Pashtun diaspora
Ethnic Pashtuns and their descendants living outside of Afghanistan–Pakistan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pashtun diaspora (Pashto: بهر میشت پښتانه) comprises all ethnic Pashtuns. There are millions of Pashtuns who are living outside of their traditional homeland of Pashtunistan, a historic region that is today situated over parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.[12] While the (erstwhile) Pashtunistan is home to the majority of Pashtun people, there are significant local Pashtun diaspora communities scattered across the neighbouring Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab, particularly in their respective provincial capital cities of Karachi and Lahore. Additionally, people with Pashtun ancestry are also found across India; particularly in Rohilkhand, a region in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh; and in the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Outside of South Asia, significant Pashtun diaspora communities are found in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf (primarily in the United Arab Emirates), the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Iran, Australia, Canada, and Russia.
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
United Arab Emirates | 578,315 (2021)[1] |
United States | 238,554 (2021) (Estimate)[2] |
India | 260,577 (2018); 10,808,000 million+(non-pashto speakers)[3] |
United Kingdom | 200,000 (2015)[4] |
Germany | 150,800 (2021)[5] |
Iran | 169,000 (2022)[6] |
Australia | 81,154 (2021)[7] |
Canada | 60,590 (2018)[8][verification needed] |
Russia | 19,800 (2015)[9] |
Malaysia | 5,500 (2008)[6] |
Thailand | 500,000(estimate) |
Turkey | 152,000(2021) |
Languages | |
Pashto, Dari Persian, Hindko, Urdu-Hindi, English | |
Religion | |
Majority: Sunni Islam Minority: Shia Islam, Hinduism,[10] Sikhism[11] |
The Pashtun people, who are classified as an Iranian ethnolinguistic group, are believed to have settled in the traditional Pashtunistan region around the early 1st millennium CE.[13][14] According to Ethnologue, the total Pashtun population currently stands at around 30 million,[15] but some sources give slightly lower or higher figures. Among Indic communities in the Indian subcontinent, Pashtuns are commonly referred to by the word Pathan.