10 most numerous nations. National composition of the world population and ethnic processes

Connected with their resettlement during the era of colonial conquests. Negroids in North and South America appeared during the era of the slave system, when they were brought here to work on plantations.

It is wrong to think that the entire population of the world belongs to these races. They constitute only 70% of the total world population, and the other 30% are racial groups resulting from the mixing of these four races. Racial mixing was especially intense in North and South America. As a result of marriages between representatives of different races, groups such as mulattoes, mestizo and sambo arose. Descendants from marriages of Caucasians with Indians belonging to the Mongoloid race are called mestizos. Mulattos arose when Caucasians mixed with Negroids brought from Africa. As a result of marriages of Negroids with Indians (Mongoloids), sambo groups were formed.

Within races, smaller groups are distinguished: tribes, nationalities, nations. IN modern world allocate 3-4 thousand various peoples. The number of each of them is different. For example, the Chinese, of whom there are already more than 1.1 billion, and the Vedda tribe, whose number is less than 1000 people. The bulk of the world's population is still made up of large nations.

As a rule, the commonality of each ethnic groups characterized by a set large number characteristics, the main of which are territory, features of life, culture, and language. The classification of different peoples by language is based on the principle of their kinship. Languages ​​are united into language families, and these in turn are divided into language groups. The most widespread of all language families is Indo-European. About half of all peoples in the world speak languages ​​of this family. Of the languages ​​of the Indo-European family, the most common are English (425 million people), Hindi (350 million people), Spanish (340 million people), Russian (290 million people), Bengali (185 million people), Portuguese (175 million people), German (120 million people), French (129 million people).

The second significant language family is the Sino-Tibetan family, whose main language is Chinese (over 1 billion people). The Chinese language has several main dialects, the differences between which are so great that when speaking, residents of the northern and southern provinces have difficulty understanding each other. To explain, they use a single written language, which has 50 thousand characters. Each Chinese character is pronounced in a specific musical tone. Depending on the tone, many words pronounced using the same sounds can have completely different meanings.

The wide distribution of Chinese and Russian languages ​​is explained by the significant territory of these states. But why are English and Spanish so common? Their wide distribution, sharply exceeding the population of the island itself, is explained by the colonial past of the countries of Asia, Africa and. Thus, the official language of some is still English language, and almost everyone (except ) speaks Spanish.

National criteria underlie the division of humanity into states. If national borders coincide with state borders, then a single-national state is created. This is about half. In them, the main nationality is over 90%. This is many states Latin America. Sometimes a state is created by two nations. This , . Along with all these countries, there are many states that are multinational. This , . Up to a hundred peoples live in such countries, and very often such a state has a federal structure.

In many multinational states There are problems of interethnic relations, which are very acute in many regions of the world and from time to time give rise to hot spots on our planet, which often leads to serious consequences in economic and social life.

In the modern world, there are still manifestations of nationalism, which is characterized by the idea of ​​​​the national superiority of any people. Racial and national discrimination has not been completely eliminated. Thus, for many years, conflicts in Canada between English-Canadians who occupy key positions in economics, and by French-Canadians who feel their social and economic disadvantage and advocate the creation of an independent state; For several years, the Middle Eastern hotbed of tension associated with the Arab confrontation and which gave rise to the problem of Palestinian refugees has not subsided. There are also “hot spots” in Europe: the Turkish-Greek conflict in Russia, which actually led to the division of this country. There are also “hot spots” associated with national conflicts in the republics of the former USSR.

The most acute national conflicts occur in Russia, where the policy of discrimination was elevated to the rank of state policy until the early 90s.

At the end of the 80s, interethnic relations became very complicated and in Eastern Europe. These include, in particular:

a) the desire of the Polish national minority (this is approximately 260 thousand people, or 8% of the country’s population) to create their own autonomy;

e) the collapse of Yugoslavia.

It is quite obvious that without solving these and other similar problems it is difficult to develop normal relations between countries.

Largest language families in the world

Do you know how many peoples there are in the world? Probably, few people will be able to accurately answer this question, even among scientists and historians. In Russia alone there are 194 nations of the world (the list goes on and on). All people on Earth are completely different, and this is the biggest advantage.

General classification

Of course, everyone is interested in quantitative data. If you collect all the peoples of the world, the list will be endless. It is much easier to classify them according to certain characteristics. First of all, this is done depending on what language people speak within the same territory or the same cultural traditions. An even more general category is language families.

Preserved through the centuries

Every nation, no matter what its history, tries with all possible forces to prove that their ancestors built the Tower of Babel. It is flattering for everyone to think that he or she belongs to those roots that go back to distant, distant times. But there are ancient peoples of the world (the list is attached), whose prehistoric origin is beyond doubt.

Largest nations

There are many on Earth large nations having one historical roots. For example, there are 330 nations in the world, numbering a million people each. But there are only eleven of those with more than 100 million people (each). Consider the list of peoples of the world by number:

1. Chinese - 1.17 million people.
2. Hindustani - 265 million people.
3. Bengalis - 225 million people.
4. Americans (USA) - 200 million people.
5. Brazilians - 175 million people.
6. Russians - 140 million people.
7. Japanese - 125 million people.
8. Punjabis - 115 million people.
9. Biharis - 115 million people.
10. Mexicans - 105 million people.
11. Javanese - 105 million people.

Unity in diversity

Another classification characteristic that allows us to distinguish between the world’s population is threefold: Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid. Some Western historians distinguish a little more, but these races still became derivatives of the three main ones.

In the modern world there are large number contact races. This led to the emergence of new peoples of the world. The list has not yet been provided by scientists, because no one has worked on an exact classification. Here are some examples. The Ural group of peoples originated from the mixing of some branches of northern Caucasoids and northern Mongoloids. The entire population of southern island Asia arose as a result of the kinship of Mongoloids and Australoids.

Endangered ethnic groups

There are nations of the world on Earth (the list is attached), the number of which amounts to several hundred people. These are endangered ethnic groups who are trying to preserve their identity.

Conclusions

Can be interpreted in different ways. Some will argue that this population is within the state, others will insist that it does not matter where people live, the main thing is that they are united by some common features, defining their belonging to the same historical sources. Still others will believe that a people is an ethnic group that has existed for centuries, but has faded over the years. In any case, all people on Earth are very diverse and studying them is a pleasure.

This article presents the largest nations of the Earth, whose number exceeds 50 million people. It is worth noting that of the 24 most large nations India is represented by 9 peoples (Hindustani, Bengalis, Punjabis, Biharis, Marathas, Tamils, Telugus, Gujaratis, Sindhis).

Most big people on Earth - Chinese(self-name - Han), of whom there are currently 1 billion 310 million people. This represents 19% of general population of our planet.

Chinese actor and director Jackie Chan

In second place among the largest nations on Earth are Arabs, of which there are currently about 350 million people.

In fifth place among the largest nations on the planet are Bengalis- the main population of the state of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India. The total number of Bengalis in the world is more than 250 million (about 150 million in Bangladesh and about 100 million in India).

Indian writer and poet Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali by nationality

Bengal girl

In sixth place among the largest nations on Earth are Brazilians(193 million people) - a nation that was formed in the same way as American nation- by mixing different ethnic groups.

Brazilian fashion model Camila Alves

Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho

The seventh largest people on Earth - Russians, of which there are about 150 million people in the world, of which 116 million live in Russia, 8.3 million in Ukraine, 3.8 million in Kazakhstan. Russians are the largest people in Europe.

The eighth largest people on the planet - Mexicans, of which there are 147 million people in the world, of which 112 million people. live in Mexico and 32 million in the USA. Using the example of the Mexicans, one can note the convention of dividing people into nations. The 32 million Mexicans who live in the United States can be considered both Mexican and American.

Mexican Ximena Navarrete - Miss Universe 2010

Mexican footballer Rafael Marquez, captain of the Mexico national team

The ninth largest nation in the world is Japanese(130 million people).

Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki

Rounding out the top ten largest nations on Earth Punjabis. There are 120 million Punjabis in the world, of which 76 million are lives in Pakistan and 29 million in India.

14th largest people in the world - Marathi(80 million people) - the main population of the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Indian actress Madhuri Dixit is from the Maratha people.

15th largest people on Earth - Tamils, of which there are 77 million people in the world, of which 63 million live in India.

Indian actress Vyjayanthimala, Tamil by nationality

Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand (Tamil by nationality), current world chess champion.

There are approximately the same number of Tamils ​​as there are Tamils ​​(77 million people) in the world. Vietnamese(Viets).

Vietnamese dancer, singer, actress and fashion model Ngo Thanh Van

Another large nation - Germans. There are 75 million Germans in Germany. If we also count persons German origin, then we get a more impressive figure - 150 million people. For example, in the United States, 60 million people have German ancestry, making them the largest ethnic group among Americans.

German actress Diane Kruger

There are also at least 75 million people Telugu- the main population of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Planet Earth is a multinational community, inhabited by a large number of different nationalities. How many peoples live in the world? Surely every person has asked a similar question at least once in his life. At the same time, the exact answer is practically unknown, since even historians find it difficult to give exact figures. In Russia alone there are more than 1194 nationalities, and if we take into account how many peoples are in the CIS countries, then the number will be several times larger.

General classification of nationalities

Most people are interested in a quantitative indicator, but if you collect all the data on how many peoples exist, the list can turn out to be almost endless. Most often the association different nations into groups occurs either according to species characteristics, or according to the language spoken by one or another group, or according to the territory of residence.

Sometimes division into groups can occur in accordance with cultural traditions and foundations

In total, there are 20 language families on the planet, which include different peoples.

In 2016, the largest language families were the following 4 groups:

• Indo-European. In total, this group includes 150 nations, which are located in Asia and Europe. The total population of this group is 2.8 billion people.
• Sino-Tibetan. This group includes the entire population of China and neighboring countries that share common language and culture. In total, there are almost 1.5 billion people in this group.
• Afro-Asian. A language family that includes the peoples of Southwest Asia and North Africa.
• Niger-Kordofanian. The remaining peoples inhabiting the African continent, including the regions of Central and Southern Africa.

The largest nations of the world

Over the entire history of existence on Earth, a large number of nationalities have emerged

Some of the nationalities are small by historical standards and number no more than a million people (there are only 330 peoples). There are numerous ones where the number of people exceeds 100 million. There are only 11 such nationalities:

• Chinese. The top spot is occupied by the Chinese, who number 1 billion 17 million people on the planet.
• Hindustani. In second place are the Indian nationalities, which number 265 million people.
• Bengalis. Their number is 225 million.
• Americans. There are more than 200 million people in the United States.
• Brazilians. There are 175 million indigenous people living in Brazil.
• Russians. If we talk about how much Slavic peoples there are, then we can note the number of Russians, who constitute a large group and number 140 million.
• Japanese. Despite the limited territory of the islands, their population numbers 125 million people.
• Punjabis. Another Indian nationality, numbering 115 million people.
• Biharis. A people also living in India and numbering 115 million.
• Mexicans. There are 105 million of them worldwide.
• Javanese. The last of 11 large nationalities, which number 105 million people.

Let's sum it up

When talking about the concept of “people”, it is very difficult to achieve a unified interpretation.

Also, do not forget that the planet is home to several endangered peoples, some of which number only 280 people. In any case, each nationality is original and unique.

Video on the topic

National composition population– distribution of people based on ethnicity. An ethnos (or people) is a historically established stable community of people, united by the unity of language, territory, economic life and culture, and national identity. The forms of ethnic community change and become more complex in the process of development of human society - from clan and tribal associations in the primitive system, nationalities in early class societies to independent nations - in the context of the merger of local markets into a single national market. If, for example, the formation of nations has long been completed, then in some underdeveloped countries, and (, etc.) tribal associations are widely represented.

Today there are 2200 – 2400 ethnic groups in the world. Their numbers vary greatly - from several dozen people to hundreds of millions. The largest nations include (in million people):

• Chinese – 11 70,
• Hindustani (the main people of India) – 265,
• Bengalis (in India and) – 225,
• Americans - 200,
• Brazilians – 175,
• Russians – 150,
• Japanese – 130,
• Punjabis (main people) – 115,
• Mexicans – 115,
• Biharis - 105.

Thus, at the beginning of the 21st century, 10 ethnic groups account for about 45% of all humanity.

In many countries and regions of the world, different ethnic groups are represented unequally. Therefore, they usually distinguish between the main peoples, i.e., the ethnic groups that make up the bulk of the population, and national minorities.

Based on their origin and social status, national minorities are usually divided into two types:
autochthonous, i.e. indigenous peoples, ethnic groups born of immigration.

Thus, the following proportions are characteristic of the modern national composition. The main ethnic group - the British - make up 77% of the total population; autochthonous ethnic groups, including the Scots, Irish, etc. - 14% and immigrants from different countries – 9 %.

Constantly evolving as a result of territorial heterogeneity of natural population movements, migration, as well as processes of consolidation and assimilation of ethnic groups.
Consolidation of ethnic groups is the merging of several related ethnic groups into one, larger ethnic community.

Assimilation of ethnic groups is the loss of peoples’ native language and national identity as a result of long-term communication with other ethnic groups, i.e. a kind of dissolution of ethnic groups in a multinational environment. This process is especially widespread in immigration countries, which include the USA, Australia, and many European countries. As a result of the processes of consolidation and assimilation of ethnic groups total number peoples is gradually declining.

One of the main signs of ethnic unity is spoken language. On this basis, all the peoples of the world are divided into 15 language families and more than 45 language groups, which, in turn, are divided into language branches. In addition, there are separate languages ​​that are not included in any language family. These include, for example, Japanese, Korean, Basque and some others.

More than 40% of the world's population speaks languages ​​of the Indo-European family, which includes 11 language groups: Romance (French, Italians, Spaniards, Moldovans, Romanians, Latin Americans); Germanic (Germans, English, Swedes, Danes, Americans); Slavic (Russians, Poles, Czechs, Bulgarians, Slovenes); Baltic ( , ); Iranian (Kurds, Afghans, Tatars, etc.).

About 20% of the world's population speaks languages ​​of the Sino-Tibetan or Sino-Tibetan family. Its weight is determined by the Chinese language group. The distribution of these languages ​​is almost entirely localized to the Asian continent.

About 8% of humanity uses the languages ​​of the Niger-Cordofenian family, which are represented exclusively in Africa. Within this family, the main language group is the Niger-Congo group.

Another 5 - 7% of the world's population speaks languages ​​of the Afroasiatic (or Semitic-Hamitic) family, which are widespread mainly in Africa and Asia. The main language of this family is Arabic.

Thus, the languages ​​of these four families are spoken by almost 4/5 of all humanity.

The exact number of languages ​​in the world is not determined. Some experts believe that there are about 3 thousand of them, others - more than 5 thousand. This discrepancy is explained by the fact that some linguists consider the same dialects as different languages, and another part of scientists recognizes them as dialects of the same language. The problem of classifying ethnic groups and languages ​​is largely complicated by the fact that many peoples speak the same languages. For example, English is spoken not only by the British, but also by many Australians, New Zealanders, US Americans, Canadians, many peoples of the Caribbean countries, etc. Spanish is native not only to the Spaniards, but to most of the peoples of Latin America. The same language is spoken by Germans, Austrians, and part of the population of Switzerland. These, the most common languages, serve as a means of interethnic communication.
Some languages ​​develop and become more widespread, others die and lose their former meaning. For example, in Africa, the languages ​​of Swahili, Hausa, and Yoruba are becoming increasingly widespread, which are used as a means of communication by many tribes and nationalities, gradually displacing the languages ​​of the colonialists that have taken root here. The highest concentration of languages ​​(up to 1 thousand) is on Novaya Island, where a large number of distinctive tribes live.

A significant part of all the world's languages ​​does not have a written language. In order to facilitate communication between representatives of different ethnic groups, the number of attempts to create artificial international language. The most famous of them is Esperanto.

The most common languages ​​of the world include the following:

• Chinese – more than 1 billion people,
• English – 400 – 500 million people,
• Hindi – more than 350,
• Spanish – about 300,
• Russian – about 200,
• Bengali – about 170,
• Indonesian – about 170,
• Arabic – 160,
• Portuguese – 140,
• Japanese – 125,
• German – about 100,
• French – more than 100 million people.

Thus, only 12 languages ​​are spoken by almost 2/3 of all humanity. Of these most widely spoken languages, six are official and working languages ​​of the UN (English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese).

In accordance with the nature of the national (ethnic) composition of the population, five types of states can be distinguished.

1 type These are single-national states. The majority of such states are in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

And Russia, although some countries in Western and Southern Africa can also be included.

IN recent years In countries with a complex national composition, interethnic contradictions have intensified.