Demographics of Kyrgyzstan
Encyclopedia
The Demographics of Kyrgyzstan is about the demographic
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...

 features of the population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

, including population growth, population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

, ethnicity
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The name Kyrgyz, both for the people and the country, means "forty girls" or "forty tribes", a reference to the epic hero Manas
Epic of Manas
The Epic of Manas is a traditional epic poem claimed by the Kyrgyz people dating to the 18th century, though it is possibly much older. In some earlier versions, however, Manas is identified as Nogay. This opens the possibility of Manas having spoken a dialect of Turki similar to that of the...

 who unified forty tribes against the Oirats
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...

, as symbolized by the 40-ray sun on the flag of Kyrgyzstan.

Demographic trends

Kyrgyzstan's population increased from 2.1 million to 4.8 million between the censuses of 1959 and 1999. Official estimates set the population at 5.2 million in 2007. Of those, 34.4% are under the age of 15 and 6.2% are over the age of 65. The country is rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

: only about one-third of Kyrgyzstan's population live in urban areas. The average population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 is 69 people per square mile (29 people per km²).

The nation's largest ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

 are the Kyrgyz, a Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

 people, which comprise 71% of the population (2009 census). Other ethnic groups include Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 (9.0%) concentrated in the north and Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...

 (14.5%) living in the south. Small but noticeable minorities include Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

 (1.9%), Uyghurs
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...

 (1.1%), Tajiks (1.1%), Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

 (0.7%) and Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 (0.5%), and other smaller ethnic minorities (1.7%). Of the formerly sizable Volga German
Volga German
The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans living along the River Volga in the region of southern European Russia around Saratov and to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain German culture, language, traditions and churches: Lutherans, Reformed,...

 community, exiled here by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 from their earlier homes in the Volga German Republic, most have returned to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and only a few small groups remain. A small percentage of the population are also Koreans
Koryo-saram
Koryo-saram is the name which ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. Approximately 500,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former Soviet Union, primarily in the now-independent states of Central Asia. There are also large Korean communities in southern Russia , the...

, who are the descendants of the Koreans deported
Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union
Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union, originally conceived in 1926, initiated in 1930, and carried through in 1937, was the first mass transfer of an entire nationality based on their ethnicity to be committed by the Soviet Union...

 in 1937 from the Soviet Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...

 to Central Asia.

Kyrgyzstan has undergone a pronounced change in its ethnic composition since independence. The percentage of ethnic Kyrgyz increased from around 50% in 1979 to nearly 70% in 2007, while the percentage of European ethnic groups (Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans) as well as Tatars dropped from 35% to about 10%.

The Kyrgyz have historically been semi-nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...

ic herders, living in round tents called yurt
Yurt
A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...

s and tending sheep, horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s and yak
Yak
The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population...

s. This nomadic tradition continues to function seasonally (see transhumance
Transhumance
Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with...

) 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 have an impact on the political atmosphere in the country.

Births and deaths

Average population (x 1000) Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1000) Crude death rate (per 1000) Natural change (per 1000)
1980 3 628 107 278 30 460 76 818 29.6 8.4 21.2
1981 3 699 113 434 29 591 83 843 30.7 8.0 22.7
1982 3 775 117 235 29 194 88 041 31.1 7.7 23.3
1983 3 857 120 708 30 241 90 467 31.3 7.8 23.5
1984 3 937 126 075 32 603 93 472 32.0 8.3 23.7
1985 4 014 128 460 32 332 96 128 32.0 8.1 23.9
1986 4 093 133 728 29 083 104 645 32.7 7.1 25.6
1987 4 173 136 588 30 597 105 991 32.7 7.3 25.4
1988 4 250 133 710 31 879 101 831 31.5 7.5 24.0
1989 4 327 131 508 31 156 100 352 30.4 7.2 23.2
1990 4 395 128 810 30 580 98 230 29.3 7.0 22.4
1991 4 464 129 536 30 859 98 677 29.0 6.9 22.1
1992 4 515 128 352 32 163 96 189 28.4 7.1 21.3
1993 4 515 116 795 34 513 82 282 25.9 7.6 18.2
1994 4 513 110 113 37 109 73 004 24.4 8.2 16.2
1995 4 560 117 340 36 915 80 425 25.7 8.1 17.6
1996 4 628 108 007 34 562 73 445 23.3 7.5 15.9
1997 4 696 102 050 34 540 67 510 21.7 7.4 14.4
1998 4 769 104 183 34 596 69 587 21.8 7.3 14.6
1999 4 837 104 068 32 850 71 218 21.5 6.8 14.7
2000 4 888 96 770 34 111 62 659 19.8 7.0 12.8
2001 4 927 98 138 32 677 65 461 19.9 6.6 13.3
2002 4 965 101 012 35 235 65 777 20.3 7.1 13.2
2003 5 011 105 490 35 941 69 549 21.1 7.2 13.9
2004 5 065 109 939 35 061 74 878 21.7 6.9 14.8
2005 5 116 109 839 36 992 72 847 21.5 7.2 14.2
2006 5 164 120 737 38 566 82 171 23.4 7.5 15.9
2007 5 207 123 251 38 180 85 071 23.7 7.3 16.3
2008 5 250 127 332 37 710 89 622 24.3 7.2 17.1
2009 5 301 135 494 37 000 98 494 25.6 7,0 18.6
2010

Total fertility rate

2.65 children born/woman (2009 est.)

The differences in the number of children by nationality are significant: Uzbeks (3.0 children), Tajiks (3.0 children), Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 (2.9), Kyrgyz (2.9), Dungans (2.8) Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 (1.7), Koreans (1.7), Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 (1.8), Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 (2.1), Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

 (2.1), Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

 (2.3) and Ugyhur
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...

s (2.5). The TFR for Russians in Kyrgyzstan is more than 60% higher than that in Russia and the TFR for Ukrainians is 100% higher than in Ukraine. TFR for Koreans in Kyrgyzstan is also very high compared to TFR of South Korea. Same is true for Germans.

Ethnic groups

According to the 1999 census, the ethnic composition of the population was as follows: Kyrgyz (Kara Kyrgyz) 64.9%, Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...

 13.8%, Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 12.5%, Dungans 1.1%, Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 1%, Ugyhurs
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...

 1%, other 5.7%, including Koreans 0.4% and Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 0.4% (among them Low German-speaking Mennonites). Most Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Germans, and Koreans lived in northeast, especially around the city of Karakol
Karakol
Karakol , formerly Przhevalsk, is fourth largest city in Kyrgyzstan, near the eastern tip of Issyk Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan, about from the Kyrgyzstan-China border and from the capital Bishkek. It is the administrative capital of Issyk Kul Province...

. Most of the Dungans and Ugyhurs
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...

 are found along the Chinese border. Most of the Tajiks and Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...

 live in the south. The emigration of non-Turkic people to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 is now negligible, in part because most of them left prior to 1999 and in part because Kyrgyzstan is the most tolerant Central Asian nation.

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 3,804,800 70.9
Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...

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 13.8 768,400 14.3
Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

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 12.5 419,600 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 58,400 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 48,500 0.9
Tajiks
Tajiks
Tajik is a general designation for a wide range of Persian-speaking people of Iranic origin, with traditional homelands in present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan...

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 46,100 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 39,100 0.7
Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

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 33,200 0.6
Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

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 31,500 0.6
Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

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 21,900 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 17,300 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 17,300 0.3
Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

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 9,500 0.2
Kurds - 1,490 0.1 4,783 0.2 7,974 0.3 9,544 0.3 14,262 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 1,900 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 1,400 0.0
Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

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 0.0 600 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 5,362,800
1 Source: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_26.php. 2 Source: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_39.php. 3 Source: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_59.php. 4 Source: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_70.php. 5 Source: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_79.php. 6 Source: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php. 7 Source: http://www.stat.kg/stat.files/din.files/census/5010003.pdf. 8 Source: http://www.stat.kg/stat.files/tematika/демограф/Кыргызстан%20в%20цифрах/демо6.pdf

Languages

Kyrgyz
Kyrgyz language
Kyrgyz or Kirgiz, also Kirghiz, Kyrghiz, Qyrghiz is a Turkic language and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan...

 - 64.7%, Uzbek
Uzbek language
Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...

 - 13.6% Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 - 12.5%, Dungun
Dungan language
The Dungan language is a Sinitic language spoken by the Dungan of Central Asia, an ethnic group related to the Hui people of China.-History:...

 1%, other 8.2% (census 1999)

In March 1996, the Kyrgyzstani legislature amended the constitution to make Russian an official language, along with Kyrgyz, in territories and work places where Russian-speaking citizens predominate.

Religions

Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 are 75%, Russian Orthodox are 20%, and other are 5% of the Population (1999 census).

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Data from CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Sex ratio

at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:
1.04 male(s)/female

15–64 years:
0.96 male(s)/female

65 years and over:
0.64 male(s)/female

total population:
0.96 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total 31.26 deaths/1,000 live births

Male 36.19 deaths/1,000 live births

Female 26.06 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population:
69.43 years

male:
65.43 years

female:
73.64 years (2009 est.)

Literacy

definition:
age 15 and over can read and write

total population:
98.7%

male:
99.3%

female:
98.1% (1999 census)
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