Demographics of Tajikistan

The Demographics of Tajikistan is about the demographic features of the population of Tajikistan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.

Tajikistan's population and rural population 1958–2005 (millions).

A Tajik man in traditional headgear (2005).

A Tajik woman and her son.

Demographic trends

Tajikistan's main ethnic group are the Tajiks, with minorities such as the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, and a small Russian minority. Because not everyone in Tajikistan is an ethnic Tajik, the non-Tajik citizens of the country are referred to as Tajikistani. The official nationality of any person from Tajikistan is a Tajikistani, while the ethnic Tajik majority simply call themselves Tajik.

Contemporary Tajiks are an Iranian people. In particular, they are descended from ancient Eastern Iranian peoples of Central Asia, such as the Soghdians and the Bactrians, with an admixture of Western Iranian Persians as well as non-Iranian peoples.[1]

Until the 20th century, people in the region used two types of distinction to identify themselves: way of life - either nomadic or sedentary - and place of residence. By the late nineteenth century, the Tajik and Uzbek peoples, who had lived in proximity for centuries and often used each other's languages, did not perceive themselves as two distinct nationalities. The modern labels were imposed artificially when Central Asia was divided into five Soviet republics in the 1920s.[1]

Historically, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were also home to Bukharan Jews, who trace their ancestry to the Lost Tribes of Israel taken captive by the Babylonians in the 7th century BC, but almost no Bukharian Jews are left in Tajikistan.[2]

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Tajik children

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook,[3] unless otherwise indicated.

Ethnic groups

Further information: List of ethnic groups in Tajikistan

Two young Tajik women

• Tajik 84.3%
• Uzbek 13.8%
• Other 2% (includes Kyrgyz, Russian, Turkmen, Tatar, Arab)

Ethnic makeup according to the population censuses from 1926 to 2010 (in thousands)[4][5][6]
Note: The category Tajiks also includes approximately 135,000 ethnic Pamiris, of which 65% are Shughni speakers, 13% are Rushani speakers, 12% speak Wakhi, 5% are Bartangi speakers, 3% are Yazgulyami speakers, 1.5% speak Khufi, and 0.8% are Ishkashimi speakers. In addition there are 5,000 speakers of Yagnobi. According to the 2000 census, excluding the people whose native languages are Pamiri or Yagnobi, Tajiks account for 77.6% of the population.

Population of Tajikistan according to ethnic group 1926–2010

Ethnic group	census 1926^1		census 1939^2		census 1959^3		census 1970^4		census 1979^5		census 1989^6		census 2000		census 2010^8
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Tajiks	617,125	74.6	883,966	59.5	1,051,164	53.1	1,629,920	56.2	2,237,048	58.8	3,172,420	62.3	4,898,400	79.9	6,373,834	84.3
Yagnobi	1,829	0.2
Uzbeks	175,627	21.2	353,478	23.8	454,433	23.0	665,662	23.0	873,199	22.9	1,197,841	23.5	1,012,500	16.5	1,046,647	13.8
Kyrgyz	11,410	1.4	27,968	1.9	25,635	1.3	35,485	1.2	48,376	1.3	63,832	1.3	65,500	1.1	60,715	0.8
Russians	5,638	0.7	134,916	9.1	262,610	13.3	344,109	11.9	395,089	10.4	388,481	7.6	68,200	1.1	34,838	0.5
Turkmen	4,148	0.5	4,040	0.3	7,115	0.4	11,043	0.4	13,991	0.4	20,487	0.4	20,300	0.3	15,171	0.2
Tatars	950	0.1	18,296	1.2	56,893	2.9	70,803	2.4	79,529	2.1	79,442	1.6	19,000	0.3	6,495	0.1
Arabs	3,260	0.4	2,290	0.2	1,297	0.1	248	0.0	176	0.0	276	0.0	14,500	0.2	4,184	0.1
Others	7,180	0.9	60,137	4.0	120,750	6.1	142,332	4.9	158,812	4.2	169,824	3.3	29,100	0.5	22,618	0.3
Total	827,167		1,485,091		1,979,897		2,899,602		3,806,220		5,092,603		6,127,500		7,564,502
^1 Source: . ^2 Source: . ^3 Source: . ^4 Source: . ^5 Source: . ^6 Source: ^7 including 51,000 Lakai, 15,100 Kongrat, 4,900 Katagan, 3,700 Barlos and 1,100 Yuz. ^8 Source: , p. 7. ^9 including 65,555 Lakai, 38,078 Kongrat, 7,601 Katagan, 5,271 Barlos and 3,798 Yuz .

Languages

Several dialects of Persian (Central Asian dialects of Persian) are spoken in Tajikistan and it is its official language (officially referred to as Tajik).[7] Russian is widely used in both government and business. The different ethnic minorities speak different languages, for instance Uzbek, Turkmen, Kyrgyz and Khowar.[8] In the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, Shughni as well as other Pamir languages are spoken. In the northern Yaghnob valley, the Yaghnobi language is still spoken.

Religion

A religious scholar from Tajikistan (2005)

Main article: Religion in Tajikistan

• Sunni Islam 95%
• Shia Islam 3%
• Other 2%

Population

9,275,787 (2019 est.) According to Worldmeters

Age structure

0–14 years: 34.3% (male 1,282,681/female 1,238,607)
15–64 years: 62.1% (male 2,260,552/female 2,303,034)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 112,334/female 151,937) (2009 est.)

Population growth rate

1.88% (2009 est.)

2.21% (2013-2014 est.) (source:www.stat.tj)

Net migration rate

-1.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 65.33 years
male: 62.29 years
female: 68.52 years (2009 est.)

Education

Education is required through high school (11 years of schooling) but completion rate is under 90%;

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.5%
male: 99.7%
female: 99.2% (2000 census)

Vital statistics

UN estimates[9]

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR^1	CDR^1	NC^1	TFR^1	IMR^1
1950-1955	74 000	20 000	54 000	42.7	15.4	27.3	5.40
1955-1960	89 000	26 000	63 000	47.9	15.8	32.1	6.20
1960-1965	111 000	30 000	81 000	47.9	14.7	33.2	6.80
1965-1970	110 000	30 000	80 000	43.6	12.8	30.8	7.00
1970-1975	127 000	30 000	97 000	41.5	11.6	29.9	6.83
1975-1980	138 000	33 000	105 000	39.7	10.5	29.2	5.90
1980-1985	164 000	34 000	130 000	42.0	10.2	31.8	5.60
1985-1990	198 000	34 000	164 000	42.8	9.7	33.1	5.50
1990-1995	206 000	52 000	154 000	37.4	9.6	27.8	4.88
1995-2000	195 000	49 000	146 000	32.7	7.8	24.9	4.29
2000-2005	185 000	45 000	140 000	28.5	6.4	22.1	3.60
2005-2010	187 000	43 000	144 000	29.5	5.7	23.8	3.50
2010-2015				30.2	5.3	24.9	3.50
2015-2020				27.9	5.1	22.8	3.28
2020-2025				24.9	5.0	19.9	3.09
2025-2030				22.4	5.1	17.3	2.93
2030-2035				21.3	5.3	16.0	2.79
2035-2040				20.9	5.6	15.3	2.66
^1 CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births

Births and deaths[10][11][12]

	Average population	Live births in thousands	Deaths in thousands	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	TFR
1950	1,531,700	46,571	12,543	34,028	30.4	8.2	22.2
1951	1,586,800	48,407	12,384	36,023	30.5	7.8	22.7
1952	1,642,500	54,931	12,562	42,369	33.4	7.6	25.8
1953	1,685,800	54,697	14,530	40,167	32.4	8.6	23.8
1954	1,731,700	56,946	13,045	43,901	32.9	7.5	25.4
1955	1,782,800	60,335	15,812	44,523	33.8	8.9	25.0
1956	1,838,400	62,960	10,894	52,066	34.2	5.9	28.3
1957	1,900,400	62,966	10,838	52,128	33.1	5.7	27.4
1958	1,955,000	56,826	11,548	45,278	29.1	5.9	23.2
1959	2,011,400	60,978	11,024	49,954	30.3	5.5	24.8
1960	2,082,500	69,715	10,670	59,045	33.5	5.1	28.4
1961	2,165,900	73,653	11,035	62,618	34.0	5.1	28.9
1962	2,255,900	75,909	13,001	62,908	33.6	5.8	27.8
1963	2,341,800	80,733	13,042	67,691	34.5	5.6	28.9
1964	2,426,100	84,300	13,132	71,168	34.7	5.4	29.3
1965	2,512,400	92,448	16,474	75,974	36.8	6.6	30.2
1966	2,594,200	91,825	15,491	76,334	35.4	6.0	29.4
1967	2,673,800	93,988	17,546	76,442	35.2	6.6	28.6
1968	2,761,000	101,462	16,577	84,885	36.7	6.0	30.7
1969	2,851,500	98,831	17,390	81,441	34.7	6.1	28.6
1970	2,942,100	102,201	18,686	83,515	34.8	6.4	28.4
1971	3,044,400	111,839	17,173	94,666	36.8	5.7	31.1
1972	3,148,200	111,069	19,895	91,174	35.3	6.3	29.0
1973	3,244,400	115,157	23,343	91,814	35.5	7.2	28.3
1974	3,344,800	123,338	24,923	98,415	36.9	7.5	29.4
1975	3,446,600	127,464	27,965	99,499	37.0	8.1	28.9
1976	3,549,300	135,243	30,101	105,142	38.2	8.5	29.7
1977	3,652,900	132,875	32,110	100,765	36.4	8.8	27.6
1978	3,752,700	140,622	31,048	109,574	37.5	8.3	29.2
1979	3,852,200	145,431	29,822	115,609	37.8	7.7	30.1
1980	3,954,500	146,422	31,830	114,592	37.0	8.0	29.0
1981	4,060,400	155,508	31,637	123,871	38.3	7.8	30.5
1982	4,173,200	159,571	32,053	127,518	38.2	7.7	30.5
1983	4,293,100	164,710	32,553	132,157	38.3	7.6	30.7
1984	4,419,900	176,197	32,872	143,325	39.8	7.4	32.4
1985	4,558,100	182,716	32,014	150,702	40.0	7.0	33.0
1986	4,707,900	198,647	31,993	166,654	42.1	6.8	35.3
1987	4,861,600	204,450	33,543	170,907	41.9	6.9	35.0
1988	5,013,000	201,864	35,334	166,530	40.2	7.0	33.2
1989	5,165,900	200,430	33,395	167,035	38.7	6.5	32.3
1990	5,302,400	205,813	33,020	172,793	38.8	6.2	32.6
1991	5,433,300	212,598	33,067	179,531	39.1	6.1	33.0
1992	5,536,400	179,534	36,718	142,816	32.4	6.6	25.8
1993	5,573,400	186,504	49,326	137,178	33.5	8.9	24.6
1994	5,606,800	191,596	39,943	151,653	34.2	7.1	27.0
1995	5,667,700	193,182	34,274	158,908	34.1	6.0	28.0
1996	5,735,300	172,341	31,792	140,549	30.0	5.5	24.5
1997	5,822,500	178,127	28,710	149,417	30.6	4.9	25.7
1998	5,938,600	185,733	27,397	158,336	31.3	4.6	26.7
1999	6,064,100	180,888	25,495	155,393	29.8	4.2	25.6
2000	6,196,500	167,246	29,387	137,859	27.0	4.7	22.3	3.49
2001	6,317,900	171,623	32,015	139,608	27.2	5.1	22.1	3.49
2002	6,429,200	175,599	31,142	144,457	27.3	4.8	22.4	3.47
2003	6,543,000	177,938	33,185	144,753	27.1	5.1	22.0	3.42
2004	6,658,900	179,563	29,741	149,822	26.8	4.4	22.3	3.35
2005	6,780,600	180,790	31,520	149,270	26.4	4.6	21.8	3.27
2006	6,903,900	186,463	31,990	154,473	26.7	4.6	22.1	3.27
2007	7,031,200	200,010	33,686	166,324	28.1	4.7	23.3
2008	7,173,800	203,332	31,996	171,336	27.9	4.4	23.5
2009	7,334,100	199,826	32,332	167,504	26.8	4.3	22.5
2010	7,519,300	239,805	33,343	206,462	31.7	4.4	27.3	3.58
2011	7,714,200	224,178	33,855	190,323	29.1	4.4	24.7
2012	7,897,300	219,281	33,972	185,309	27.8	4.3	23.5	3.80
2013	8,074,300	209,417	31,706	177,711	25.9	3.9	22.0
2014	8,246,000	229,460	32,879	196,581	27.8	4.0	23.8
2015	8,551,200	237,500	33,500	204,000	28.1	4.0	24.1
2016	8,742,800	229,998	34,102	195,896	26.6	3.9	22.7
2017	8,931,200	224,100	32,000	192,000	25.4	3.6	21.7	3.80
2018	9,121,600	231,000	32,700	198,300	25.6	3.6	22.0	3.80

Life Expectancy[13]

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	53.1	1985–1990	64.1
1955–1960	55.1	1990–1995	62.3
1960–1965	57.2	1995–2000	64.5
1965–1970	59.3	2000–2005	66.4
1970–1975	60.8	2005–2010	68.7
1975–1980	62.1	2010–2015	70.4
1980–1985	63.2

Fertility rate

Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (Crude Birth Rate):[14]

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
2012	33.9	3.8 (3.3)	28.9	3.3 (2.9)	35.6	3.9 (3.4)
2017	33.4	3.8 (3.5)	25.6	3.0 (2.8)	36.1	4.0 (3.7)

Population pyramids[15]

Estimates (01/07/2012)

Estimates (01/07/2012) :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	3 987 517	3 909 796	7 897 313	100
0-4	555 543	522 110	1 077 653	13.65
5-9	437 711	414 701	852 412	10.79
10-14	440 884	419 105	859 989	10.89
15-19	436 357	420 499	856 856	10.85
20-24	429 738	424 831	854 569	10.82
25-29	363 432	358 886	722 318	9.15
30-34	271 966	265 850	537 816	6.81
35-39	225 366	227 780	453 146	5.74
40-44	202 816	208 317	411 132	5.21
45-49	181 790	189 145	370 934	4.70
50-54	156 158	160 512	316 669	4.01
55-59	100 176	104 798	204 974	2.60
60-64	64 192	67 836	132 028	1.67
65-69	36 014	33 300	69 314	0.88
70-74	38 813	38 360	77 172	0.98
75-79	24 913	28 119	53 032	0.67
80-84	14 691	16 110	30 801	0.39
85-89	5 432	6 682	12 114	0.15
90-94	1 211	2 114	3 324	0.04
95-99	268	491	758	0.01
100+	52	257	309	<0.01

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	1 434 138	1 355 916	2 790 054	35.33
15-64	2 431 985	2 428 447	4 860 432	61.55
65+	121 394	125 433	246 827	3.13

Estimates (01/07/2013)

Estimates (01/07/2013) :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	4 078 857	3 995 409	8 074 266	100
0-4	564 736	528 451	1 093 187	13.54
5-9	453 224	428 754	881 978	10.92
10-14	437 293	415 432	852 725	10.56
15-19	440 389	422 520	862 909	10.69
20-24	428 230	422 055	850 284	10.53
25-29	382 376	379 040	761 416	9.43
30-34	286 675	279 681	566 356	7.01
35-39	230 478	231 505	461 983	5.72
40-44	206 328	211 812	418 139	5.18
45-49	184 234	191 988	376 222	4.66
50-54	163 910	168 577	332 487	4.12
55-59	108 532	113 347	221 879	2.75
60-64	69 788	74 346	144 133	1.79
65-69	37 799	36 790	74 589	0.92
70-74	37 495	36 388	73 883	0.92
75-79	25 173	28 084	53 256	0.66
80-84	14 482	16 838	31 319	0.39
85-89	6 091	7 046	13 136	0.16
90-94	1 301	2 108	3 408	0.04
95-99	262	434	696	0.01
100+	69	218	287	<0.01

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	1 455 253	1 372 637	2 827 890	35.02
15-64	2 500 932	2 494 866	4 995 798	61.87
65+	122 672	127 906	250 578	3.10

Birth rate

There were slightly over 224 thousand births in Tajikistan in 2017, down from 230 thousand in 2016.[16] Most births occurred in Khatlon Region (89 thousand births), followed by Sughd Region (61 thousand births) and the Districts of Republican Subordination (53 thousand births). The fewest births is recorded in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in eastern Tajikistan, with around 5,700 births. Dushanbe city recorded approximately 15,500 births in 2017.

The crude birth rate for Tajikistan was 25.4‰ in 2017, down from 28.1‰ two years earlier (in 2015). Khatlon Region has the highest birth rate (28.1‰) in 2017, while the city of Dushanbe has the lowest birth rate with 18.8‰.

Crude birth rate by division from 2000 to 2017 [17]
Division	2000	2002	2004	2006	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016	2017
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region	17.4	20.3	19.2	23.8	17.3	18.4	19.8	21.9	23.7	25.7
Sughd Region	25.1	25.4	23.9	24.0	25.8	29.4	27.6	28.2	24.9	23.7
Khatlon Region	28.6	29.0	31.9	29.4	30.5	31.1	29.4	31.1	30.0	28.1
Dushanbe city	28.5	25.6	20.9	20.4	25.6	24.1	22.8	16.5	17.5	18.8
Districts of Republican Subordination	28.1	28.8	26.0	27.9	28.8	30.2	28.5	27.5	27.5	25.9
Tajikistan	27.0	27.3	26.8	26.7	27.9	29.4	27.8	27.8	26.6	25.4

See also

• Demographics of Central Asia

References

1. Library of Congress Country Studies - Tajikistan - Historical & Ethnic Background - 1996
2. "Jewish music of Bukhara? Alaev Family's got it". August 2012.
3. "Central Asia :: TAJIKISTAN". CIA The World Factbook.
4. Results of the 2000 population census in Tajikistan. Archived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
5. Spoorenberg, Thomas (2013). "Fertility changes in Central Asia since 1980". Asian Population Studies. 9 (1): 50–77. doi:10.1080/17441730.2012.752238.
6. Spoorenberg, Thomas (2015). "Explaining recent fertility increase in Central Asia". Asian Population Studies. 11 (2): 115–133. doi:10.1080/17441730.2015.1027275.
7. Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan, November 6, 1994, Article 2.
8. "Ethnologue report for Languages of Tajikistan". SIL International. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
9. World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision Archived May 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
10. "Official Tajikistan Government Statistic". Archived from the original on 2016-11-27. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
11. Естественное движение населения республик СССР, 1935 [Natural population growth of the Republics of the USSR, 1935] (in Russian). Demoscope.ru. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
12. Socio-demographic sector Basic social indicators, 2000–2018
13. "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
14. http://www.dhsprogram.com/ (Demographic Health Survey)
15. "Demographic Yearbook". UN Data. United Nations. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
16. Number of births, 2000-2017

External links

• Ethnolinguistic map of Tajikistan by Iraj Bashiri
• Dr. Kurbanov, Ruslan. Majority Minoritized by Government: Muslims in Tajikistan. OnIslam.net. May 19, 2012.