Editing Tajiks (section)

== Location ==
The Tajiks are the principal ethnic group in most of [[Tajikistan]], as well as in northern and western [[Afghanistan]], though there are more Tajiks in Afghanistan than in Tajikistan. Tajiks are a substantial minority in [[Uzbekistan]], as well as in overseas communities. Historically, the ancestors of the Tajiks lived in a larger territory in Central Asia than now.
[[File:Tajik family. Tajikistan.jpg|thumb|Tajik family in Tajikistan.|250x250px]]
=== Tajikistan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Tajikistan}}

Tajiks make up around 84.3% of the population of Tajikistan.<ref name="CIA-tj">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tajikistan/|title=Tajikistan|access-date=26 May 2010|date=5 May 2010|work=[[The World Factbook]]|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|archive-date=20 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820040637/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tajikistan/|url-status=live}}</ref> This number includes speakers of the [[Pamiri languages]], including [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]] and [[Shughni language|Shughni]], and the [[Yaghnobi people]] who in the past were considered by the government of the Soviet Union nationalities separate from the Tajiks. In the 1926 and 1937 Soviet censuses, the Yaghnobis and Pamiri language speakers were counted as separate nationalities. After 1937, these groups were required to register as Tajiks.<ref name=suny>{{cite book|last=Suny|first=Ronald Grigor|editor-first=Brenda|editor-last=Shaffer|title=The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy|publisher=MIT Press|year=2006|pages=[https://archive.org/details/limitsofculturei0000unse/page/100 100–110]|chapter=History and Foreign Policy: From Constructed Identities to "Ancient Hatreds" East of the Caspian|isbn=0-262-69321-6|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/limitsofculturei0000unse/page/100}}</ref>

=== Afghanistan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Afghanistan}}
[[File:Burhanuddin Rabbani Cropped DVIDS.jpg|thumb|left|[[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] served as [[List of Presidents of Afghanistan|President of Afghanistan]] from 1992 to 1996, and again in 2001.|260x260px]]
[[File:Shir 5 Shir.jpg|thumb|260x260px|[[Ahmad Shah Massoud]] was a powerful military leader in Afghanistan. He is shown here wearing a [[pakol]] hat, during his time as a [[Afghan mujahideen|mujahid]].]]
Despite sharing the same name, Tajiks do not refer to the same group of people in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.<ref name="brasher">Brasher, Ryan. “Ethnic Brother or Artificial Namesake? The Construction of Tajik Identity in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology, vol. 55, 2011, pp. 97–120. JSTOR, Link: [http://www.jstor.org/stable/23345249]. Accessed 15 January 2025.</ref><ref name="nourzhanov" /> In Afghanistan, a "Tajik" is typically defined as any primarily [[Dari]]-speaking [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslim]] who refer to themselves by the region, province, city, town, or village that they are from,<ref>[https://info.publicintelligence.net/MCIA-AfghanCultures/Tajik.pdfCentral Asian Cultural Intelligence for Military Operations. Tajiks in Afghanistan.]</ref><ref name="barfield">[https://books.google.com/books?id=4VR0EAAAQBAJ], p. 26</ref> such as ''Badakhshi'', ''Baghlani'', ''Mazari'', ''Panjsheri'', ''Kabuli'', ''Herati'', ''Kohistani'', etc.<ref name="barfield" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://nps.edu/web/ccs/ethnic-genealogies | title=Ethnic Identity and Genealogies - Program for Culture and Conflict Studies - Naval Postgraduate School }}</ref><ref name="LOC">{{cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-39.html|title=Afghanistan: Tajik|access-date=19 December 2007|author=Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress|year=1997|work=Country Studies Series|publisher=Library of Congress|archive-date=27 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194423/http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-39.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Although in the past, some non-[[Pashto]] speaking tribes were identified as Tajik, for example, the Furmuli.<ref>Bellew, Henry Walter (1891) ''An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan'' The Oriental Institute, Woking, Butler & Tanner, Frome, United Kingdom, [https://archive.org/details/aninquiryintoet00goog/page/n130 page 126], {{OCLC|182913077}}</ref><ref>Markham, C. R. (January 1879) "The Mountain Passes on the Afghan Frontier of British India" ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography'' (New Monthly Series) 1(1): pp. 38–62, p.48</ref> By this definition, according to the [[The World Factbook|World Factbook]], Tajiks make up about 25–27% of [[Afghanistan]]'s population,<ref name="CIA-af">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/|title=Population of Afghanistan|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA)|work=[[The World Factbook]]|access-date=9 August 2012|archive-date=4 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104184342/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="atlas-afghanistan-153">Country Factfiles.&nbsp;— Afghanistan, page 153. // Atlas. Fourth Edition. Editors: Ben Hoare, Margaret Parrish. Publisher: Jonathan Metcalf. First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Dorling Kindersley Limited. London: [[Dorling Kindersley]], 2010, 432 pages. {{ISBN|9781405350396}} "Population: 28.1 million<br />Religions: Sunni Muslim 84%, Shi'a Muslim 15%, other 1%<br />Ethnic Mix: Pashtun 38%, Tajik '''25%''', Hazara 19%, Uzbek, Turkmen, other 18%"</ref> but according to other sources, they form 37–39% of the population.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1083a1Afghanistan2009.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1083a1Afghanistan2009.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|title=ABC NEWS/BBC/ARD poll&nbsp;– Afghanistan: Where Things Stand|pages=38–40|publisher=ABC News|location=Kabul, Afghanistan|access-date=29 October 2010}}</ref> Other sources however, for example the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], state that they constitute about 12–20% of the population,<ref>Maley, William, ed. ''Fundamentalism reborn?: Afghanistan and the Taliban'', p. 170. NYU Press, 1998.</ref><ref name="Brit-Tajik">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581024/Tajik|title=Tajik|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|quote=There were about 5,000,000 in Afghanistan, where they constituted about one-fifth of the population.|access-date=6 November 2011|archive-date=25 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125205057/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581024/Tajik|url-status=live}}</ref> which is mostly excluding [[Persianization|Persianized ethnic groups]] like some [[Pashtuns]], [[Uzbeks]], [[Qizilbash]], [[Aimaq people|Aimaqs]] etc. who, especially in large urban areas like [[Kabul]] or [[Herat]], assimiliated into the respective local culture.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xx3_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT501 |title=Afghanistan's Experiences: The History of the Most Horrifying Events Involving Politics, Religion, and Terrorism |isbn=978-1-5049-8614-4 |last1=D |first1=Hamid Hadi M. |date=24 March 2016|publisher=AuthorHouse }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://countrystudies.us/afghanistan/50.htm | title=Afghanistan - Qizilbash }}</ref><ref>Fazel, S. M. (2017). ''Ethnohistory of the Qizilbash in Kabul: Migration, State, and a Shi'a Minority'' (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University), p. 153.</ref> Tajiks (or Farsiwans respectively) are predominant in four of the largest cities in Afghanistan ([[Kabul]], [[Mazar-e Sharif]], [[Herat]], and [[Ghazni]]) and make up the [[qualified majority]] in the northern and western provinces of [[Badakhshan Province|Badakhshan]], [[Panjshir Province|Panjshir]] and [[Balkh Province|Balkh]], while making up significant portions of the population in [[Takhar Province|Takhar]], [[Kabul Province|Kabul]], [[Parwan Province|Parwan]], [[Kapisa Province|Kapisa]], [[Baghlan Province|Baghlan]], [[Badghis Province|Badghis]] and [[Herat province|Herat]]. Despite not being Tajik, the westernmost [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] [[Pashayi people]] of northeastern Afghanistan have deliberately been listed as Tajik by census takers and government agents. However, this is probably because Pashayi-speaking [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari Isma’ilis]] refer to themselves as Tajik.<ref name="sil.org">{{Cite book |last=Lehr |first=Rachel |url=https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/Indo-European/Indo-Aryan/Pashai%2C%20A%20Descriptive%20Grammar%20of%20%28Lehr%29.pdf |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Pashai: The Language and Speech Community of Darrai Nur |date=2014 |publisher=University of Chicago, Division of the Humanities, Department of Linguistics |isbn=978-1-321-22417-7 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Uzbekistan ===
{{Main|Tajiks of Uzbekistan}}
{{See also|Demographics of Uzbekistan}}In [[Uzbekistan]], the Tajiks are the largest part of the population of the ancient cities of [[Bukhara]] and [[Samarkand]], and are found in large numbers in the [[Surxondaryo Region]] in the south and along Uzbekistan's eastern border with Tajikistan. According to official statistics (2000), Surxondaryo Region accounts for 20.4% of all Tajiks in Uzbekistan, with another 34.3% in [[Samarqand Region|Samarqand]] and [[Bukhara Region|Bukhara]] regions.<ref>[http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm ''Ethnic Atlas of Uzbekistan''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006133509/http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm |date=6 October 2008 }}, Part 1: Ethnic minorities, Open Society Institute, table with number of Tajiks by province {{in lang|ru}}.</ref>

Official statistics in Uzbekistan state that the Tajik community accounts for 5% of the nation's population.<ref name="CIA-uz">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/uzbekistan/|title=Uzbekistan|access-date=26 May 2010|date=6 May 2010|work=[[The World Factbook]]|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|archive-date=3 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203042919/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/uzbekistan/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, these numbers do not include ethnic Tajiks who, for a variety of reasons, choose to identify themselves as Uzbeks in population census forms.<ref name="USStateDept">{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/369.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212014439/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/369.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 February 2021|title=Uzbekistan|access-date=19 December 2007|author=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor|date=23 February 2000|work=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices&nbsp;– 1999|publisher=U.S. Department of State}}</ref> During the Soviet "[[Uzbekization]]" supervised by [[Sharof Rashidov]], the head of the Uzbek Communist Party, Tajiks had to choose either stay in Uzbekistan and get registered as Uzbek in their passports or leave the republic for Tajikistan, which is mountainous and less agricultural.<ref>Rahim Masov, ''The History of the Clumsy Delimitation'', Irfon Publ. House, Dushanbe, 1991 {{in lang|ru}}. English translation: [https://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Masov/frame.html ''The History of a National Catastrophe''], transl. [[Iraj Bashiri]], 1996.</ref> It is only in the last population census (1989) that the nationality could be reported not according to the passport, but freely declared based on the respondent's ethnic self-identification.<ref>[http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm ''Ethnic Atlas of Uzbekistan''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006133509/http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm |date=6 October 2008 }}, Part 1: Ethnic minorities, Open Society Institute, p. 195 {{in lang|ru}}.</ref> This had the effect of increasing the Tajik population in Uzbekistan from 3.9% in 1979 to 4.7% in 1989. Some scholars estimate that Tajiks may make up 35% of Uzbekistan's population, and believe that just like Afghanistan, there are more Tajiks in Uzbekistan than in Tajikistan.<ref name="Cornell">[http://www.cornellcaspian.com/pub/0010uzbekistan.htm Svante E. Cornell, "Uzbekistan: A Regional Player in Eurasian Geopolitics?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505153156/http://www.cornellcaspian.com/pub/0010uzbekistan.htm |date=5 May 2009 }}, ''European Security'', vol. 20, no. 2, Summer 2000.</ref>[[File:Registan square 2014.JPG|thumb|View of the Registan in [[Samarkand]]&nbsp;– although the second largest city of [[Uzbekistan]], it is predominantly a Tajik populated city, along with [[Bukhara]].|250x250px]]

=== China ===
{{Main|Tajiks of Xinjiang}}
'''Chinese Tajiks''' or '''Mountain Tajiks in China''' ([[Sarikoli language|Sarikoli]]: {{IPA|fo|tudʒik|}}, ''Tujik''; {{zh|c=塔吉克族|p=Tǎjíkè Zú}}), including Sarikolis (majority) and [[Wakhi people|Wakhis]] (minority) in China, are the [[Pamiri people|Pamiri]] ethnic group that lives in the [[Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]] in [[Northwestern China]]. They are one of the [[Nationalities of China|56 nationalities]] officially recognized by the government of the [[People's Republic of China]].

=== Kazakhstan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Kazakhstan}}
According to the [[Demographics of Kazakhstan#Ethnic groups|1999 population census]], there were 26,000 Tajiks in Kazakhstan (0.17% of the total population), about the same number as in the 1989 census.

=== Kyrgyzstan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Kyrgyzstan}}
According to [[Demographics of Kyrgyzstan#Ethnic groups|official statistics]], there were about 47,500 Tajiks in Kyrgyzstan in 2007 (0.9% of the total population), up from 42,600 in the 1999 census and 33,500 in the 1989 census.

=== Turkmenistan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Turkmenistan}}
According to the last Soviet census in 1989,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php?reg=14|title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей|access-date=22 December 2008|archive-date=14 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314043707/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php?reg=14|url-status=live}}</ref> there were 3,149 Tajiks in Turkmenistan, or less than 0.1% of the total population of 3.5 million at that time. The first population census of independent Turkmenistan conducted in 1995 showed 3,103 Tajiks in a population of 4.4 million (0.07%), most of them (1,922) concentrated in the eastern provinces of [[Lebap Province|Lebap]] and [[Mary Province|Mary]] adjoining the borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.<ref>''Population census of Turkmenistan 1995'', Vol. 1, State Statistical Committee of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 1996, pp. 75–100.</ref>

=== Russia ===
The population of Tajiks in Russia was about 350,236 according to the 2021 census,<ref name="census2021">{{cite web |title=Национальный состав населения |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx |access-date=30 December 2022 |publisher=[[Federal State Statistics Service (Russia)|Federal State Statistics Service]]}}</ref> up from 38,000 in the last [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] census of 1989.<ref name=census2002>{{cite web|url=http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_14_24.htm|title=2002 Russian census|publisher=Perepis2002.ru|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=9 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309143210/http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_14_24.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Most Tajiks came to Russia after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], often as [[Gastarbeiter|guest workers]] in places like [[Moscow]] and [[Saint Petersburg]] or federal subjects near the Kazakhstan border.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Vol4/pub-04-04.pdf|title=4. НАСЕЛЕНИЕ ПО НАЦИОНАЛЬНОСТИ И ВЛАДЕНИЮ РУССКИМ ЯЗЫКОМ ПО СУБЪЕКТАМ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ|website=gks.ru|access-date=23 August 2021|archive-date=6 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906073144/http://www.perepis2002.ru/content.html?id=11|url-status=dead}}</ref> There are currently estimated to be over one million Tajik guest workers living in Russia, with their remittances accounting for as much as half of Tajikistan's economy.{{sfn|Foltz|2023|p=208}}

=== Pakistan ===
{{Main|Tajiks in Pakistan}}
There are an estimated 220,000 [[Tajiks in Pakistan]] as of 2012, mainly refugees from Afghanistan.<ref name="Pakistan">The ethnic composition of the 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees living in Pakistan are believed to be 85% Pashtun and 15% Tajik, Uzbek and others.{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e487016|title=2012 UNHCR country operations profile&nbsp;– Pakistan|access-date=8 August 2012|archive-date=24 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724052251/https://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e487016|url-status=live}}</ref> During the 1990s, as a result of the [[Tajikistan Civil War]], between 700 and 1,200 Tajiks arrived in Pakistan, mainly as students, the children of Tajik refugees in Afghanistan. In 2002, around 300 requested to return home and were repatriated back to Tajikistan with the help of the [[International Organization for Migration|IOM]], [[UNHCR]] and the two countries' authorities.<ref name="Tajiks in Pakistan">{{cite web|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|url=http://www.unhcr.org/3d99d4654.html|title=Long-time Tajik refugees return home from Pakistan|publisher=UNHCR|date=1 October 2002|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=19 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419113350/https://www.unhcr.org/3d99d4654.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== United States ===
{{Main|Tajik Americans}}
80,414 Tajiks live in the United States.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.today/20200212040323/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:501;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:501;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:501;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:501&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=true&-charIterations=045&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en | title=American FactFinder - Results }}</ref>