Ethnic groups of South Asia
Encyclopedia
The ethno-linguistic composition of the population of South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

, that is the nations of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

, Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...

 and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 is highly diverse. The majority of the population fall within two large Linguistic groups, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian
Dravidian peoples
Dravidian peoples is a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. Populations of speakers of around 220 million are found mostly in Southern India. Other Dravidian people are found in parts of central India, Sri Lanka,...

.

These groups are further subdivided into numerous sub-groups, castes and tribes. Indo-Aryans form the predominant ethno-linguistic group in Northern India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...

, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Dravidians form the predominant ethno-linguistic group in southern India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

 and the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka, and a small pocket in Pakistan. Iranian peoples
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

, grouped with Indo-Aryans in the Indo-Iranian language
Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani...

 group, also have a significant presence in South Asia, the large majority of whom are located in Pakistan, with heavy concentrations in Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas are a semi-autonomous tribal region in the northwest of Pakistan, lying between the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and the neighboring country of Afghanistan. The FATA comprise seven Agencies and six FRs...

. Dardic peoples form a minority among the Indo-Aryans. They are classified as belonging to the Indo-Aryan language
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...

 group, though sometimes they are also classified as external to the Indo-Aryan branch. They are found in northern Pakistan (Northern Areas
Northern Areas
Gilgit-Baltistan , is the northernmost political entity within Pakistan. It borders Pakistan's Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province to the west, Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor to the north, China to the east and northeast, Azad Kashmir to the southwest, and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to the...

 and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and in Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...

, India.

Minority groups not falling within either large group mostly belong to the Austro-Asiatic
Austro-Asiatic languages
The Austro-Asiatic languages, in recent classifications synonymous with Mon–Khmer, are a large language family of Southeast Asia, also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name Austro-Asiatic comes from the Latin words for "south" and "Asia", hence "South Asia"...

 and Tibeto-Burman
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....

 language families, most of whom live around North-East India
North-East India
Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...

, Nepal, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh. The Andamanese
Andamanese
The Andamanese people are the various aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which is the northern district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. They include the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, and...

 (Sentinel, Onge, Jarawa, Great Andamanese) live on some of the Andaman Islands and speak a language isolate, as do the Kusunda
Kusunda
The Kusunda or Ban Raja , known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the forest"), known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the forest"), known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq (The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the...

 in central Nepal, the Vedda in Sri Lanka, and the Nihali of central India, who number about 5000 people. The people of the Hunza valley
Hunza Valley
The Hunza Valley is a mountainous valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. The Hunza valley is situated to the north of the Hunza River, at an elevation of around . The territory of Hunza is about...

 in Pakistan are another distinct population. They speak Burushaski, a language isolate.

The traditions of different ethnic groups in South Asia have diverged, influenced by external cultures, especially in the northwestern parts of South Asia (where 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...

 and Iranian peoples
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

 have had much influence) and in the border regions and busy ports, where there are greater levels of contact with external cultures. This is particularly true for many ethnic groups in the northeastern parts
North-East India
Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...

 of South Asia who are ethnically and culturally related to peoples of the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

. The largest ethno-linguistic group in South Asia are the Indo-Aryans, numbering around 1 billion, and the largest sub-group are the native speakers of Hindi languages
Hindi languages
The Hindi languages, also known as Madhya and the Central Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages, is a subset of the varieties of Hindi spoken across northern India that descend from the Madhya prakrits, and includes the official languages of India and Pakistan, Hindi and Urdu...

, numbering more than 470 million.

Indo-Aryan
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...

People who speak an Indo-Aryan language
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...

.
Most of the North Indian population is of Indo-Aryan descent. The Ra1a1 gene haplotype is found in at least 50% of the populations from North/East India to Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
  • Assamese people
    Assamese people
    The Assamese people are a well-defined subgroup of People of Assam. Though sometimes they are defined as the Assamese-speaking Indo-Aryans of the Brahmaputra valley,, this definition is not legally binding...

     (i.e. the Assamese
    Assamese language
    Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...

     speakers of the Brahmaputra valley, not to be confused with the multi-ethnic people of Assam)
  • Parsi people
  • Bengali people
    Bengali people
    The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...

  • Bihari people
    Bihari people
    The Biharis are an ethnic group originating from the present state of Bihar with a history going back three millennia...

    • Maithil
      Maithil
      Maithil properly means the native speaker of Maithili language, and includes all the natives of Mithila. They are natives of some districts south of the Ganges near Bhagalpur and Monghyr, most of North Bihar and adojining Terai of Nepal. All castes living in Mithila and speaking Maithili are Maithils...

    • Bhumihar
      Bhumihar
      Bhumihar or Babhan or Bhuin-har is a Brahmin Hindu community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.- Varna status :...

  • Dhivehi people
  • Gujarati people
    Gujarati people
    Gujarati people , or Gujaratis are an ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in western India...

  • Saurashtra people
    Saurashtra people
    Sourashtra or "Sourashtras" refers to a community of people who speak the Saurashtra language. They had their original homes in Gujarat and migrated to Madurai and other places of Tamil Nadu...

  • Hindki
    Hindki
    Hindki is the name given to an ethnic group who inhabit Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. They are of the Khatri, Arora, and Brahmin caste, and are found all over the country. H. W. Bellew, in his Races of Afghanistan, estimated their number at about 300,000...

    s
  • Hindkowans
    Hindkowans
    Hindkowans or known locally as "Chachi's" are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces of Pakistan...

  • julaha
    Julaha
    The Julaha are an ethnic group of India, which adopted the profession of weaving. This occupational class is called Ramdasia in Sikhs, Momin Ansari, Malik in Muslims, Bhuiyar in Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand and Vankar in Gujrati Hindus. The total population of this community is about 841,000 to...

  • Konkani people
    Konkani people
    Konkani people , form a group of people mainly found in the Konkan Coast of western India whose mother-tongue is the Konkani language....

  • Marathi people
    Marathi people
    The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...

  • Mers
    Mers
    The Mer population of Kathiawar region in Saurashtra also known as the Maher, Mihir, Mair or Mehr are a community of people who have evolved from the Kshatriya Rajput varna within Hinduism. They are believed to be of Indo-Aryan descent, and have a rich and diverse history involving many battles,...

  • Muhajir people
    • Bihari Muslim
  • Oriya people
    Oriya people
    The Oriya, known classically by various names , are an ethnic group of eastern India and of eastern Indo-Aryan stock...

  • Paharis
    • Dogra people
    • Garhwali people
      Garhwali people
      Garhwali people are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who primarily live in the Garhwal Himalayas of the north-western Indian state of Uttarakhand...

    • Gurkha
      Gurkha
      Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...

       or Gorkha
    • Khas
      Khas
      Originally the Khas / Khasas or Khasiyas are the mountain dwellers living in the southern shadow of the Himalayan range from Kashmir to Bhutan, but mostly in Nepal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, North Bengal, Sikkim and Bhutan,...

    • Kumauni People
      Kumauni people
      Kumauni or Kumaoni are people from Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, India.They include all those who speak the Kumaoni language or any of its numerous dialects, living in the Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Nainital,Bijnor,Udham Singh Nagar,Moradabad, districts of Uttarakhand,...

       or Kumaoni people
  • Punjabi people
    Punjabi people
    The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...

    • Khatri people
    • Jatt people
    • Kamboj/Kamboh
      Kamboj
      The Kambojs , also Kamboh, are an ethnic community of the Punjab region. They may relate to the Kambojas, an Iranian tribe known to the people of Iron Age India and mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts and epigraphy. Kamboj is frequently used as a surname in lieu of the sub-caste or the gotra name...

    • Punjabi Rajput
      Punjabi Rajput
      Rajputs during the medieval period were a dominant caste in Northwestern India, including the Punjab region.According to the 1911 census in British India, the total Rajput population in the Punjab was 1,635,578, of which 1,222,024 were Muslim, 388,744 were Hindu and were Sikh.Traditionally,...

    • Punjabi Shaikh
      Punjabi Shaikh
      Sheikh , is an Arabic word meaning elder of a tribe, lord, Honorable revered old man, or Islamic scholar. In South Asia it is used as an ethnic title generally attributed to Muslim trading families....

    • Haral
    • Dogar
      Dogar
      Dogar is a Muslim, Punjabi tribe in the Punjab region of Pakistan. It is also used as a family name in Turkey and Northern Iraq among some Kurds and Turks.-Ethnography:...

    • Tarkhan people
      Tarkhan (Punjab)
      The Tarkhan , तरख़ान tarkhān) are considered a Punjabi tribe in Pakistani Punjab while a caste in Indian Punjab. They are carpenters by occupation....

    • Labana
      Labana
      Labanas are a Punjabi tribe. The Labanas of Punjab region are mostly Sikhs, with a small minority of Muslims and Hindus.- History:According to British records 33% of the Labana were baptised Sikhs and were found primarily in the Lahore, Gujranwala, and Sialkot areas...

    • Khattar
      Khattar
      Khattar , is an upper caste Pushtun tribe in Afghanistan and Punjabi, in Punjab, it is variously classified asJatt and Khatri caste in India.-Origins:...

    • Awan
    • Mughal (tribe)
      Mughal (tribe)
      The term Mughal is simply a Turkic word and many groups in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh use the term Mughal to describe themselves...

    • Arain
      Arain
      The Arain , are a Muslim agricultural caste settled mainly in the Punjab, with significant numbers also in Sindh. They are chiefly associated with farming, traditionally being landlords or zamindars.- Origin :...

  • Rajasthanis
    • Marwaris
      Marwaris
      Marwari or Marwadi or Rajasthani people are Indian ethnic group, that inhabit the Rajasthan region of India. Their language Rajasthani is a part of the western group of Indo-Aryan languages....

  • Seraikis
  • Sinhalese people
    Sinhalese people
    The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...

  • Sindhi people
    Sindhi people
    Sindhis are a Sindhi speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating from Sindh, a province Formerly of British India, now in Pakistan. Today Sindhis that live in Pakistan belong to various religious denominations including Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity...

  • Tharu people


Iranian peoples
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

  • Balochi people
  • Hazaras
  • Pashtun people
    Pashtun people
    Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

  • Lohani (Pashtun ethnic group)
  • Tajik people

Dardic peoples

Note: The Dardic languages
Dardic languages
The Dardic languages are a sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan, and the Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir...

 are largely seen as Indo-Aryan, but are sometimes seen as a separate Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani...

 branch.
  • Nuristani people
  • Chitrali people
    Chitrali people
    The Chitrali or Khow people are an ethnic group of northwestern Pakistan. They are mostly found in the Chitral District and speak Chitrali, also known as Khowar....

  • Shina people
    Shina people
    The Shina are the Dardic people originating in southern Gilgit Baltistan and western part of Kohistan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, as well as Dras Valley and Gurais/ Kishenganga Valley region in northern Kashmir of India. They also live in some parts of Pakistani Kashmir....

  • Kashmiri people
    Kashmiri people
    The Kashmiri people are a Dardic linguistic group living in Kashmir Valley in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir who speak the Kashmiri language...


Dravidian peoples
Dravidian peoples
Dravidian peoples is a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. Populations of speakers of around 220 million are found mostly in Southern India. Other Dravidian people are found in parts of central India, Sri Lanka,...

 

  • Bhil
    Bhil
    Bhils are primarily an Adivasi people of Central India. Bhils are also settled in the Tharparkar District of Sindh, Pakistan. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages....

  • Bonda
    Bonda People
    The Bonda are an ancient tribe of people numbering approximately 5000 who live in the isolated hill regions of the Malkangiri district of southwesternmost Orissa, India, near the junction of the three states of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh...

  • Brahui people
    Brahui people
    The Brahui or Brohi are ethnic Baloch group of about 2.2 million people with the majority found in Kalat, Baluchistan, Pakistan, but they are also found in smaller numbers in neighboring Afghanistan and Iran. The Brahuis are almost entirely Sunni Muslims.-Origins:The ethnonym "Brahui" is a very...

  • Kurukh (Oraon)
  • Dongria Kondha
    Kondha
    The Kondha are indigenous tribal groups of India. They live in Orissa, a state in Eastern India. Their highest concentration is found in the blocks of Rayagada, Kashipur, Kalyansinghpur, Bissamcuttack and Muniguda....

  • Khonds
    Khonds
    Khonds, or Kandhs are an aboriginal tribe of India, inhabiting the tributary states of Orissa and Srikakulam, in the Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Their main divisions are into Kutia, or hill Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds; the landowners are known as Raj Khonds. They are hunter...

  • Gondi people
    Gondi people
    The Gondi, Goindi or Gond people are people in central India, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra , Chhattisgarh, northern Andhra Pradesh, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India.The Gondi language is related to...

  • Kannadigas
    Kannadigas
    Kannadiga , or Kannadati is a reference to the people who natively speak the Kannada language. Kannadigas are mainly located in the state of Karnataka in India and in the neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra...

    • Badagas
      Badagas
      The Badagas are an indigenous people inhabiting the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, southern India. Their language is Badaga.-Traditional Attire:In olden days the Badagas used to wear distinctive dresses...

    • Kannadigas
      Kannadigas
      Kannadiga , or Kannadati is a reference to the people who natively speak the Kannada language. Kannadigas are mainly located in the state of Karnataka in India and in the neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra...

  • Kodava
    Kodava
    The Kodavas are a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state of southern India who traditionally were land-owning agriculturists with martial traditions and natively speak Kodava takk...

  • Malayalis
    • Native Hindus
    • Mappila
      Mappila
      Mappila or Moplah refers to a Muslim community of Kerala, primarily in the northern region called Malabar, which arose in Malabar as a result of the pre and post Islamic Arab contacts. Significant numbers of the community are also present in the southern districts of Karnataka and western parts of...

      s
    • Cochin Jews
      Cochin Jews
      Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews , are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots claimed to date to the time of King Solomon, though historically attested migration dates from the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Historically, they lived in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the...

    • Syrian Malabar Nasrani
      Syrian Malabar Nasrani
      The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians, "'Nasrani Mappila'" and Nasranis, are an ethnoreligious group from Kerala, India, adhering to the various churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition...

  • Malto people
    Malto people
    The Malto people are a Dravidian-speaking ethnic group. While most Dravidians are found in South India the Malto mostly live in the northern end of the subcontinent, such as in West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. They are mostly Hindu....

  • Tamil people
    Tamil people
    Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

    • Indian Tamils
      Indian Tamils
      Indian Tamils may refer to:* Tamil people from or living in India* Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka...

      • Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka
    • Sri Lankan Tamils
  • Telugu people
    Telugu people
    The Telugu people or Telugu Prajalu are an ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali...

  • Toda people
    Toda people
    The Toda people are a small pastoral community who live on the isolated Nilgiri plateau of Southern India. Before the late 18th century, the Toda coexisted locally with other communities, including the Badaga, Kota, and Kuruba, in a loose caste-like community organization in which the Toda were...

  • Tuluvas
  • Irulas
    Irulas
    Irulas are a scheduled tribe of India. Irulas are present in various parts of India, but are mainly located in the Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu...


Austro-Asiatic peoples
Austro-Asiatic languages
The Austro-Asiatic languages, in recent classifications synonymous with Mon–Khmer, are a large language family of Southeast Asia, also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name Austro-Asiatic comes from the Latin words for "south" and "Asia", hence "South Asia"...

  • Munda people
    Munda people
    The Munda are tribal people of the Chota Nagpur Plateau region.They are found across Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Assam states of India, and into parts of Bangladesh...

    • Juang
      Juang
      Juang , a jungle tribe of Orissa, India. They are found in only two of the tributary states, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar, most of them in the latter. They are estimated to amount in all to about 10,000. Their language belongs to the Munda family...

    • Kharia people
    • Korku people
    • Mundari people
      Mundari people
      The Mundari are a small ethnic group of South Sudan and one of the Nilotic peoples.The group is composed of cattle-herders and agriculturalists and are part of Karo people which also includes Bari, Pojulu, Kakwa, Kuku and Nyangwara...

    • Santali
      Santali
      Santali can refer to:* Santali language, spoken by Santals in Eastern India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan* Santali latin alphabet, invented in the 1890s by the Norwegian missionary Paul Olaf Bodding, and still used by most Santals, especially the members of the Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church...

    • Sora
      Sora language
      Sora is a Munda language of India, spoken by some 288,000 native speakers in South Orissa in eastern India, mainly in the Ganjam District, but also in the Koraput and Phulbani districts; other communities exist in Andhra Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and the...

  • Khasi people
  • Nicobarese people
    Nicobarese people
    The Nicobarese people are a Mon–Khmer-speaking people of the Nicobar Islands, a chain of 19 islands in the southeastern Bay of Bengal. Only 12 of the 19 islands are inhabited. The largest and main island is Great Nicobar. The term Nicobarese refers to the dominant tribes of the Nicobar Islands. On...


Tibeto-Burman peoples
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....

  • Tibetans and Tibetan-speaking
    Tibetan language
    The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...

     speaking peoples
    • Bhutias
    • Bhotiyas
    • Sherpas
    • Tibetan Ladakhis
    • Monpa
      • Takpa
        Takpa
        The Takpa is a linguistic northern sub-group of the Monpa people, while the southern sub-group is identified as the Tshangla. Monpas of the Takpa group are found in Tawang and Dirang of Arunachal Pradesh, Cuona of Tibet as well as Trashigang in Bhutan....

      • Tshangla
    • Sherdukpen
      Sherdukpen
      The Sherdukpen are an ethnic group related to both the Aka and Monpa. Their population of 4,200 is centered in West Kameng in the villages of Rupa, Jigaon, Thongri, Shergaon, in Bomdila. All of these are at elevations between 5000–6000 feet above sea level...

    • Aka
      Aka (tribe)
      The Aka, also known as Hrusso, are found in the Thrizino , Bhalukpong , Buragaon, Jamiri, Palizi, Khuppi area in West Kameng of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Their language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family....

    • Miji
      Miji
      The Miji, also known by the names of Sajolang and Damai, inhabit the districts of West Kameng and East Kameng in Arunachal Pradesh, India...

    • Tibetan Muslim
      • Burig
        Burig
        The Burig, or Purik, are another group of Tibetan Muslims with small Dardic admixture, who live south of the Balti in Ladakh. Most of them live in Ladakh and Baltistan, especially in Kargil, although significant numbers reside in Leh....

      • Baltis
        Baltis
        Baltis was an ancient Arabian goddess. She was revered at Carrhae and identified with the planet Venus....

  • Chakma
    Chakma people
    The Chakmas , also known as the Changhma , are a community that inhabits the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the North-East India. The Chakmas are the largest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, making up more than half the tribal population. Chakmas are divided into 46 clans or...

  • Chepang
    Chepang
    Chepang is the commonly used name given to an indigenous ethnic group living in central and southern Nepal.The language is also known as Chepang but is called Chyo-bang by the people themselves. Some Bahun Chettri castes call these people the "Praja" meaning "political subjects"...

  • Gurung
    Gurung
    The Gurung people, also called Tamu, are an ethnic group that migrated from Mongolia in the 6th century to the central region of Nepal. Gurungs, like other east Asian featured peoples of Nepal such as Sherpa, Tamang, Thakali, Magar, Manaaggi, Mustaaggi, and Walunggi, are the indigenous people of...

  • Karbi people or Mikir
  • Kirat people
    • Rai
      Rai (ethnic group)
      The Rai are one of Nepal's most ancient indigenous ethnolinguistic groups. They were Raya meaning king. Once someone was recognized as a ruler then Hindus awarded the title Raja, Rai, Raya, Malla etc. When the king Pritivi Narayan Shah couldn't defeat Kirant king , he somehow took them in...

    • Limbu
      Limbu people
      The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation.They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim....

    • Yakkha
      Yakkha
      Yakkha is an indigenous ethnic group of Nepal . It is one of the progenies of Nepal's prehistoric Kirat dynasty of around 100 BC.-Etymology:...

  • Lepcha people
    Lepcha people
    The Lepcha or Róng people , also called Róngkup , Mútuncí Róngkup Rumkup , and Rongpa , are the aboriginal people of Sikkim, who number between 30,000 and 50,000...

  • Magar people
  • Manipuri or Meithei people
  • Naga people
    Naga people
    The term Naga people refers to a conglomeration of several tribes inhabiting the North Eastern part of India and north-western Burma. The tribes have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority ethnic group in the Indian state of Nagaland...

  • Newar people
  • Tamang
    Tamang
    The Tamangs are the ancient and original inhabitants of the mountains and plains of the Himalayan regions of Nepal and India. Their ancient capital being Yambu - modern day Kathmandu. They have their own distinct culture, language and religion. Their ancestral domain is popularly known as...

  • Thakali
    Thakali
    The Thakali are ethnolinguistic group originated from the Thak Khola region of the Mustang District in the Dhaulagiri zone of Nepal. Thakali, like Mutanggi their ancestors, culture and traditions are traced back to ancient himalayan region...

  • Thami
    Thami
    The Thami are an indigenous tribe of hills east of Kathmandu, Nepal's capital. They mainly live in Dolakha district in East-Central Nepal. They are locally known as Thangmi. Their language is Kirant. According to the 2001 Nepal Census there are a total of 22,999 Thami of which 55.74% were...

  • Tripuris
  • Memba
    Memba
    The Memba are a tribal population of 3,500 is centered around Tuting and Geling, near the Siang river in the West Siang and Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh in India not very far from the Tibetan border. A sizeable population can be found in the nearby Yargab-Chu valley in Mechuka , where...

  • Khowa
    Khowa
    Khoa redirects here. For the foodstuff, see Khoa The Khowa, also known as Bugun in their native tongue, is a tribal group in India. They live mainly in the subtropical Tenga Velley or Singchung Administrative Circle of West Kameng district with its whole native polulations under...

  • Nishi
    Nishi (Tribe)
    - Nyishi People :The Nyishi people principally inhabit the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Known as the Nyishi ....


Turko-Mongol peoples

  • Turkish Indian
    Turks in India
    Turks in India comprise migrants from Turkey living in India, and their descendants. In the 1961 census, 58 people stated that their mother tongue was Turkish. According to the 2001 census, 126 residents of India stated their place of birth as Turkey...

  • Mughal (Moghul)
    Mughal (tribe)
    The term Mughal is simply a Turkic word and many groups in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh use the term Mughal to describe themselves...

    • Chughtai
      Chughtai
      Chagatai or Chughtai is a family name in portions of South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and the associated diaspora that claims descent from Chagatai Khan .-Origin of the name:...

    • Barlas
      Barlas
      The Barlas were a Mongol - later Turkicized - nomadic confederation in Central Asia and the chief tribe of the Timurids who ruled much of Central Asia, Iran, and South Asia in the Middle Ages.- Origins :According to the Secret History of the Mongols, written during the reign of Ögedei Khan, the...

    • Qizilbash
  • Hazaras (Turko-Mongol origins, but Iranian language)
  • possibly Hunza (may be related to Yenisei Siberians)

Semitic peoples

  • Indian Jews
    Indian Jews
    The history of the Jews in India reaches back to ancient times.Indian Jews are a religious minority of India. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. The better-established ancient communities have assimilated a large number of local traditions through...

    • Cochin Jews
      Cochin Jews
      Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews , are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots claimed to date to the time of King Solomon, though historically attested migration dates from the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Historically, they lived in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the...

       (Malayali Jews)
    • Bene Israel
      Bene Israel
      The Bene Israel are a group of Jews who migrated in the 19th century from villages in the Konkan area to the nearby Indian cities, primarily Mumbai, but also to Pune, and Ahmedabad. Prior to these waves of emigrations and to this day, the Bene Israel formed the largest sector of the subcontinent's...

        (Marathi Jews)
    • Baghdadi Jews
      Baghdadi Jews
      Baghdadi Jews, also known as Iraqi Jews, are Jewish emigrants from Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, who fled religious persecution and formed immigrant communities in their new homelands...

       (Arab Jews
      Arab Jews
      Arab Jews is a term referring to Jews living in the Arab World, or Jews descended from such persons.The term was occasionally used in the early 20th century, mainly by Arab nationalists, to describe the 1 million Jews living in the Arab world at the time...

       in Bengal
      Bengal
      Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

      )
    • Bnei Menashe
      Bnei Menashe
      The Bnei Menashe are a group of more than 9,000 people from India's North-Eastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. The claim appeared after a Pentecostalist dreamt in 1951 that his people's pre-Christian religion was Judaism and that...

       (Mizo and Kuki
      Kuki
      Kuki can refer to:* Kuki, Saitama, a city in Japan* one of the Kuki peoples who live in northeastern India * one of the Kukish languages spoken by the Kuki and related peoples...

       Jews)
    • Bene Ephraim
      Bene Ephraim
      The Bene Ephraim, also called Telugu Jews because they speak Telugu, are a small community of Jews living primarily in Kottareddipalem, a village outside Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India, near the delta of the River Krishna....

       (Telugu Jews)
    • Syrian Malabar Nasranis are descendents of both Hindu and Jewish converts to Christianity
    • Knanaya
      Knanaya
      The Knanaya also known as Q'nanaya, Q'nai, Kanai, or Thekkumbagar, are endogamous Jews who settled in Kerala, India. Their origins are unclear and are hotly disputed by academic scholars...

      (a sub-group of Syrian Malabar Nasranis)
    • Paradesi Jews
      Paradesi Jews
      Paradesi Jews are a community of Sephardic Jews settled among the larger Cochin Jewish community located in Kerala, a coastal southern state...

       (European Jews in India)
  • Arabs or mixed Arab and Indo-Aryan or Dravidian
    • Iranian Arabians
    • Konkani Muslims
      Konkani Muslims
      Konkani / Kokani Muslims is a Muslim sub-ethnic group of Maharashtrian Muslims living in the Konkan region of India. They speak the Konkani language. A good number of them live in Mumbai...

       (trace ancestry to Arab traders on the west coast of India)
    • Mappila
      Mappila
      Mappila or Moplah refers to a Muslim community of Kerala, primarily in the northern region called Malabar, which arose in Malabar as a result of the pre and post Islamic Arab contacts. Significant numbers of the community are also present in the southern districts of Karnataka and western parts of...

       (only a minority of the Mappila population, trace ancestry to Arab traders in the State of Kerala
      Kerala
      or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

      , India)
    • Sri Lankan Moors
      Sri Lankan Moors
      The Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country's total population . They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries...

       ( trace ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka)
    • Muhajirs
    • Iraqi biradri
      Iraqi biradri
      The word Birâdrî means Brotherhood originating from the word Birâdar meaning "Brother" in Persian. In Pakistan and India it is used to denote a number of social strata among Muslims....

       A community of Muslims in north India
    • Deccan A community of Muslims in Southern and Northern parts of the Deccan Plateau
      Deccan Plateau
      The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, making up the majority of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, rising further to more than a kilometers high in the south, forming a raised triangle nested within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of...

       such as Hyderabadi Muslims
    • Labbay
      Labbay
      Labbay, Labbai, Labba, Labbabeen is an Islamic community from southern India. A trading community spread through the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Labbays follow either the Hanafi or Shafi'i school of Fiqh.-Identity and origins:Their name is derived from the...

       Arab traders who settled in South India (trace ancestry back to Egypt
      Egypt
      Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

      ian traders)
    • Memons Possibly the earliest Muslims to arrive in India,(trace ancestry to Syrians who came with Muhammad Bin Qasim
      Muhammad bin Qasim
      Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi was a Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus River for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born in the city of Taif...

      ) during the expedition of Sindh
      Sindh
      Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

      .
    • Boras
      Borås
      Borås is a locality and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 63,441 inhabitants in 2005.- Geography :Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the railway between Gothenburg and Kalmar, and is often considered the Swedish city gaining the...

       Trace ancestors to Arab traders and Merchants.
    • Chaush
      Chaush
      The Chaush are a Sunni Muslim community of Hadhrami Arab descent found in the Deccan region of India. An extension of these Arab descendants are also found in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro. It is a Turkish word used particularly during the Ottoman era of the Balkans, 'Chaush' or Čauši were...

       Trace ancestors to traders from Yemen
      Yemen
      The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

    • Punjabi Shaikh
      Punjabi Shaikh
      Sheikh , is an Arabic word meaning elder of a tribe, lord, Honorable revered old man, or Islamic scholar. In South Asia it is used as an ethnic title generally attributed to Muslim trading families....

      s Dawah
      Dawah
      Da‘wah or Dawah usually denotes the preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being the active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite"...

       workers that arrived in India

Tai peoples
Tai peoples
The Tai ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which speak languages in the Tai family and share similar traditions and festivals, including...

  • Ahom people
  • Tai Aiton
    Tai Aiton
    Tai Aitons are one among the six Indigenous Tai communities of Assam. They are Buddhist by religion. The Assamese people commonly term them as Shyams or the people from Siam i.e. Thailand....

  • Tai Khampti
  • Tai Phake or Tai Phakial
  • Tai Turung

European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....

/Eurasian
Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....

 peoples

  • Anglo-Burmese
    Anglo-Burmese
    The Anglo-Burmese, also known as the Anglo-Burmans, are a community of Eurasians of Burmese and European descent, and emerged as a distinct community through mixed relations between the British and other European settlers and the indigenous peoples of Burma from 1826 until 1948 when Burma gained...

  • Anglo-Indian
    Anglo-Indian
    Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...

  • Burgher people
    Burgher people
    The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.Today the mother tongue of the Burghers...


Afro-Asian

  • African Pakistani
    African Pakistani
    African Pakistani or Pakistani African may refer to:*Pakistani migrants or descendants in Africa:**Pakistanis in Libya*Siddi, descendants of black African slaves in Pakistan...

  • Black Jews of Kerala
    Cochin Jews
    Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews , are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots claimed to date to the time of King Solomon, though historically attested migration dates from the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Historically, they lived in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the...

  • Great Andamanese
    Great Andamanese
    Great Andamanese is a collective term used to refer to related indigenous peoples who lived throughout most of the Great Andaman archipelago, the main and closely situated group of islands in the Andaman Islands. Numbering between 200 and 700, each of the Great Andamanese peoples maintained a...

     of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Jangil
    Jangil
    The Jangil were one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. They were formerly distributed through the interior of Rutland Island, and were given the name Rutland Jarawa because it was supposed that they were related to the neighbouring Jarawa...

     of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Jarawa
    Jarawa (Andaman Islands)
    The Jarawa are one of the adivasi indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. Their present numbers are estimated at between 250-350 individuals. Since they have largely shunned interactions with outsiders, many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood...

     of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Onge of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Sentinelese
    Sentinelese
    The Sentinelese are one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. They inhabit North Sentinel Island which lies westward off the southern tip of the Great Andaman archipelago...

     of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Sheedis/Siddis, an ethnic community of Black African descent
  • Siddi
    Siddi
    The Siddi, Siddhi, or Sheedi , also known as Habshi, are an Indian and Pakistani ethnic group of Afro-Arab and/or Black African descent. The Siddi population is currently estimated to be 20,000–55,000, with Gujarat and Hyderabad in India the main population centre. Siddis are mainly Sufi Muslims,...

  • Siddis of Karnataka
    Siddis of Karnataka
    The Siddis of Karnataka are a tribe of African descent that has made Karnataka their home for the last 400 years. There is a 50,000 strong Siddhi population across India, of which more than a third live in Karnataka...

    , an ethnic community of Black African descent
  • Sri Lanka Kaffirs
    Sri Lanka Kaffir people
    The Sri Lankan Kaffirs are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th century Portuguese traders and the African slaves who were brought by them to work as labourers and soldiers to fight against the Sri Lankan kings...


Linguistically isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...

 groups

  • Andamanese
    Andamanese
    The Andamanese people are the various aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which is the northern district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. They include the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, and...

  • Hunza people
  • Kusunda
    Kusunda
    The Kusunda or Ban Raja , known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the forest"), known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the forest"), known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq (The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the...

  • Nahali
    Nahali
    Nahali can refer to:*The Nihali people of central India, or their isolate language, Nihali;*The Kalto people of central India, speakers of an Indo-Aryan language, Kalto....

     (Kalto)
  • Vedda

Diaspora

Many South Asian ethnic groups and nationalities have substantial diasporas outside of South Asia.
  • South Asian American
    • Indian American
      Indian American
      Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...

    • Pakistani American
      Pakistani American
      A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...

    • Bangladeshi American
      Bangladeshi American
      Bangladeshi Americans are Americans of Bangladeshi descent. The overwhelming majority of Bangladeshi Americans are Bengalis. Most of them have immigrated from Sylhet region with a long trading history. Bangladeshi immigrants arrived in the United States especially since the early 1990s to become...

    • Sri Lankan American
      Sri Lankan American
      Sri Lankan Americans are Americans of Sri Lankan descent. Sri Lankan Americans are persons of Sri Lankan origin from various Sri Lankan ethnic backgrounds who are born or raised in the United States or are naturalized citizens of the U.S. They incorporate American values into their lives and...

  • South Asian Canadian
    • Indo-Canadian
    • Pakistani Canadian
      Pakistani Canadian
      - History in Canada :People from the region that would become Pakistan were among the pioneers who migrated from British India to British Columbia at the turn of the century. By 1905, as many as 200 participated in the building of that first community from modern-day Pakistan, which for a time had...

    • Sri Lankan Canadian
    • Tamil Canadian
      Tamil Canadian
      Tamil Canadian or Canadian Tamils are Canadians of Tamil ethnic origins mostly from India and Sri Lanka. It is estimated that the Tamil diaspora in Canada is around 200,000. From a population of fewer than 150 Tamils in 1983, it has become one of the largest visible minority population groups...

    • Bangladeshi Canadian
      Bangladeshi Canadian
      Bangladeshi Canadian refers to a Bangladeshi person born in Canada or a Bangladeshi that has migrated to Canada. There is an estimated number of 24,595 Bangladeshi people who live in Canada, primarily in provinces like Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, & Alberta...

  • British Asian
    British Asian
    British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...

    • British Indian
      British Indian
      The term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...

    • British Pakistani
    • British Bangladeshi
      British Bangladeshi
      A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...

    • British Tamil
    • Sri Lankans in the United Kingdom
    • Nepalis in the United Kingdom
      Nepalis in the United Kingdom
      Nepalese in the United Kingdom are British citizens or full time residents of the United Kingdom whose ethnic origins lie fully or partially in the South Asian nation of Nepal.-History:...

    • British Indo-Caribbean community
      British Indo-Caribbean community
      The British Indo-Caribbean community consists of residents of the United Kingdom who are of Caribbean origin and whose ancestors were indigenous to India...

    • Mauritians in the United Kingdom
    • Asian-Scots
      Asian-Scots
      Asian-Scots or Scottish Asians is a term used for people of South Asian ancestry who were born in Scotland, or for South Asian immigrants....

  • South Asian Australian
    • Indian Australian
      Indian Australian
      An Indian Australian is an Australian of Indian heritage. They include both those who are Australian by birth, and increasingly, those born in India or elsewhere in the Indian diaspora...

    • Pakistani Australian
      Pakistani Australian
      Pakistani Australians refers to someone born in Australia of Pakistani descent or to someone who has immigrated to Australia from Pakistan. Most Pakistani Australians are Muslims by religion though there is also a sizeable Christian minority....

    • Sri Lankan Australian
      Sri Lankan Australian
      Sri Lankan Australian refers to people of Sri Lankan heritage living in Australia. This includes at least four Sri Lankan ethnic groups in Australia the Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil, Sri Lankan Moors and Burghers. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, there is no self-identifying "Sri...

    • Bangladeshi Australian
  • Indo Kiwi
    Indo Kiwi
    Indo Kiwi or Indian New Zealander are New Zealanders of Indian or subcontinental heritage, living in New Zealand. The term includes Indians born in New Zealand, NRI and Indo Fijians, Indians of African origin, Middle East, Europe, South Asia, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, the Pacific Rim, or...

  • Indians in Singapore
  • Malaysian Indian
    • Tamil Malaysians
      Tamil Malaysians
      Tamil Malaysian or Malaysian Tamil refer to the Malaysians of Tamil ethnic origin from India and Sri Lanka in Malaysia. They make up over 70% of the Indian Malaysian population group in Malaysia...

    • Chitty
      Chitty
      The Chitty are a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca and Singapore , who are also known as the Indian Peranakans. As of today, their population stands at 2,000.-Language:...

  • Indian Indonesian
  • Indo-Mauritian
    Indo-Mauritian
    Indo-Mauritians are people of Indian descent living on the island of Mauritius, where they represent a majority comprising 68% of the population according to the July 2007 statistics...

    • Bihari Mauritian
      Bihari Mauritian
      Bihari Mauritians are the descendants of Bihari migrants to Mauritius. A majority of Indo-Mauritians are Bihari, and a majority of Mauritians are Indo-Mauritian . Most Mauritian prime ministers have been Bihari...

  • Indo-Caribbean
    Indo-Caribbean
    Indo-Caribbean people or Indo-Caribbeans are Caribbean people with roots in India or the Indian subcontinent. They are mostly descendants of the original indentured workers brought by the British, the Dutch and the French during colonial times...

    • Indo-Trinidadian
      Indo-Trinidadian
      Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago of Indian or other South Asian ancestry.Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians has now become interchangeable with Indians or East Indians. These were people who were taken from India by the British either as workers or educated...

    • Indo-Jamaican
      Indo-Jamaican
      The Hindustani community of Jamaica, popularly known as Indo-Jamaicans or Indian Jamaicans, are primarily the descendents of indentured workers of India who are citizens or nationals of Jamaica...

  • Burmese Indians
    Burmese Indians
    Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian subcontinental ethnicity who live in Myanmar . While Indians have lived in Burma for many centuries, most of the ancestors of the current Burmese Indian community emigrated to Burma from the start of British rule in the mid 19th century to the...

  • South Asians in Hong Kong
    South Asians in Hong Kong
    Hong Kong has a long-established South Asian population. As of the 2006 by-census, there were at least 44,744 persons of South Asian descent in Hong Kong. Many trace their roots in Hong Kong as far back as when most of the Indian subcontinent was still under British colonial rule, and as a legacy...

  • South Asians in the Philippines
  • Indians in Germany
  • Indian South Africans
    Indian South Africans
    Indian South Africans are people of Indian descent living in South Africa and mostly live in and around the city of Durban, making it 'the largest 'Indian' city outside India'. Most Indians in South Africa are descendents of migrants from colonial India during late 19th-century through early...

  • Indians in Botswana
    Indians in Botswana
    Indians in Botswana do not form a very large population. There are 3,000 PIOs and 6,000 NRIs in Botswana.-History:A few Indian families from South Africa migrated to Botswana in the beginning of the 20th century. Initially engaged in general trading, they gradually built up big businesses by...

  • Indians in Kenya
    Indians in Kenya
    There are currently over 100,000 Indians in Kenya, most living in the major urban areas of Nairobi and Mombasa with others living in rural areas. Most are Hindus and with some Muslims, often with their own businesses and places of worship...

  • Indians in Madagascar
    Indians in Madagascar
    Indians in Madagascar form a community of roughly 25,000 individuals according to the statistics of India's Ministry of External Affairs; other estimates of their population range from 15,000 to 30,000. Among them are 867 non-resident Indians, with the rest being locally-born descendants of early...

  • Indo-Mauritian
    Indo-Mauritian
    Indo-Mauritians are people of Indian descent living on the island of Mauritius, where they represent a majority comprising 68% of the population according to the July 2007 statistics...

  • Indians in Mozambique
    Indians in Mozambique
    Indians in Mozambique form the sixth-largest Indian diaspora community in Africa, according to the statistics of India's Ministry of External Affairs. Roughly 40,000 people of Indian descent reside in Mozambique, as well as 870 Indian expatriates.-Origins:...

  • Indo-Réunionnaise
    Indo-Réunionnaise
    Réunionnais of Indian origin are people of Indian origin in Réunion. They form two ethnic groups on the island, Malbars and Zarabes.-Origins:...

  • Indo-Seychellois
    Indo-Seychellois
    -Origins:They were brought in as indentured labourers. The majority were Hindus from North India; Tamil and Telugus from South India and Muslims form the remainder of the population.-Demographic Factors:...

  • Indians in Tanzania
    Indians in Tanzania
    There are currently over 90,000 people of Indian origin in Tanzania. Many of them are traders and they control a sizeable portion of the Tanzanian economy. Indians have a long history in Tanzania starting with the arrival of Gujarati traders in the 19th century. They came to gradually control the...

  • Indians in Uganda
    Indians in Uganda
    There are currently over 12,000 people of Indian origin living in Uganda, but this is a far cry from their heyday. In the late 1890s, over 30,000 Indians, mostly Sikhs, were brought on 3 year contracts to build the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Kisumu by 1901, and to Kampala by 1931. Some died,...

  • Indians in Zambia
    Indians in Zambia
    There is a small community of Indians in Zambia. Unlike the better-known Indian communities of East Africa, they were little-studied by historians until the 2000s.-Migration history:...

  • Indians in Zimbabwe
    Indians in Zimbabwe
    There are currently over 10,000 Indians in Zimbabwe, mostly as businessmen. Indians started arriving at the end of the 19th century when the territory was still known as Southern Rhodesia. Their further immigration were restricted after 1923 when the colony became a self-administered territory of...

  • Indians in Iran
    Indians in Iran
    Relations between India and Iran have been traditionally very close. There have been many movements of people overland between these two countries, the most prominent is the Zoroastrian community's migration to western India due to their fear of spread of the message of Islam.Between the late 19th...

  • Indians in Thailand
    Indians in Thailand
    There are about 65,000 persons of Indian origin settled in Thailand mainly in the cities.-Migration history:Many of them arrived in the last century, notably from Punjab and some from Gujarat. A Tamil community has been around since the 1861s...

  • Indians in the United Arab Emirates
    Indians in the United Arab Emirates
    Indians in the United Arab Emirates constitute a large part of population of the country. Over a million Indian migrants are estimated to be living in the UAE , who form over 40% of the total population of the UAE. A majority of Indians live in the three largest cities of the UAE — Dubai,...

  • Indians in Vietnam
    Indians in Vietnam
    , there were about 1,000 persons of Indian origin settled in Vietnam, mainly in Ho Chi Minh City. Prior to the Vietnam War, there was a vibrant Indian community, primarily Tamils and specifically Chettiars. The community still maintains a Hindu temple in Ho Chi Minh City, the Sri Mariamman temple...

  • Indians in Barbados
    Indians in Barbados
    There is 3,000-strong Indian community in Barbados, or Indo-Bajans as they are know. Unlike many other Caribbean nations, none originated as indentured workers from India. The majority are descendants of traders and most recently immigrants from Guyana....

  • Indians in Belize
    Indians in Belize
    Asian Indians comprise approximately 2% of the population and began arriving in Belize in the 1880s. Initially coming in as indentured, many of them stayed on to work the sugar plantations and were joined by other Indian immigrants. Indians are spread out over many villages and towns primarily in...

  • Indo-Guyanese
    Indo-Guyanese
    Indo-Guyanese are mostly descendants of indentured labourers from India who are citizens or nationals of Guyana. They are often referred to as Indians or East Indians...

  • Indo-Grenadians
    Indo-Grenadians
    Indo-Grenadians, or Grenadians who trace their roots to India, form the largest minority group in Grenada. This group was first introduced during the second half of the 19th century when Grenada experimented with indentured labour. By the second half of the 20th century Indians were so integrated...

  • Indians in Guadeloupe
    Indians in Guadeloupe
    Tamils in Guadeloupe are mostly descended from indentured workers who came from Tamil Nadu in the late 19th century. There are currently about 55,000 people of Indian origin living in Guadeloupe making it home to one of the largest Indian communities in Latin America.-History:Tamils in Guadeloupe...

  • Indians in Panama
    Indians in Panama
    There are an estimated 15,000 people of Indian origin in Panama. They are employed in the shipping industry while others are mainly engaged in commerce. A majority are Hindu with a substantial Muslim minority and they maintain temples and mosques in Panama City and Colón.Panama's Indian community...

  • Indians in Belgium
    Indians in Belgium
    There are about 7,000 persons of Indian origin residing in Belgium.Indians are employed mainly in the software and diamond industries as well as other local industries in major cities...

  • Indian diaspora in France
  • Indians in Israel
    Indians in Israel
    Indians in Israel almost exclusively consist of Indian Jews who migrated to Israel upon the formation of the modern state of Israel in 1948. There are now an estimated 85,000 Indians who live in Israel. They are primarily Cochin Jews and Paradesi Jews of Kerala, Bene Israel of Maharashtra and...

  • Indians in Italy
  • Indians in Portugal
  • Indian community in Spain
  • Indo-Fijian
  • Indians in New Caledonia
    Indians in New Caledonia
    There are about 500 New Caledonians of Indian descent. They were known as Malabars and orinignally arrived in the 19th century from other French Territories, namely Réunion....

  • Hindoestanen
    Hindoestanen
    The Hindoestanen are an ethnic group of South Asian origin in the Netherlands and Suriname. After the Dutch government signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers, the Hindoestanen began migrating to Suriname in 1873 from what was then British India as indentured...



See also Punjabi diaspora
Punjabi diaspora
The Punjabi diaspora refers to the descendants of ethnic Punjabis who emigrated out of the Punjab region to the rest of world. Punjabis are one of the largest ethnic groups in both the Pakistani and Indian diasporas...

, Bangladeshi diaspora
Bangladeshi diaspora
The Bangladeshi diaspora consists of people of Bangladeshi descent who have immigrated to or were born in another country. First generation migrants may have moved abroad from Bangladesh for better living conditions, to escape poverty, or to send money back to families in Bangladesh.The world's...

, Tamil diaspora
Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora is a demographic group of Tamil people of Indian or Sri Lankan origin who have settled in other parts of the world. Significant Tamil diaspora populations can be found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East, Réunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Guyana,...

, Pakistani diaspora
Pakistani diaspora
The Pakistani diaspora, or an overseas Pakistani is a Pakistani citizen who has migrated to another country or a person of Pakistani origin who is born outside Pakistan. There are approximately 7 million Pakistanis living abroad...

, Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora
Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora
The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora refers to the global diaspora of the people of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan as well as Tamil diaspora....

 and Indian diaspora.

Two (or possibly three) other people groups have ethnic and linguistic ties with the region:
  • Dom people
    Dom people
    The Dom of the Middle East are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group. Some authors relate them to the Domba people of India.- Culture :...

  • Romani people
  • Lom people (who speak a language both related to Indo-Aryan and Armenian)

See also

  • Languages of South Asia
    Languages of South Asia
    South Asia is home to several hundred languages. Most languages spoken in India belong either to the Indo-European , the Dravidian , the Austroasiatic , or the Tibeto-Burman South Asia is home to several hundred languages. Most languages spoken in India belong either to the Indo-European (ca....

  • Genetics and Archaeogenetics of South Asia
    Genetics and Archaeogenetics of South Asia
    The study of the genetics and archaeogenetics of the ethnic groups of South Asia aims at uncovering these groups' genetic history. The geographic position of India makes Indian populations important for the study of the early dispersal of all human populations on the Eurasian continent.The Indian...

  • Y-DNA haplogroups in South Asian populations
    Y-DNA haplogroups in South Asian populations
    Listed here are notable groups and populations from South Asia by human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups based on relevant studies. The samples are taken from individuals identified with linguistic designations , the third column gives the amount of total Sample Size studied, and the other columns give...

  • Historical definitions of races in India
    Historical definitions of races in India
    Various attempts have been made, under the British Raj and since, to classify the population of India according to a racial typology. After the independence, in pursuance of the Government's policy to discourage community distinctions based on race, the 1951 Census of India did away with racial...

  • Languages of India
    Languages of India
    The languages of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages—Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages...

  • Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
  • Indian diaspora
  • Pakistani diaspora
    Pakistani diaspora
    The Pakistani diaspora, or an overseas Pakistani is a Pakistani citizen who has migrated to another country or a person of Pakistani origin who is born outside Pakistan. There are approximately 7 million Pakistanis living abroad...

  • Desi
    Desi
    Desi or Deshi refers to the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people, cultures, and products of their diaspora. Desi countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...

  • Languages of Pakistan
    Languages of Pakistan
    Languages of Pakistan include two official languages: Urdu, which is also Pakistan's national language and lingua franca, and English. Additionally, Pakistan has four major provincial languages: Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Farsi and Balochi, as well as three major regional languages: Saraiki, Hindko...

  • Ethnic groups in Pakistan
    Ethnic groups in Pakistan
    About 98% of languages spoken in Pakistan are Indo-Iranian , a branch of Indo-European family of languages. Most languages of Pakistan are written in the Perso-Arabic script, with significant vocabulary derived from Arabic and Persian. Punjabi , Seraiki, Sindhi, Pashto, Urdu, Balochi, Kashmiri , etc...

  • Assamese people
    Assamese people
    The Assamese people are a well-defined subgroup of People of Assam. Though sometimes they are defined as the Assamese-speaking Indo-Aryans of the Brahmaputra valley,, this definition is not legally binding...

  • Sikkimese people
    Sikkimese people
    Sikkimese people inhabit the Indian state of Sikkim. The indigenous peoples of Sikkim consist of the Lepcha, Limbu, migrating from Tibet, Bhutias, descendants of Buddhists who arrived from Nepal in 15th century, who migrated from the Kham district of Tibet in the 14th century, and Nepali,...



National demographics:
  • Demographics of Afghanistan
    Demographics of Afghanistan
    The population of Afghanistan is around 29,835,392 as of the year 2011, which is unclear if the refugees living outside the country are included or not. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between...

  • Demographics of Bangladesh
    Demographics of Bangladesh
    This article is about the demographic features of the population of Bangladesh, including population density, ethnicity, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

  • Demographics of Bhutan
    Demographics of Bhutan
    This article is about the demographic features of the population of Bhutan, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

  • Demographics of India
    Demographics of India
    The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...

  • Demographics of Iran
    Demographics of Iran
    Iran's population increased dramatically during the later half of the 20th century, reaching about 75 million by 2011. In recent years, however, Iran's birth rate has dropped significantly. Studies project that Iran's rate of population growth will continue to slow until it stabilizes above 100...

  • Demographics of Maldives
  • Demographics of Burma
  • Demographics of Nepal
    Demographics of Nepal
    The population of Nepal is estimated at 29,391,883 people in July 2011, with a population growth rate of 1.596% and a median age of 21.6 years. Female median age is estimated at 22.5 years, and male median age at 20.7 years...

  • Demographics of Pakistan
    Demographics of Pakistan
    This article is about the demographic features of the population of Pakistan, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

  • Demographics of Sri Lanka
    Demographics of Sri Lanka
    This article is about the demographic features of the population of Sri Lanka, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

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