This article deals with the various ethnic groups inhabiting the Caucasus region. There are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region.[1]
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Peoples of the Caucasus who speak languages which have long been indigenous to the Caucasus (North Caucasian and Kartvelian languages) are:
The largest peoples speaking languages which belong to the Caucasian language families and who are currently resident in the Caucasus are the Georgians (4,000,000), the Chechens (1,330,000 (according to 2002 Russian Census)), the Lezgins (about 700,000 (source Lezgins)), the Kabardins (600,000) and the Avars (500,000), while outside the Caucasus, the largest people of Caucasian origin, in diaspora in more than 40 countries (such as Jordan, Turkey, the countries of Europe, Syria, United States) are the Circassians with about 3,000,000-4,000,000 speakers. Georgians are the only Caucasian people that have their own undisputedly independent state—Georgia. Abkhazia's status is disputed. Other Caucasian peoples have republics within the Russian Federation: Adyghe (Adygea), Cherkess (Karachay-Cherkessia), Kabardins (Kabardino-Balkaria), Ingush (Ingushetia), Chechens (Chechnya), while other Northeast Caucasian peoples mostly live in Dagestan.
Peoples of the Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Turkic language family:
The largest of the Turkic-speaking peoples on Caucasus are Azerbaijani (8,700,000), who live primarily in Iran and Azerbaijan, but also in Georgia, Dagestan and Armenia (before 1991). The total number of carriers are 29 million. Other Turkic speakers live in their autonomous republics within Russian Federation: Karachays (Karachay-Cherkessia), Balkars (Kabardino-Balkaria), while Kumyks and Nogais live in Dagestan.
Peoples of the Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Indo-European language family:
Armenians number 3,215,800 in their native Armenia, though approximately 8 million live outside the republic, forming the Armenian diaspora. Elsewhere in the region, they reside in Nagorno-Karabakh (which is de facto independent, but de jure is part of Azerbaijan), Georgia (primarily Samtskhe-Javakheti, Adjara, and Abkhazia), and the Russian North Caucasus. The Ossetians live in North Ossetia-Alania (autonomous republic within Russia) and in South Ossetia, which is de facto independent, but de jure is part of Georgia. The Yazidi Kurds reside in the western areas of Armenia, mostly in the Aragatsotn marz. An autonomous Kurdish region was created in 1923 in Soviet Azerbaijan but was later abolished in 1929. Pontic Greeks reside in Armenia (Lori Province, especially in Alaverdi) and Georgia (Kvemo Kartli, Adjara, the Tsalka, and Abkhazia). Pontic Greeks had also made up a significant component of the southern Caucasus region acquired from the Ottoman Turkish Empire (following the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano) that centred on the town of Kars (ceded back to Turkey in 1916). Russians mostly live in the Russian North Caucasus and their largest concentration is in Stavropol Krai, Krasnodar Krai, and in Adygea. Georgia and the former south Russian Caucasus province of Kars Oblast was also home to a significant minority of ethnic (Swabian) Germans, although their numbers have become depleted as a result of deportations (to Kazakhstan followng WWII), immigration to Germany, and assimilation into indigenous Christian Orthodox communities.
Peoples of the Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Semitic language family
Assyrians in the caucasus number approximately 35,000 people, and live in Armenia, Georgia,[2] Azerbaijan and Southern Russia. There are up to 15,000 in Georgia,[3] 3500 in Armenia, up to 15,000 in southern Russia and 1400 in Azerbaijan. They are an ancient Semitic people, descendant from the ancient Mesopotamians. They are Eastern Rite Christians, mainly followers of the Assyrian Church of the East, and speak and write Mesopotamian Eastern Aramaic dialects.