Demographics of Tajikistan

The Demographics of Tajikistan is about the demographic features of the population of Tajikistan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.

Tajikistan: Population and rural population 1958-2005 (millions). State Statistical Committee, Dushanbe, yearbooks from various years.

Tajik man in traditional headgear (2005).

A Tajik woman and her son.

A group of boys from Tajikistan.

Demographic trends

Tajikistan's main ethnic group are the Tajiks, with minorities such as the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, and a small Russian minority. Because not everyone in Tajikistan is an ethnic Tajik, the non-Tajik citizens of the country are referred to as Tajikistani. The official nationality of any person from Tajikistan is a Tajikistani, while the ethnic Tajik majority simply call themselves Tajik.

Contemporary Tajiks are an Iranian people. In particular, they are descended from ancient Eastern Iranian peoples of Central Asia, such as the Soghdians and the Bactrians, with an admixture of Western Iranian Persians as well as non-Iranian peoples.^[1]

Until the 20th century, people in the region used two types of distinction to identify themselves: way of life - either nomadic or sedentary - and place of residence. By the late nineteenth century, the Tajik and Uzbek peoples, who had lived in proximity for centuries and often used each other's languages, did not perceive themselves as two distinct nationalities. The modern labels were imposed artificially when Central Asia was divided into five Soviet republics in the 1920s.^[1] With the formation of five Central Asian republics under the USSR, many Tajiks were forced to sign themselves as Uzbek to avoid persecution in current Uzbekistan^{[citation needed]}.

Historically, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were also home to Bukharan Jews, who trace their ancestry to the Lost Tribes of Israel taken captive by the Babylonians in the 7th century BC, but almost no Bukharian Jews are left in Tajikistan.

Ethnic groups

Demographic map of Tajikistan

Young Tajik women.

Old Tajik woman (2007).

A religious scholar from Tajikistan (2005).

Tajik 79.9%, Uzbek and other Turkic people 16.5%, Russian 1.1% (declining because of emigration), Kyrgyz 1.1% , other (including Bukharian Jews and Volga Germans) 2.6% (2000 population census).

Ethic makeup according to the population censuses from 1926 to 2000 (in thousands)^[2]
Note: The category Tajiks also includes approximately 135,000 ethnic Pamiris, of which 65% are Shughni speakers, 13% are Rushani speakers, 12% speak Wakhi, 5% are Bartangi speakers, 3% are Yazgulyami speakers, 1.5% speak Khufi, and 0.8% are Ishkashimi speakers. In addition there are 5,000 speakers of Yagnobi. According to the 2000 census, excluding the people whose native languages are Pamiri or Yagnobi, Tajiks account for 77.6% of the population.

Population of Tajikistan according to ethnic group 1926–2000

Ethnic group	census 19261		census 19392		census 19593		census 19704		census 19795		census 19896		census 2000
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Tajiks	617,125	74.6	883,966	59.5	1,051,164	53.1	1,629,920	56.2	2,237,048	58.8	3,172,420	62.3	4,898,400	79.9
Yagnobi	1,829	0.2
Uzbeks	175,627	21.2	353,478	23.8	454,433	23.0	665,662	23.0	873,199	22.9	1,197,841	23.5	1,012,5007	16.5
Russians	5,638	0.7	134,916	9.1	262,610	13.3	344,109	11.9	395,089	10.4	388,481	7.6	68,200	1.1
Kyrgyz	11,410	1.4	27,968	1.9	25,635	1.3	35,485	1.2	48,376	1.3	63,832	1.3	65,500	1.1
Turkmen	4,148	0.5	4,040	0.3	7,115	0.4	11,043	0.4	13,991	0.4	20,487	0.4	20,300	0.3
Tatars	950	0.1	18,296	1.2	56,893	2.9	70,803	2.4	79,529	2.1	79,442	1.6	19,000	0.3
Arabs	3,260	0.4	2,290	0.2	1,297	0.1	248	0.0	176	0.0	276	0.0	14,500	0.2
Others	7,180	0.9	60,137	4.0	120,750	6.1	142,332	4.9	158,812	4.2	169,824	3.3	29,100	0.5
Total	827,2167		1,485,091		1,979,897		2,899,602		3,806,220		5,092,603		6,127,500
1 Source: [1]. 2 Source: [2]. 3 Source: [3]. 4 Source: [4]. 5 Source: [5]. 6 Source: [6] 7 including 51,000 Lakai, 15,100 Kongrat, 4,900 Katagan, 3,700 Barlos and 1,100 Yuz

Languages

Several dialects of Tajik (a variety of the Persian language) are spoken, and it is is the official language.^[3] Russian is widely used in both government and business. The different ethnic minorities speak different languages, for instance Uzbek. In the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, Shughni as well as other Pamir languages are spoken. In the northern Yaghnob valley, the Yaghnobi language is still spoken.

Religions

According to a 2009 U.S. State Department release, the population of Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, (approximately 95% Sunni and 3% Shia).^[4] The remaining 2% of the population are Jews, Zoroastrians and ethnic Russian followers of Russian Orthodoxy.

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

For the latest statistics, see this country's entry in the CIA World Factbook

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook as of September 2009, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

7,349,145 (2009 est.)

Age structure

0–14 years: 34.3% (male 1,282,681/female 1,238,607)
15–64 years: 62.1% (male 2,260,552/female 2,303,034)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 112,334/female 151,937) (2009 est.)

Population growth rate

1.88% (2009 est.)

Birth rate

26.9 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Death rate

6.83 deaths/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Net migration rate

-1.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 41.03 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 45.9 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 35.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 65.33 years
male: 62.29 years
female: 68.52 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.99 children born/woman (2009 est.)

Education

Education is required through high school (12 years of schooling) but completion rate is under 90%;

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.5%
male: 99.7%
female: 99.2% (2000 census)

See also

• Demography of Central Asia

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Library of Congress Country Studies - Tajikistan - Historical & Ethnic Background - 1996
2. ^ Results of the 2000 population census in Tajikistan.
3. ^ Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan, November 6, 1994, Article 2.
4. ^ "Background Note: Tajikistan". State.gov. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5775.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 

External links

• Ethnolinguistic map of Tajikistan by Iraj Bashiri