Kyrgyz people
кыргыздар kyrgyzdar قیرغیزدار | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| c. 6–7 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kyrgyzstan | 5.8 million (2026 est.) |
| Uzbekistan | 291,628 (2021 est.) |
| China | 204,402 (2020 census) |
| Russia | 148,516 (2021 census) |
| Kazakhstan | 40,200 (2025 est.) |
| Tajikistan | 38,600 (2020 census) |
| Turkey | 24,815 (2025) |
| Languages | |
| Kyrgyz | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Teleuts, Telengits, Altai-Kizhi, Kazakhs, Siberian Tatars, and other Turkic peoples, along with Sart Kalmyks | |
The Kyrgyz people are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia. They primarily reside in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A Kyrgyz diaspora is also found in Russia, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. They speak the Kyrgyz language, which is the official language of Kyrgyzstan.
The earliest people known as "Kyrgyz" were the descendants of several Central Asian tribes, first emerging in western Mongolia around 201 BC. Modern Kyrgyz people are descended in part from the Yenisei Kyrgyz that lived in the Yenisey river valley in Siberia. The Kyrgyz people were constituents of the Tiele people, the Göktürks, and the Uyghur Khaganate before establishing the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate in the 9th century, and later a Kyrgyz khanate in the 15th century.