Editing Demographics of Kyrgyzstan (section)

==Overview==
Kyrgyzstan's population increased from 2.1 million to 4.8 million between the censuses of 1959 and 1999.<ref name=census>[https://www.stat.gov.kg/stat.files/census.pdf Population census for Kyrgyzstan, 1999] {{in lang|ru}}</ref> Official estimates set the population at  6,389,500 in 2019.<ref name="ethnic" /> Of those, 34.4% are under the age of 15 and 6.2% are over the age of 65. The country is [[rural]]: only about one-third of Kyrgyzstan's population live in urban areas. The average [[population density]] is {{convert|27.4|PD/km2}}.

The nation's largest [[ethnic group]] are the [[Kyrgyz people|Kyrgyz]], a [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] people, which comprise 73.2% of the population (2018 census). Other ethnic groups include [[Russians]] (5.8%) concentrated in the north and [[Uzbeks]] (14.5%) living in the south. Small but noticeable minorities include [[Dungans]] (1.1%), [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]] (1.1%), [[Tājik people|Tajiks]] (0.9%), [[Kazakhs]] (0.7%) and [[Ukrainians]] (0.5%), and other smaller ethnic minorities (1.7%). Of the formerly sizable [[Volga German]] community, exiled here by [[Joseph Stalin]] from their earlier homes in the [[Volga German Republic]], most have returned to [[Germany]], and only a few small groups remain. A small percentage of the population are also [[Koryo-saram|Koreans]], who are the descendants of the Koreans [[Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union|deported]] in 1937 from the [[Russian Far East|Soviet Far East]] to Central Asia.

Kyrgyzstan has undergone a pronounced change in its ethnic composition since independence.<ref name="spo">{{cite journal |last1=Spoorenberg |first1=Thomas |year=2013 |title=Fertility changes in Central Asia since 1980|journal=Asian Population Studies |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=50–77 |doi=10.1080/17441730.2012.752238|s2cid=154532617 }}</ref><ref name="spoo">{{cite journal |last1=Spoorenberg |first1=Thomas |year=2015 |title=Explaining recent fertility increase in Central Asia |journal=Asian Population Studies |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=115–133 |doi=10.1080/17441730.2015.1027275 |s2cid=153924060 }}</ref> The percentage of ethnic Kyrgyz increased from around 50% in 1979 to nearly 73% in 2018, while the percentage of Slavic ethnic groups (Russians, Ukrainians) dropped from 35% to about 6%.<ref name="ethnic" /><ref name="census" />

The Kyrgyz have historically been semi-[[nomad]]ic herders, living in round tents called [[yurt]]s and tending [[sheep]], [[horse]]s and [[yak]]s. This nomadic tradition continues to function seasonally (see [[transhumance]]) as herding families return to the high mountain pasture (or ''jailoo'') in the summer. The retention of this nomadic heritage and the freedoms that it implies continue to affect the political atmosphere in the country.