Wakhi people
A Wakhi girl photographed near the village of Zood Khun in the Chapursan Valley of Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 50,000–60,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Pakistan | 20,000 (2015) |
| Afghanistan | 17,000 (2015) |
| Tajikistan | 15,000 (2015) |
| China | 6,000 (2015) |
| Languages | |
| Wakhi | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Islam (Isma'ili Shia) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Iranian peoples | |
The Wakhi people, also locally referred to as the Wokhik, are an Iranian ethnic group native to Central and South Asia. They are found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China—primarily situated in and around Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, the northernmost part of Pakistan's Gilgit−Baltistan and Chitral, Tajikistan's Gorno−Badakhshan Autonomous Region and the southwestern areas of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Wakhi people are native speakers of the Wakhi language, an Eastern Iranian language.