Ethnic Groups
The table shows the ethnic composition of Turkmenistan's population (in percent) between 1926 and 1995. There has been a sharp decline in the Slavic ethnic groups (Russians and Ukrainians) and also Kazakhs and Tatars since independence (as captured in the 1979 and 1995 censuses). Uzbeks are now the second largest ethnic group in Turkmenistan, with Russians relegated to the third place. According to data announced in Ashgabat in February 2001, 91% of the population are Turkmen, 3% are Uzbeks, and 2% are Russians. Between 1989 and 2001 the number of Turkmen in Turkmenistan doubled (from 2.5 to 4.9 million), while the number of Russians dropped by two-thirds (from 334,000 to slightly over 100,000). However, this rapid growth seems rather unlikely.
| Ethnic group |
census 19261 | census 19392 | census 19593 | census 19704 | census 19795 | census 19896 | census 1995 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Turkmens | 719,792 | 71.9 | 741,488 | 59.2 | 923,724 | 60.9 | 1,416,700 | 65.6 | 1,891,695 | 68.4 | 2,536,606 | 72.0 | 3,403,639 | 76.7 |
| Uzbeks | 104,971 | 10.5 | 107,451 | 8.6 | 125,231 | 8.3 | 179,498 | 8.3 | 233,730 | 8.5 | 317,333 | 9.0 | 408,259 | 9.2 |
| Russians | 75,357 | 7.5 | 232,924 | 18.6 | 262,701 | 17.3 | 313,079 | 14.5 | 349,170 | 12.6 | 333,892 | 9.5 | 297,319 | 6.7 |
| Kazakhs | 9,471 | 0.9 | 61,397 | 4.9 | 69,522 | 4.6 | 68,519 | 3.2 | 79,539 | 2.9 | 87,802 | 2.5 | 88,752 | 2.0 |
| Tatars | 4,769 | 0.5 | 19,517 | 1.6 | 29,946 | 2.0 | 36,457 | 1.7 | 40,432 | 1.5 | 39,277 | 1.1 | 35,501 | 0.8 |
| Azeris | 4,229 | 0.4 | 7,442 | 0.6 | 12,868 | 0.8 | 16,775 | 0.8 | 23,548 | 0.9 | 33,365 | 0.9 | 0.8 | |
| Armenians | 13,859 | 1.4 | 15,996 | 1.3 | 19,696 | 1.3 | 23,054 | 1.1 | 26,605 | 1.0 | 31,829 | 0.9 | 0.8 | |
| Balochi | 9,974 | 1.0 | 5,396 | 0.4 | 7,626 | 0.5 | 12,374 | 0.6 | 18,584 | 0.7 | 28,280 | 0.8 | 0.8 | |
| Ukrainians | 6,877 | 0.7 | 21,778 | 1.7 | 20,955 | 1.4 | 35,398 | 1.6 | 37,118 | 1.3 | 35,578 | 1.0 | 0.5 | |
| Others | 51,615 | 5.2 | 38,494 | 3.1 | 44,106 | 2.9 | 57,026 | 2.6 | 64,327 | 2.3 | 78,755 | 2.2 | 1.7 | |
| Total | 1,000,914 | 1,251,883 | 1,516,375 | 2,158,880 | 2,764,848 | 3,522,717 | 4,437,600 | |||||||
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Turkmenistan
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