South Asian ethnic groups are an
ethnolinguistic
Ethnolinguistics (sometimes called cultural linguistics) is an area of anthropological linguistics that studies the relationship between a language and the nonlinguistic cultural behavior of the people who speak that language.
__NOTOC__
Example ...
grouping of the diverse populations of
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
, including the nations of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
, the
Maldives
Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
, and
Sri Lanka.
While
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
is variously considered to be part of both
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and South Asia,
Afghans are generally not included among South Asians.
The majority of the population fall within three large
linguistic groups:
Indo-Aryan,
Dravidian, and
Iranic
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities.
The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate ...
. The Indian, Nepalese, and Sri Lankan societies are traditionally divided into
castes or
clans, which are based primarily on labour divisions; these categories have had no official status in India since independence in 1947, except for the
scheduled castes and tribes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
, which remain registered for the purpose of
affirmative action. In today's
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, the population is categorised in terms of the 1,652
mother tongues spoken.
These groups are also further subdivided into numerous sub-groups, castes and tribes. Indo-Aryans form the predominant ethnolinguistic group in India (
North India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
,
East India
East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha
and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magadh ...
,
West India
Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Unio ...
, and
Central India), Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Dravidians form the predominant ethnolinguistic group in
southern India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...
, the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka and a small pocket of Pakistan.
The
Iranic peoples also have a significant presence in South Asia, the large majority of whom are located in Pakistan.
Minority groups not falling within either large group mostly speak languages belonging to the
Austroasiatic
The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are th ...
and
Tibeto-Burman
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spea ...
language families, and largely live around
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu ...
and
Northeast India
, native_name_lang = mni
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, motto =
, image_map = Northeast india.png
, ...
, Nepal, Bhutan, and the
Chittagong Hill Tracts
The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeast ...
of Bangladesh. The
Andamanese
The Andamanese are the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, part of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal in Southeast Asia. The Andamanese peoples are among the various groups ...
(Sentinel, Onge, Jarawa, and Great Andamanese) live in some of the Andaman Islands and speak a language isolate, as do the
Kusunda in central Nepal, the
Vedda
The Vedda ( si, වැද්දා , ta, வேடர் (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Vedd ...
in Sri Lanka, and the
Nihali of Central India, who number about 5,000 people. The people of the
Hunza Valley
The Hunza Valley ( bsk, , Wakhi: '; ur, ) is a mountainous valley in the northern part of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, formed by the Hunza River, bordering Ishkoman to the northwest, Shigar to the southeast, Afghanistan's Wa ...
in Pakistan are another distinct population; they speak
Burushaski
Burushaski (; ) is a language isolate spoken by Burusho people, who reside almost entirely in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, with a few hundred speakers in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India. In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by people ...
, 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 and also in the border regions and busy ports, where there are greater levels of contact with external cultures. There is also a lot of genetic diversity within the region. For example, most of the ethnic groups of the
northeastern parts of South Asia are genetically related to peoples of
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
or
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
. There are also genetically isolated groups who have not been genetically influenced by other groups, such as the
Jarawa people of the
Andaman Islands. The largest ethnolinguistic group in South Asia are the Indo-Aryans, numbering around 1 billion, and the largest sub-group are the native speakers of
Hindi languages
The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of the ...
, numbering more than 470 million.
These groups are based solely on a linguistic basis and not on a genetic basis.
List of ethnic groups on the basis of language
Andamanese and Nicobarese groups
*
Great Andamanese
The Great Andamanese are an indigenous people of the Great Andaman archipelago in the Andaman Islands. Historically, the Great Andamanese lived throughout the archipelago, and were divided into ten major tribes. Their distinct but closely relate ...
of the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
*
Jangil
The Jangil (also Rutland Jarawa) were one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. They were distributed through the interior of Rutland Island, and were given the name Rutland Jarawa because i ...
of the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
*
Jarawa of the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
*
Onge
The Onge (also Önge, Ongee, and Öñge) are an Andamanese ethnic group, indigenous to the Andaman Islands in Southeast Asia at the Bay of Bengal, currently administered by India. They are traditionally hunter-gatherers and fishers, but al ...
of the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
*
Sentinelese
The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group ...
of the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
Austroasiatic people
*
Khasi people
The Khasi people are an ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam, and in certain parts of Bangladesh. Khasi people form the majority of the population of the eastern part of M ...
**
Pnar/Jaintia
*
Munda peoples
The Munda peoples of eastern and central parts of the Indian subcontinent are any of several tribal groups who natively speak Munda languages of Austro-asiatic language family, formerly also known as Kolarian, and spoken by about nine million ...
**
Bhumij people
Bhumij is a Munda ethnic group of India. They primarily live in the Indian states of West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand, mostly in the old Singhbhum district. Also in states like Bihar and Assam. There is also a sizeable population found in Ba ...
**
Bonda people
**
Ho people
The Ho or Kolha people are an Austroasiatic Munda ethnic group of India. They call themselves the ''Ho'', ''Hodoko'' and ''Horo,'' which mean 'human' in their own language. Officially, however, they are mentioned in different subgroups like K ...
**
Juang people
**
Kharia people
The Kharia are an Austroasiatic tribal ethnic group from east-central India. They originally speak the Kharia language, which belong to Austroasiatic languages. They are sub-divided into three groups known as the Hill Kharia, Delki Kharia and ...
**
Korku people
The Korku are a Munda ethnic group predominantly found in the Khandwa, Burhanpur, Betul and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh and adjoining areas near the Melghat Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra. They speak the Korku language, which is a m ...
**
Mahle people
**
Munda people
**
Santali people
**
Sora people
The Sora (alternative names and spellings include Saora, Saura, Savara and Sabara) are a Munda ethnic group from eastern India. They live in southern Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
The Soras mainly live in Gajapati, Rayagada and ...
*
Nicobarese people
The Nicobarese people are an Austroasiatic-speaking people of the Nicobar Islands, a chain of islands in the Bay of Bengal north of Sumatra, forming part of the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Only 12 of the 19 islands ...
*
Shompen people
The Shompen or Shom Pen are the indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Shompen are a designated Scheduled Tribe.
Etymology and autonym
"Shompen" is po ...
Austronesian people
*
Sri Lankan Malays
Sri Lankan Malays ( ''Shri Lanka Mæle Janathava'' (Standard); ''Mæle Minissu / Ja Minissu'' (Colloquially); are Sri Lankans with full or partial ancestry from the Indonesian Archipelago, Malaysia, or Singapore. In addition, people from Brun ...
*
Urak Lawoi
*
Moken
The Moken (also ''Mawken or'' ''Morgan''; ; th, ชาวเล, lit=sea people, translit=chao le) are an Austronesian people of the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands claimed by both Myanmar and Thailand. Most of the 2, ...
Dravidian people
*
Badagas
*
Brahui people
The Brahui ( brh, ), Brahvi or Brohi, are an ethnic group of pastoralists principally found in Balochistan, Pakistan. A minority speaks the Brahui language, which belongs to the Dravidian language family, while the rest speaks Balochi and ten ...
*
Dongria Kondha
*
Gondi people
The Gondi (Gōndi) or Gond or Koitur are a Dravidian ethno-linguistic group. They are one of the largest tribal groups in India. They are spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Prad ...
*
Irulas
Irula, also known as Iruliga'','' are a Dravidian ethnic group inhabiting the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. A scheduled tribe, their population in this region is estimated at around 200,000 people. People of Irula ethn ...
*
Kannadigas
The Kannada people or Kannadigaru IAST">nowiki/>IAST:_Kannadadavaru_or_Kannadigas_(English_term).html" ;"title="IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowiki/>IAST: Kannadadavaru or Kannadigas (English term)">IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowik ...
*
Khonds
Khonds (also spelt Kondha, Kandha etc.) are an indigenous Adivasi tribal community in India. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they are divided into the hill-dwelling Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds for census purposes; All the Khonds identif ...
*
Kodava
*
Kurukh/Oraon
*
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...
*
Malto people
*
Sauria Paharia people
The Sauria Paharia people (also known as Maler Paharia) are a Dravidian ethnic people of Bangladesh and the Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Bihar. They are found mostly in Santhal Parganas region in the Rajmahal Hills.
Origins
Acco ...
*
Tamil people
The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...
**
Indian Tamils
***
Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka
Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Malayaga Tamilar,
Hill Country Tamils, Up-Country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils. They are partly descended from workers sent from South India to S ...
**
Sri Lankan Tamils
*
Telugu people
Telugu people ( te, తెలుగువారు, Teluguvāru), or Telugus, or Telugu vaaru, are the largest of the four major Dravidian ethnolinguistic groups in terms of population. Telugus are native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh ...
*
Toda people
Toda people are a Dravidian ethnic group who live in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu. Before the 18th century and British colonisation, the Toda coexisted locally with other ethnic communities, including the Kota, Badaga and Kurumba, in a ...
*
Tuluvas
The Tulu people or Tuluvas are an ethno-linguistic group from Southern India. They are native speakers of the Tulu language and the region they traditionally inhabit is known as Tulu Nadu. This region comprises the districts of Dakshina Kannada ...
Indo-Aryan people
*
Assamese people
The Assamese people are a socio- ethnic linguistic identity that has been described at various times as nationalistic or micro-nationalistic. This group is often associated with the Assamese language, the easternmost Indo-Aryan language, a ...
*
Awadhi people
The Awadhi people or Awadhis (Awadhi/Hindi: अवधी, Urdu: ) are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who speak the Awadhi dialect and reside in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh. Many Awadhis also migrated to Madhya Pr ...
*
Banjara people
The Banjara (also known as ,Vanzara,Lambadi,Gour Rajput,Labana) are a historically Nomads of India, nomadic Trade, trading caste who may have origins in the Mewar region of what is now Rajasthan.
Etymology
The Banjaras usually refer to themse ...
*
Bhojpuri people
*
Bengali people
*
Bhil people
Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India.
Bhils are listed as tribal people of the ...
*
Chakma
*
Chitrali people
The Kho (, khw, ) or Chitrali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Chitral and Ghizer Districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. They speak an Indo-Aryan language called Khowar.
History
The Kho people are likely descendants ...
*
Deccani people
*
Dhivehi people
Dhivehi, also spelled Divehi, may refer to:
*Dhivehi people, an ethnic group native to the historic region of the Maldive Islands.
*Maldivian language, Dhivehi language, an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by about 350,000 people in the R ...
*
Dogra people
The Dogras or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group in India and Pakistan consisting of the Dogri language speakers. They live predominantly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, and in adjoining areas of Punjab, Himachal ...
*
Garhwali people
The Garhwali people are an Indian ethnolinguistic group native to the Garhwal, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, who speak Garhwali, an Indo-Aryan language.
Etymology
In modern usage, "Garhwali" is used to refer to anyone whose linguist ...
*
Gujarati people
*
Haryanvi people
The Haryanvi people are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to Haryana, in northern India. They speak Haryanvi, a central Indo-Aryan language related to Western Hindi, as well as other similar dialects such as Ahirwati, Mewati, Puadhi and Ba ...
*
Kalash people
The Kalasha (Kalasha: کالؕاشؕا, romanised: ''Kaḷaṣa)'', or Kalash, are an Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Kalash population in Pakistan numbers only i ...
*
Kamrupi people
The Kamrupi people are a linguistic group that speak the Kamrupi dialects of Assamese and are found in the colonial Kamrup district region of Assam, India.
Festivals
Bihu, Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali, Holi, Janmastami, Shivratri to name a ...
*
Kashmiri people
Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern ...
*
Khas people
Khas people (; ne, खस) popularly known as Khas Arya are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of South Asia, what is now present-day Nepal, Indian states of Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Sikkim. Historica ...
*
Konkani people
*
Kumaoni people
Kumaonis, also known as Kumaiye and Kumain (in Nepal), are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who speak Kumaoni language as their first-language and live mostly in Kumaon region in the Indian Himalayas .
Kumaoni is also used as an ad ...
*
Kutchi people
The Kutchi people ( Kutchi and Gujarati: ڪڇّی; કચ્છી) traditionally hail from the Kutch district of the western Indian state of Gujarat and the Sindh region of Pakistan.
History
Some of the Kutchi people of India converted fro ...
*
Maithili people
*
Maldivian people
*
Marathi people
*
Magahi people
The culture of Magadh division, Magadh is rich with its distinct language, folk songs and festivals. In ancient period it was known as Magadha mahajanpada. The present-day Magadh region split between the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, India. The ma ...
*
Meena people
*
Muhajir people
Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...
*
Nagpuria people
*
Odia people
The Odia (), formerly spelled Oriya, is an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the Indian state of Odisha who speak Odia language. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state, with significant minority populations in neighboring An ...
*
Pahari people
*
Punjabi people
*
Rajasthani people
Rajasthani people or Rajasthanis are a group of Indo-Aryan peoples native to Rajasthan ("the land of kingdoms"), a state in Northern India. Their language, Rajasthani, is a part of the western group of Indo-Aryan languages.
History
The ...
**
Marwaris
The Marwari or Marwadi (Hindi: मारवाड़ी, Urdu: مارواڑی) are an Indian ethnic group that originate from the Rajasthan region of India. Their language, also called Marwari, comes under the umbrella of Rajasthani languages ...
*
Rohingya people
The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...
*
Sindhi people
Sindhis ( sd, سنڌي Perso-Arabic: सिन्धी Devanagari; ) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the province of Sindh in Pakistan. After the partition of British Indian empire in 1947, m ...
**
Memons
The Memon are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group that originated in the Sindh region of Pakistan. The majority of the Memon people around the world follow the Hanafi fiqh of Sunni Islam. The Memon people have cultural similarities with the Khoja, Khat ...
*
Saraiki people
The Saraikis ( skr, ), are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group inhabiting parts of central and southeastern Pakistan, primarily in the southern part of the Pakistani province of Punjab
They are mainly found in a region of southern Punjab known ...
*
Saurashtra people
The Saurashtra people, or Saurashtrians, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic Hindu Brahmin community of South India who speak the Saurashtra language, an Indo-Aryan language, and predominantly reside in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala ...
*
Sinhalese people
Sinhalese people ( si, සිංහල ජනතාව, Sinhala Janathāva) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They were historically known as Hela people ( si, හෙළ). They constitute about 75% of ...
*
Shina people
The Shina or shin ( Shina: ݜݨیاٗ, ) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group primarily residing in Gilgit–Baltistan and Indus Kohistan in Pakistan, as well as in the Dras Valley and Kishenganga Valley ( Gurez) in the northern region ...
*
Sylheti people
*
Tanchangya people
The Tanchangya people or Tanchangyas () are an indigenous ethnic group living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, Indian states of Tripura and Mizoram, and Rakhine state of Myanmar.
The beginning of the Tanchangya nation
No histo ...
*
Tharu
*
Urdu-speaking people
Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccani people of the Deccan plateau in south-central India (who speak Deccani Urdu) and the ...
Iranic people
*
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There ...
*
Hazara people
The Hazaras ( fa, , Həzārə; haz, , Āzərə) are an ethnic group and the principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan and generally scatt ...
*
Irani people Irani may refer to the following:
* Anything related to Iran
* Irani (India), an ethno-religious group of Zoroastrian Iranian ancestry in the Indian subcontinent
* Irani, Santa Catarina
* Irani café
People with the surname
* Adi Irani (born 1942) ...
*
Tajik people
Tajik, Tadjik, Tadzhik or Tajikistani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Tajikistan
* Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan
* Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan
* Tajik (surname)
* Tajik c ...
*
Pashtun people
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...
**
Rohilla people
Nuristani people
*
Nuristani people
The Nuristanis, formerly known as Kafiristanis, are an ethnic group native to the Nuristan Province of northeastern Afghanistan and Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan. Their languages comprise the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian langua ...
**
Kata people
The Katir (also spelled Kati, Kator and Kata) are a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Etymology
The Katir a 'tɘor Kata Kafir group was ''numerically'' the most dominant group of the Siah-Posh (Persian "Black Wearer/Clothed") tribe ...
**
Kom people
**
Mumo people
Semitic people
*
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
or mixed Arab and Indo-Aryan or Dravidian
**
Arabs in Gujarat
**
Sri Lankan Moors (trace ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka)
**
Iraqi biradri - a community of Muslims in north India (trace ancestry from Arab tribe of
Bani Tamim
Banū Tamīm ( ar, بَنُو تَمِيم) is an Arab tribe that originated in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly present in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and has a strong presence in Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, ...
)
**
Labbay
Labbay (Labbai, Labba, Labbabeen, Lebbay, Lebbai), is a Muslim trading community in southern India found throughout the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
Etymology
''Labbay'' means "Here I am", and is used as a title ...
Arab traders who settled in South India
**
Konkani Muslims
Konkani Muslims (or ''Kokani'' Muslims) are an ethnoreligious subgroup of the Konkani people of the Konkani region along the west coast of India, who practice Islam. ''Nawayath'' Muslims from the North Canara district of Karnataka have similar ...
trace their ancestry to Arab traders.
**
Mappila Muslims trace their ancestry to Arab traders.
**Boras trace ancestors to Arab traders and merchants.
**
Chaush trace ancestors to traders from
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
.
**
Syrian Malabar Nasranis
The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, ''Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani'', ''Malankara Nasrani'', or ''Nasrani Mappila'', are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Kerala (Malabar region), ...
are descendants of both Brahmin, Nair and Jewish converts to Christianity. (Some mixed later with Persians and Europeans later on)
**
Knanaya
The Knānāya, (from Syriac: ''Knā'nāya'' (Canaanite)) also known as the Southists or Tekkumbhagar, are an endogamous ethnic group found among the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India. They are differentiated from another part of ...
Syriac Christians who trace their origins to Mesopotamia
*
Indian Jews
The history of the Jews in India dates back to antiquity.
**
Cochin Jews
Cochin Jews (also known as Malabar Jews or Kochinim, from ) are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now pa ...
(Malayali Jews)
**
Bene Israel
The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" () or " Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there ce ...
(Marathi Jews)
**
Baghdadi Jews
The former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East are traditionally called Baghdadi Jews or Iraqi Jews. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the Indian ...
(
Arab Jews
Arab Jews ( ar, اليهود العرب '; he, יהודים ערבים ') is a term for Jews living in or originating from the Arab world. The term is politically contested, often by Zionists or by Jews with roots in the Arab world who prefer ...
in
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
)
**
Bnei Menashe
The Bnei Menashe ( he, בני מנשה, "Children of Menasseh", known as the Shinlung in India) is a community of people from various Tibeto-Burmese ethnic groups from the border of India and Burma who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes o ...
(
Mizo and
Kuki Jews)
**
Bene Ephraim
The Bene Ephraim ( he, בני אפריים) ''Bnei Ephraim'' ("Sons of Ephraim"), also called Telugu Jews because they speak Telugu, are a small community living primarily in Kotha Reddy Palem, a village outside Chebrolu, Guntur District, an ...
(Telugu Jews)
**
Paradesi Jews
Paradesi Jews were Jewish people who immigrated to the Indian subcontinent during the 15th and 16th centuries following the expulsion of Jews from Spain. ''Paradesi'' refers to the Malayalam word that means ''foreign'' as they were newcomers ...
(
European Jews
The history of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years. Some Jews, a Judaean tribe from the Levant, Natural History 102:11 (November 1993): 12–19. migrated to Europe just before the rise of the Roman Empire. A notable e ...
in India)
Tai people
*
Ahom people
The Ahom (Pron: ), or Tai-Ahom is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the local indi ...
*
Tai Aiton
*
Tai Phake or Tai Phakial
Tibeto-Burman people
*
Bodo–Kachari people
Bodo–Kacharis (also Kacharis or Bodos) is a name used by anthropologist and linguists to define a collection of ethnic groups living predominantly in the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya. These peoples are speakers of ...
**
Bodo
**
Dimasa
**
Garo
Garo may refer to:
People and languages
* Garo people, a tribal people in India
** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe
Places
* Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia
* Garo, Colorado
* Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...
**
Hajong
**
Sonowal
**
Sutiya
*
Chepang
*
Gurung
Gurung (exonym; ) or Tamu (endonym; Gurung: ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the hills and mountains of Gandaki Province of Nepal. Gurung people predominantly live around the Annapurna region in Manang, Mustang, Dolpo, Kaski, Lamjung, Go ...
*
Khowa
*
Kirati people
The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirant or Kiranti, are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group. They are peoples of the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state of Sikkim ...
**
Rai
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
**
Limbu
**
Yakkha,
Sunuwar
The Sunuwar or Koinch (; ''Sunuwār Jāti'') is a Kirati tribe native to Nepal, parts of India (West Bengal and Sikkim) and southern Bhutan. They speak the Sunuwar language. According to the 2001 census of Nepal, 17% of the tribe follow the ...
*
Lepcha people
The Lepcha (; also called Rongkup ( Lepcha: , ''Mútuncí Róngkup Rumkup'', "beloved children of the Róng and of God") and Rongpa ( Sikkimese: )) are among the indigenous peoples of the Indian state of Sikkim and Nepal, and number around 80,0 ...
*
Magar people
The Magar, also spelled as Mangar, and Mongar, are the third largest ethnolinguistic groups of Nepal, indigenous to Western Nepal and representing 7.1% of Nepal's total population according to the 2011 Nepal census.
The original home of the Magar ...
*
Memba
The Memba are a people of Arunachal Pradesh. The Memba population is currently around four to five thousand. They mainly live in the districts of Shi Yomi, West Siang and Upper Siang. Some also in nearby Tibet. The religious life of the Memba ...
*
Meitei people
The Meitei people, also known as the Manipuri people,P.20: "historically, academically and conventionally Manipuri prominently refers to the Meetei people."P.24: "For the Meeteis, Manipuris comprise Meeteis, Lois, Kukis, Nagas and Pangal." is ...
(
Manipuri people
The Meitei people, also known as the Manipuri people,P.20: "historically, academically and conventionally Manipuri prominently refers to the Meetei people."P.24: "For the Meeteis, Manipuris comprise Meeteis, Lois, Kukis, Nagas and Pangal." is ...
)
*
Naga people
Nagas are various ethnic groups native to northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian states of Nagaland and Manipur and Naga Self-Administere ...
**
Anāl people
The Anāl (also spelled as Anaal) are some of the oldest settlers of the present day Manipur. They belong to the Naga tribe native to Manipur state in North-East India and part of Myanmar. The name "Anal" was given by the Meitei people of Mani ...
**
Angami Naga
The Angamis are a major Naga ethnic group native to the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland. The Angami Nagas are predominantly settled in Kohima District, Chümoukedima District and Dimapur District of Nagaland and are also recognized as one ...
***
Southern Angami
Southern Angami or ''Japfüphiki'' is a geo-cultural region located in the southern part of Kohima District in the state of Nagaland in India with a portion of its territory also lying across the inter-state border in the Senapati District of M ...
**
Ao Naga
The Ao Nagas are a major Naga ethnic group native to Mokokchung District of Nagaland, Northeast India. Their main territory is from Tsüla (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsürang (Disai) Valley in the west in Mokokchung District.
The Ao Nagas ...
**
Chakhesang Naga
**
Chang Naga
Chang is a Naga ethnic group of Nagaland, India. It is one of the recognized Scheduled Tribes.
The tribe was also known as Mazung in British India. Other Naga ethnic groups know the Changs by different names including ''Changhai'' ( Khiamniunga ...
**
Chiru Naga
Chiru people is a Zo ethnic group that mostly resides in Manipur and some in Assam, India. They are listed as a Scheduled Tribe, in accordance with The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976 Indian Constitution
...
**
Chothe people
**
Khiamniungan Naga
**
Konyak Naga
The Konyaks are one of the major Naga ethnic groups. In Nagaland, they inhabit the Mon District, which is also known as ''The Land of the Anghs''. The ''Anghs''/''Wangs'' are their traditional chiefs whom they hold in high esteem. Facial tattoo ...
**
Lainong Naga
**
Lamkang people
**
Lotha Naga
The Lotha Nagas, also known as Kyong, are a major Naga ethnic group native to Wokha District in the Indian state of Nagaland.
Origins
Scholars have presented several theories about the migration of the Lothas and the other Naga tribes, base ...
**
Mao people
The Mao languages are a branch of the Omotic languages spoken in Ethiopia. The group had the following categories:
* Bambasi, spoken in the Bambasi woreda of Benishangul-Gumuz Region,
* Hozo and Seze (often described together as 'Begi Mao'), sp ...
**
Maram people
Maram tribe is one of the tribes that form the Naga tribe of Northeast India. The Marams occupy a large portion of Senapati district of Manipur. They are the only tribe of Nagas who did not consume pork in the past; today, with the advent of Ch ...
**
Maring people
**
Monsang people
**
Moyon Naga
**
Nocte Naga
**
Para Naga
The Para people, also known as the Para Naga, are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group inhabiting mostly in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions ...
**
Poumai people
**
Phom Naga
Phom is a Naga tribe from Nagaland, India. Their traditional territory lies between the territories of Konyak in the north-east, the Ao in the west and the Chang in the south. Yongnyah is the largest Phom village.
Economy
Agriculture is ...
**
Pochury Naga
Pochury is a Naga tribe of Nagaland, India. The tribe's native territory is located in the eastern part of the Phek district, centered at Meluri town (160 km from the state capital Kohima).
History
The Pochury identity is of relatively ...
**
Rengma Naga
Rengma is a Naga tribe found in Nagaland and Assam states of India. According to the 2011 Census of India, the population of Rengmas in Nagaland stands at 62,951 and the population of Rengmas in Assam is around 22,000. Tseminyü District is the ...
**
Sangtam Naga
The Sangtams are one of the major Naga ethnic group native to Kiphire District of Nagaland, India.
Like many other ethnic groups in Northeast India, they practice jhum, or shifting cultivation. Unlike other Naga ethnic groups in Nagaland, ma ...
**
Sümi Naga
The Sümi Naga also known as Sema Naga are a major Naga ethnic group in the Indian state of Nagaland. The Sümis mainly inhabit Zünheboto District, parts of Niuland District and Kiphire District although many have spread and are now living in ...
**
Tangkhul people
**
Tangsa Naga
**
Tarao people
The Taraos are one of the lesser-known tribes of Manipur mostly settled in Chandel district of Manipur.
They use Meitei language as their second language (L2) according to the Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ...
**
Thangal people
**
Tikhir Naga
The Tikhir are a Naga tribe from Nagaland, India. They are listed as a Scheduled Tribe
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups ...
**
Tutsa Naga
**
Wancho Naga
The Wancho are Naga indigenous people inhabiting the Patkai hills of Longding district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Culturally Naga, they are ethnically related to the Nocte of Arunachal Pradesh and Konyak of Nagaland The Wancho a ...
**
Yimkhiung Naga
***
Chirr Naga
***
Makury Naga
**
Zeliangrong
Zeliangrong people are one of the major indigenous Naga communities living in the tri-junction of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of A ...
***
Inpui people
***
Liangmai people
***
Rongmei people
***
Zeme Naga
*
Newar people
*
Nishi
*
Tamang
The Tamang (; Devanagari: तामाङ; ''tāmāṅ'') are an Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group of Nepal. In Nepal Tamang/Moormi people constitute 5.6% of the Nepalese population at over 1.3 million in 2001, increasing to 1,539,830 as of the 2011 ...
*
Thakali
*
Tibetans
The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans liv ...
and
Tibetan-speaking peoples
**
Tibetan Ladakhis
**
Uttarakhandi Bhotiya
**
Sikkimese people
Sikkimese are people who inhabit the Indian state of Sikkim. The dominance ethnic diversity of Sikkim is represented by 'Lho-Mon-Tsong-Tsum' that identifies origin of three races since seventeenth century. The term 'Lho' refers to Bhutias (Lhopo) ...
***
Bhutia
The Bhutia (; sip, Drenjongpa/Drenjop; ; "inhabitants of Sikkim".) are a community of Sikkimese people living in the state of Sikkim in northeastern India, who speak Drenjongke or Sikkimese, a Tibetic language fairly mutually intelligible w ...
s
**
Monpa
***
Takpa
***
Tshangla
Tshangla is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Bodish branch closely related to the Tibetic languages. Tshangla is primarily spoken in Eastern Bhutan and acts as a lingua franca in the region; it is also spoken in the adjoining Tawang tract in the I ...
**
Sherpas
**
Bhotiya
Bhotiya or Bhot ( ne, भोटिया, ) are groups of ethno-linguistically related Tibetan people living in the Transhimalayan region that divides India from Tibet. The word ''Bhotiya'' comes from the classical Tibetan name for Tibet, , . ...
s
**
Sherdukpen
**
Aka
**
Miji
**
Tibetan Muslim
Tibetan Muslims, also known as the Kachee (; ; also spelled Kache), form a small minority in Tibet. Despite being Muslim, they are officially recognized as Tibetans by the government of the People's Republic of China, unlike the Hui Muslims, w ...
***
Burig
***
Baltis
Baltis was an ancient Arabian goddess. She was revered at Carrhae and identified with the planet Venus.
Isaac of Antioch mentions Baltis in a text written in the middle of the 5th century CE as a deity worshipped by the Arabs. Baltis here is e ...
*
Tripuri
Tripuri refer to:
*Tripuri people, an ethnic group in India and Bangladesh, also known as Tipra people
**Tripuri language
**Tripuri nationalism
**Tripuri calendar
**Tripuri culture
**Tripuri cuisine
**Tripuri dances
**Tripuri dress
**Tripuri games ...
*
Karbi people or
Mikir
*
Thami
The Thangmi (in Nepali थामी) are an indigenous tribe of the hills east of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. They mainly live in Suspa, Kshamawati, Khopachagu, Alampu, Bigu, Kalinchok, Lapilang and Lakuri Danda villages of Dolakha district i ...
*
Zo people
The Zomi are an ethnic group which can be found in India, Myanmar and in Chittagong hill tracks of Bangladesh. The word Zomi is used to describe an ethnic group, which is also known as the Chin people, Chin, the Mizo people, Mizo, the Kuki peop ...
**
Bawm people
The Bom, or Bawm ( bn, বম), are an ethnic community inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The Bawm are one of smallest ethnic groups in Bangladesh. In 2004, around 10,000 Bawm inhabited India, with the population in all countrie ...
**
Chin
**
Kuki
***
Halam
***
Hrangkhol
**
Mizo
Turkic peoples
*
Turkish Indian
*
Rowther
Rowther (anglicised as ''Irauttar'', ''Rawther, Ravuttar'' ''Ravutta'', ''Rahtore'', ''Ravuthar'') is a Tamil Speaking Muslim community from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Rowthers are Tamil tribes converted to islam by Preacher Nath ...
are alleged descendants of
Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
in
Turko-Persian tradition
The composite Turko-Persian, Turco-Persian
''Turko-Persia in historical perspective'', Cambridge University Press, ...
. They have since become the tradition of Turko-Indian in 12th Century.
*
Mughal (Moghul) (A
Sunni Islamic dynasty of Asia which originated in Central Asia)
**
Chughtai Tartars
Tartary ( la, Tartaria, french: Tartarie, german: Tartarei, russian: Тартария, Tartariya) or Tatary (russian: Татария, Tatariya) was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bound ...
(Those people who originated in
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
and fought for
Chagatai Khan
Chagatai Khan ( Mongolian: ''; Čaɣatay''; mn, Цагадай, translit=Tsagadai; chg, , ''Čaġatāy''; ug, چاغاتاي خان, ''Chaghatay-Xan''; zh, 察合台, ''Chágětái''; fa, , ''Joghatây''; 22 December 1183 – 1 July 1242) ...
who was son of
Genghis Khan).
**
Barlas (A
Turkified Mongol tribe to which
Babur belonged)
**
Changezi
Changezi also spelled as Changizi is a surname in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. This surname is taken from the name of Changez khan (Genghis Khan) and/or his military that came to the Middle East and South Asia. It is common among Moghol, Mu ...
(Those who were in army of
Hulagu Khan
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu ( mn, Хүлэгү/ , lit=Surplus, translit=Hu’legu’/Qülegü; chg, ; Arabic: fa, هولاکو خان, ''Holâku Khân;'' ; 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of We ...
)
Afro-Asian groups
*
Chaush
*
Sheedis/Siddis, an ethnic community of
Black African
Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...
descent, found primarily in Pakistan, Gujarat, and Karnataka.
*
Sri Lanka Kaffirs
The Sri Lankan Kaffirs (cafrinhas in Portuguese, කාපිරි ''kāpiriyō'' in Sinhala, and காப்பிலி ''kāpili'' in Tamil) are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th-century Portuguese traders an ...
European and Eurasian people
*
Anglo-Burmese
*
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford English ...
*
Bangladeshi-Armenians
**
Dhakaiya Armenians
*
Burgher people
*
French-Indian
*
Luso-Indian
Luso-Indians or Portuguese-Indian, is a subgroup of the larger multiracial ethnic creole people of Luso-Asians. Luso-Indians are people who have mixed varied Indian subcontinent and European Portuguese ancestry or people of Portuguese descent ...
*
Romani people
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...
*
Eurasian
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Ja ...
s
East Asian people
Chinese
*
Bangladeshi Chinese
*
Indian Chinese
*
Sri Lankan Chinese
Linguistically isolate groups
*
Hunza people
The Burusho, or Brusho, also known as the Botraj, are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Yasin, Hunza, Nagar, and other valleys of Gilgit–Baltistan in northern Pakistan, as well as in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Their language, Buru ...
*
Kusunda
*
Nahali
*
Vedda
The Vedda ( si, වැද්දා , ta, வேடர் (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Vedd ...
Diaspora
Many South Asian ethnic groups and nationalities have substantial diasporas outside of South Asia.
*
South Asian American
South Asian Americans are Americans of full or partial South Asian ancestry. The term generally excludes Afghanistan, referring specifically to those who can trace back their heritage to the Indian subcontinent, which includes the countries of Ba ...
**
Bangladeshi American
Bangladeshi Americans ( bn, বাংলাদেশী মার্কিনী, Bangladeshī Markinī) are Americans of Bangladeshi descent. The majority of Bangladeshi Americans are Bengalis and form the largest group of Bengali Americans. Ban ...
**
Bengali American
**
Gujarati American
**
Indian American
**
Nepalese American
**
Pakistani American
**
Punjabi American
**
Sri Lankan American
**
Tamil American
Tamil Americans (தமிழ் அமெரிக்கர்கள்) are Americans who are of Tamil origin. The majority of Tamil Americans come from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Significant minorities are from other Indian states like Ka ...
**
Telugu American
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
...
*
South Asian Canadian
**
Bangladeshi Canadian
**
Indo-Canadian
Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The terms ''Indo-Canadian'' or ''East Indian'' are sometimes used to avoid confusion with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Categorically, Indian Canadians comprise a subgroup of ...
**
Nepalese Canadian
**
Pakistani Canadian
**
Sri Lankan Canadian
Sri Lankan Canadians refers to people from Sri Lanka who have arrived and settled in Canada. Among these immigration, immigrants include members from the Sinhalese people, Sinhalese, Tamil people, Tamil, Sri Lankan Moors, Moor, Sri Lankan Malays, ...
**
Tamil Canadian
*
British Asian
British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...
**
British Bangladeshi
British Bangladeshis ( bn, বিলাতী বাংলাদেশী, Bilatī Bangladeshī) are people of Bangladeshi origin who have attained citizenship in the United Kingdom, through immigration and historical naturalisation. The term c ...
**
British Indian
**
British Nepalese
**
British Pakistani
British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes ...
**
British Tamil
**
Sri Lankans in the United Kingdom
**
British Indo-Caribbean community
**
Mauritians in the United Kingdom
**
Asian-Scots
Scottish Asian (Asian-Scottish or Asian-Scots) is a term defined within the 2011 Scottish census as including people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ancestry resident in Scotland. Their parents or grandparents are nor ...
*
South Asian Australian
Asian Australians refers to Australians of Asian ancestry, whether full or partial, including naturalised Australians who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants. At the 2021 census, the number of ances ...
**
Bangladeshi Australian
**
Indian Australian all of this entry re immigration is a complete fabrication
Indian Australians or Indo-Australians are Australians of Indian ancestry. This includes both those who are Australian by birth, and those born in India or elsewhere in the Indian d ...
**
Nepalese Australian
**
Pakistani Australian
Pakistani Australians are Australians who are of Pakistani descent or heritage. Most Pakistani Australians are Muslims by religion, although there are also sizeable Christian, Hindu and other minorities.
History in Australia
An anthropological ...
**
Sri Lankan Australian
*
Indo Kiwi
Indian New Zealanders are persons of Indian origin or descent, living in New Zealand. The term includes Indians born in New Zealand, as well as immigrants from India, Fiji, as well as other regions of Asia, parts of Africa such as South Africa as ...
*
Indians in Singapore
Indian Singaporeans (Tamil: ') are Singaporeans of Indian or South Asian ancestry, who constitute 9.0% of the country's citizens, making them the third largest ancestry and ethnic group in Singapore.
While contact with ancient India left a de ...
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Malaysian Indian
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Nepalis in Singapore
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Tamil Malaysians
Tamil Malaysians, also known as Malaysian Tamilar, are people of full or partial Tamil descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia from Tamil Nadu, India and the Tamil regions of north-east Sri Lanka. The majority of 1.8–2 million peop ...
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Chitty
The Chitty, also known as the Chetty or Chetti Melaka, are a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly and originally in Melaka, Malaysia, and in Singapore where they migrated to in the 18th and 19th centuries from Melaka, who are also kn ...
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Nepalese people in Malaysia
There is a large community of Nepalese people in Malaysia, recruited from Nepal, foreign workers and their families. In 2020, there were over 382,000 documented Nepali workers in Malaysia - the majority of which were working in the manufactu ...
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Indian Indonesian
Indian Indonesians ( id, Orang India Indonesia; ta, இந்திய இந்தோனேசியர்) are Indonesians whose ancestors whose ancestors originally came from the Indian subcontinent. Therefore, this term can be regarded a ...
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Indo-Mauritian
Indo-Mauritians are Mauritians who trace their ethnic ancestry to Indian subcontinent or other parts of South Asia.
History
During the administration of the French East India Company (until 1767) and subsequent French rule at least 12,000 work ...
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Bihari Mauritian
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Indo-Caribbean
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Indians in Barbados
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Indians in Belize
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Indians in the Dominican Republic
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Indians in French Guiana
Indians in French Guiana are mostly Indian descendants of Tamil, Telugu, and other South Indian ancestry whose ancestors were indentured labourers from India who came to French Guiana in the late 19th to early 20th-century.
Migration history
Be ...
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Indo-Grenadians
Indo-Grenadians or Grenadians who trace their roots to India, form the largest minority group in Grenada. This term is not generally recognized by Grenadians or indeed Caribbeans. They usually refer to themselves simply as Grenadian or possibly ...
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Indians in Guadeloupe
Indo-Guadeloupeans are mostly descended from indentured workers who came mostly from South India in the late 19th century. There are currently about 35,617 people of Indian origin living in Guadeloupe, making it home to one of the largest Sout ...
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Indo-Guyanese
Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...
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Indo-Haitians
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Indo-Jamaican
Indo-Jamaicans are the descendants of people who came from the Indian subcontinent to Jamaica. Indians form the third largest ethnic group in Jamaica after Africans and Multiracials.
History
Due to deteriorating socioeconomic of conditions in B ...
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Indo-Martiniquais
Indo-Martiniquais are an ethnic group of Martinique, compromising approximately 10% of the population of the island. The Indo-Martiniquais are descendants of indentured labourers of the nineteenth century from India of primarily Tamil people, Tamil ...
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Indo-Saint Lucian
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Indo-Surinamese
Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Suriname with ancestry from India and the wider subcontinent. Their ancestors were Indian indentured workers brought by the Dutch and t ...
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Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian
Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845.
Indo-Trinidadians and ...
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Indo-Vincentian
*Indians in South America
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Indians in Argentina
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Indians in Brazil
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Indians in Panama
There are an estimated 8,000 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 and Sikh minority and they maintain Hindu templ ...
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Indians in Venezuela
Indians in Venezuela form one of the smaller populations of the Indian diaspora. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (IMEA), among the approximately 690 East Indians living in Venezuela, 400 were Venezuelans of East Indian origi ...
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Burmese Indians
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South Asians in Hong Kong
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South Asians in the Philippines
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Indians in Germany
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Nepalis in Germany
Nepalis in Germany consists of immigrants, refugees and expatriates from Nepal as well as German people of Nepalese descent. Most of them live in large cities like Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin. However they are spread all over German ...
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Indian South Africans
Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the l ...
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Tamil South Africans
Tamil South Africans are Indian South Africans of Tamil descent. Tamil people form the majority of Indian immigrants who came from India to Natal, South Africa, from 1860 onwards. After the expiry of their indentures most of these Indians moved ...
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Indians in Botswana
Indians in Botswana do not form a very large population. As of 2016, an estimated 7,000-8,000 residents of Botswana are of Indian origin, of which 3,000-4,000 are citizens of Botswana. Most Indians are employed in the retail, manufacturing, teach ...
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Indians in Kenya
Indians in Kenya, often known as Kenyan Asians, are citizens and residents of Kenya with ancestral roots in the Indian subcontinent. Significant Indian migration to modern-day Kenya began following the creation of the British East Africa Protect ...
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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, wi ...
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Indo-Mauritian
Indo-Mauritians are Mauritians who trace their ethnic ancestry to Indian subcontinent or other parts of South Asia.
History
During the administration of the French East India Company (until 1767) and subsequent French rule at least 12,000 work ...
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Bihari Mauritian
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Indians in Mozambique
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Indo-Réunionnaise
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Indo-Seychellois
__NOTOC__
Indo-Seychellois are inhabitants of Seychelles with Indian heritage. With about 10,000 Indo-Seychellois in a total Seychellois population of nearly 100,000, they constitute a minority ethnic group in Seychelles.
Origins
The first Indo-S ...
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Indians in Tanzania
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Indians in Uganda
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Indians in Zambia
There is a small but recognisable community of Indians in Zambia. Unlike the better-known Indian communities of South East Africa, they were little-studied by historians until the 2000s.
Migration history
Indians from Gujarat arrived in what w ...
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Indians in Zimbabwe
The Indian presence in what is now Zimbabwe dates back to 1890 or earlier. Some scholars have suggested the similarities of the gold mining techniques carried out in southern Zimbabwe during ancient periods with the Indian ones, a brass cup of Hind ...
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Indians in Iran
Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many wealthy Parsis, began to travel to Iran from Bombay and Gujarat, to revive the Zoroastrian faith and traditions among the stagnating Zoroastrian community in Iran at the time, with prominent per ...
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Indians in Thailand
Thai Indians are Thai people with full or partial Indian ancestry. But these ancestral ties are usually left out of statistics. About 65,000 Indian Thais have full Thai citizenship, but around 400,000 persons of Indian origin settled in Thailand ...
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Indians in the United Arab Emirates
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Indians in Vietnam
Indians in Vietnam consist of migrants to Vietnam from India, both historical and recent. , there were about 2,000 people of Indian origin settled in Vietnam, mainly in Ho Chi Minh City. Prior to the Vietnam War, there was a vibrant Indian communi ...
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Indians in Panama
There are an estimated 8,000 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 and Sikh minority and they maintain Hindu templ ...
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Indian diaspora in France
Indo-French people or Indians in France are expatriate residents of France from India, as well as people of Indian national origin. , there were an estimated 65,000 Indians living in metropolitan France, in addition to 300,000 Indians in the Fren ...
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Indians in Israel
There is a significant community of Indians in Israel doing white-collar jobs mainly working in the industrial sector; some have started their own businesses. They are mostly members of mixed families, more specifically, Halakha, Halachically non ...
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Indians in Italy
Although Italy and India have maintained important relations since ancient times, significant Indian migration to Italy is a recent phenomenon. Many Indians began immigrating to Italy in the early 1990s, when the Italian government initiated prog ...
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Indians in Portugal
Indians in Portugal, including recent immigrants and people who trace their ancestry back to India, together number around 81,393. They are concentrated in Lisbon and Porto. Indians are also found in the Algarve, Coimbra, Guarda, Leiria, Odemir ...
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Indian community in Spain
Indians in Spain form one of the smaller populations of the Indian diaspora. According to the statistics of India's Ministry of External Affairs, they number only 35,000, or 0.07% of the population of Spain. 2009 statistics of Spain's Institu ...
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Indo-Fijian
Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...
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South Indians in Fiji
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Indians in New Caledonia
See also
Bangladeshi diaspora
The Bangladeshi diaspora ( bn, প্রবাসী বাংলাদেশী) are people of Bangladeshi birth or descent who live outside of Bangladesh. First-generation migrants may have moved abroad from Bangladesh for various reasons in ...
,
Indian diaspora
Overseas Indians (IAST: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) are Indians who live outside of the Republic of India. According to the Government of India, ''Non-Resident Indians'' are citizens of Indi ...
,
Nepalese diaspora,
Pakistani diaspora
Overseas Pakistanis ( ur, ), or the Pakistani diaspora, refers to Pakistani people who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens that have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. According to th ...
,
Punjabi diaspora
The Punjabi diaspora (''pajābī pravāsī'') mainly refers to the descendants of ethnic Punjabis who emigrated out of the Punjab region before Independence of Pakistan and India. The Punjabis who migrated after the independence of both countries ...
,
Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora
The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora refers to the global diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan and Tamil diaspora.
Like other diasporas, Sri Lankan Tamils are scattered and dispersed around the glo ...
,
Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil immigrants who emigrated from their native lands (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Sri Lanka) to other parts of the world. They are found primarily in Malaysia, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, ...
.
Two (or possibly three) other people groups have ethnic and linguistic ties with the region:
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Dom people
The Dom (also called Domi; ar, دومي / ALA-LC: ', / , Ḍom / or , or sometimes also called Doms) are descendants of the Dom (caste), Dom with origins in the Indian subcontinent which through ancient migrations are found scattered across ...
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Romani people
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...
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Lom people (who speak a language both related to Indo-Aryan and Armenian)
See also
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Languages of South Asia
South Asia is home to several hundred languages, spanning the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. It is home to the third most spoken language in the world, Hindi–Urdu; and the sixth m ...
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Languages of Bangladesh
The national language and official language of Bangladesh is Bengali according to the third article of the Constitution of Bangladesh. The second most spoken language in Bangladesh is claimed to be Burmese which is spoken by the Marma tribe ...
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Languages of Bhutan
There are two dozen languages of Bhutan, all members of the Tibeto-Burman language family except for Nepali, which is an Indo-Aryan language, and Bhutanese Sign Language. Dzongkha, the national language, is the only native language of Bhutan with ...
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Languages of India
Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians, both families together are sometimes known ...
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Languages of Maldives
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Languages of Nepal
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Languages of Pakistan
Pakistan is a multilingual country with dozens of languages spoken as first languages. The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.
Urdu is the national language and the lingua fr ...
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Languages of Sri Lanka
Several languages are spoken in Sri Lanka within the Indo-Aryan, Austronesian, and Dravidian families. Sri Lanka accords official status to Sinhala and Tamil, and English as a recognised language. The languages spoken on the island nation are ...
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List of ethnolinguistic regions of South Asia
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List of indigenous peoples of South Asia
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List of Scheduled Tribes in India
This is a list of Scheduled Tribes in India. The term "Scheduled Tribes" refers to specific tribes whose status is acknowledged to some formal degree by national legislation.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
In accordance with The Scheduled Castes ...
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Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
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Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin
Overseas Indians ( IAST: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) are Indians who live outside of the Republic of India. According to the Government of India, ''Non-Resident Indians'' are citizens of In ...
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Non Resident Nepali
Overseas Nepalis or Non-Resident Nepalis are Nepali people who live outside the South Asian nation of Nepal.
Under the Non-Resident Nepali Act of 2007, Non-Resident Nepali (NRN) ( ne, गैर आवासीय नेपाली, ''Gair Aawas ...
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Overseas Pakistani
Overseas Pakistanis ( ur, ), or the Pakistani diaspora, refers to Pakistani people who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens that have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. According to th ...
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Desi DESI may refer to
* Desorption electrospray ionization
* Drug Efficacy Study Implementation Drug Efficacy Study Implementation (DESI) was a program begun by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the 1960s after the requirement (in the Kefauve ...
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Ethnic groups in Pakistan
Pakistan is a diverse country and the major Pakistani ethnolinguistic groups include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Balochs, Pothoharis/Paharis and Brahuis, with significant numbers of Kashmiris, Chitralis, Shina, Baltis, ...
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Ethnic groups in Nepal
Ethnic groups in Nepal are delineated using language, ethnic identity or the caste system in Nepal. They are categorized by common culture and endogamy. Endogamy carves out ethnic groups in Nepal.
Linguistic groups
Nepal's diverse linguistic h ...
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Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia
Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia is the study of the genetics and archaeogenetics of the ethnic groups of South Asia. It aims at uncovering these groups' genetic history. The geographic position of South Asia makes its biodiversity imp ...
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Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of South Asia Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of South Asia are haplogroups of the male Y-chromosome found in South Asian populations.
Major Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in South Asia
South Asia, located on the crossroads of Western Eurasia and Eastern Eura ...
National demographics:
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Demographics of Bangladesh
Bangladesh is the eighth-most populated country in the world with almost 2.2% of the world's population. As per the 2022 Census of Bangladesh, the country's population is 165,158,616.
Bangladesh (previously East Pakistan between 1947 and 197 ...
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Demographics of Bhutan
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Demographics of India
India is the second most populated country in the world with a sixth of the world's population. According to official estimates, India's population stood at 1.38 billion.
Between 1975 and 2010, the population doubled to 1.2 billio ...
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Demographics of the Maldives
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Demographics of Nepal
The current population of Nepal is 29,192,480 as per the 2021 census. The population growth rate is 0.93% per year.
In the 2011 census, Nepal's population was approximately 26 million people with a population growth rate of 1.35% and a ...
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Demographics of Pakistan
Pakistan had a population of 213,222,917 according to the final results of the 2017 Census of Pakistan. This figure includes Pakistan's four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan is the world's ...
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Demographics of Sri Lanka
References
16. Vij SB, Webb ML. Culturally competent occupational therapy practice for South Asians in the United States of America: A narrative review. Indian J Occup Ther 2022;54:4-9.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Asian Ethnic Groups
Ethnic groups in Pakistan