 0.3 6,836 0.2 6,005 0.1 1,571 0.0 604 0.0
Others 9,300 0.9 17,261 1.2 35,713 1.7 41,157 1.4 44,741 1.3 49,740 1.2 50,770 1.1 43,300 0.8
Total 993,004 1,458,213 2,065,837 2,932,805 3,522,832 4,257,755 4,822,938 5,362,793

Read more about this topic:  Demographics Of Kyrgyzstan

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