>> Largest nations of the world
§ 5. The largest nations of the world
In total, there are 5-5.5 thousand peoples, or ethnic groups, that is, established stable communities of people in the world. The vast majority of peoples are extremely small in number.
There are 330 peoples in the world numbering more than 1 million people, but they cover 96% of the total population of the Earth. There are only 11 peoples in the world with more than 100 million people each (Table 20), but they cover almost 45% of everything population Earth.
Table 20
Largest nations and most widely spoken languages
| Largest nations of the world | Million people | Most common languages | Million people |
| 1. Chinese | 1170 | 1. Chinese | 1200 |
| 2. Hindustani | 265 | 2. English | 520 |
| 3. Bengalis | 225 | 3. Spanish | 400 |
| 4. Americans USA | 200 | 4. Hindi | 360 |
| 5. Brazilians | 175 | 5. Arabic | 250 |
| 6. Russians | 140 | 6. Bengali | 225 |
| 7. Japanese | 125 | 7. Portuguese | 210 |
| 8. Punjabis | 115 | 8. Russian | 200 |
| 9. Biharis | 115 | 9. Indonesian | 190 |
| 10. Mexicans | 105 | 10. Japanese | 127 |
| 11. Javanese | 105 | 11. French | 120 |
| | | 12. German | 100 |
Only on the territory of Russia live 65 small peoples, and the number of some of them does not exceed a thousand people. There are hundreds of similar peoples on Earth, and each carefully preserves its customs, language and culture.
Our top ten today includes the smallest peoples in the world.
This small people lives on the territory of Dagestan, and its population is only 443 people as of the end of 2010. For a long time, the Ginukh people were not identified as a separate ethnic group, since the Ginukh language was considered only one of the dialects of the Tsez language widespread in Dagestan.
9. Selkups
Until the 1930s, representatives of this West Siberian people were called Ostyak-Samoyeds. The number of Selkups is just over 4 thousand people. They live mainly in the Tyumen and Tomsk regions, as well as the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
8. Nganasans
This people lives on the Taimyr Peninsula, and their number is about 800 people. Nganasany is the most northern people in Eurasia. Until the middle of the 20th century, the people led a nomadic lifestyle, driving herds of deer over vast distances; today the Nganasans live sedentary lives.
7. Orochons
The place of residence of this small ethnic group is China and Mongolia. The population is about 7 thousand people. The history of the people goes back more than a thousand years, and the Orochons are mentioned in many documents dating back to the early Chinese imperial dynasties.
6. Evenks
This indigenous people of Russia lives in Eastern Siberia. These people are the most numerous in our top ten - their numbers are quite sufficient to populate a small town. There are about 35 thousand Evenks in the world.
5. Chum salmon
Kets live in the north of the Krasnoyarsk region. The number of this people is less than 1500 people. Until the middle of the 20th century, representatives of the ethnic group were called Ostyaks, as well as Yeniseians. The Ket language belongs to the group of Yenisei languages.
4. Chulym people
The number of this indigenous people of Russia is 355 people as of 2010. Despite the fact that most of the Chulym people recognize Orthodoxy, the ethnic group carefully preserves some traditions of shamanism. Chulyms live mainly in the Tomsk region. It is interesting that the Chulym language does not have a written language.
3. Basins
The number of this people living in Primorye is only 276 people. The Taz language is a mixture of one of the Chinese dialects with the Nanai language. Now this language is spoken by less than half of those who consider themselves to be Taz.
2. Livs
This one is extremely small people lives in Latvia. From time immemorial, the main occupations of the Livs were piracy, fishing and hunting. Today the people have almost completely assimilated. According to official data, there are only 180 Livs left.
1. Pitcairns
This people is the smallest in the world and lives on the small island of Pitcairn in Oceania. The number of Pitcairns is about 60 people. All of them are descendants of the sailors of the British warship Bounty, who landed here in 1790. The Pitcairn language is a mixture of simplified English, Tahitian and maritime vocabulary.
I recently asked myself this question and tried to find the answer. Surprisingly, despite the level of science in our time, scientists cannot clearly determine the exact number. However, the topic is quite interesting, and therefore I will share the information I found.
How many peoples are there on Earth?
Even scientists find it difficult to answer accurately - there is simply no clear answer. Every time this topic is raised, a new figure is heard, but official science believes that our planet is inhabited by from 2 to 4 thousand nationalities and peoples. Agree, the spread is quite large. The thing is that it is almost impossible to give an exact definition of the term “people” - everyone has their own understanding of this word. For example, there are states whose residents communicate using the same language, but in fact they are different peoples, but it happens the other way around.
If you try to find definition of a term in a dictionary, then one can find that the term is used both in a political sense and in a cultural one. There are several meanings:
- a certain set of art consumers, in other words - the public;
- population of a state;
- a crowd of people in a certain place;
- working population:
- an ethnic group with distinct common characteristics.
The last definition is generally accepted, as for the mentioned characteristics, they are:
- culture;
- traditions;
- language.
How do peoples differ?
The main feature is the language, therefore its unity is considered a paramount indicator. Exists about 4000 languages, which are identified by scientists into separate groups. There are about 20 such groups. Half of humanity speaks languages included in the largest - Indo-European group. What else could be different? Certainly, by number. Research suggests that most peoples are not particularly numerous - no more than 1 million people. However, there are also quite numerous ones, for example, the Chinese and Indians.
Culture is one of the characteristic differences. They distinguish both spiritual and material. The first group includes legends, songs, dances and so on. The second group includes the type of housing, clothes, kitchen features etc.
The largest nations of the world May 12th, 2012
Modern science is not yet able to answer the question of what is the exact number of peoples on Earth and how many of them are nations, nationalities and other types of ethnic groups. Most often, ethnographers determine the total number of peoples on the planet to range from 2200 to 2400.
Only 24 of them have a population exceeding 50 million people. And out of twenty-four, nine represent India.
Most big people on Earth - the Chinese (self-name - Han), who currently number 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 most large nations The land is home to the Arabs, who currently number about 350 million people.
Arab actor Omar Sharif
Hindustani are in third place among the largest nations on Earth, but they can be called united people only conditionally. Hindustani are a group of ethnic groups in India who are united by the unity of the language - Hindi. Currently, more than 330 million people speak Western and Eastern dialects of Hindi.
Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, Hindustani by nationality
The fourth largest population among the nations of the Earth is occupied by Americans (314 million people). Americans are a group of different origins national groups, who are citizens of the United States and bearers of American culture, and as a result, claim to be called a single people.
US President Barack Obama with his family
In fifth place among largest nations On the planet there are Bengalis - the main population of the state of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India. Total number There are more than 250 million Bengalis in the world (about 150 million in Bangladesh and about 100 million in India).
Indian writer and poet Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali by nationality
In sixth place among the largest nations on Earth are the 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
The seventh largest people on Earth are Russians, of whom 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.
19th-century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy
Miss World 2008 Ksenia Sukhinova
The eighth largest people on the planet are Mexicans, of whom there are 147 million people in the world, of which 112 million people. live in Mexico and 32 million in the USA.
Mexican Ximena Navarrete - Miss Universe 2010
The ninth largest people in the world are the Japanese (130 million people).
Japanese actress Kyoko Fukada
Punjabis close the top ten largest nations on Earth. There are 120 million Punjabis in the world, of which 76 million are lives in Pakistan and 29 million in India.
Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, Punjabi by nationality
There are 11 nations in the world, numbering more than 100 million people. These peoples, in addition to the above, also include the Biharis, who mainly live in the Indian state of Bihar. There are 105 million Biharis in the world.
Indian actress Sonakshi Sinha of Bihari origin
The 12th largest people in the world are the Javanese (85 million people), indigenous people Java islands in Indonesia.
Javanka Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia
The 13th largest people on the planet are Koreans. There are 81 million Koreans in the world, of which 50 million live in South Korea and 24 million - in North Korea.
South Korean actors Song Seung Heon (left) and Song Hye Kyo
The 14th largest people in the world - the Marathas (80 million people) - are the main population of the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Indian actress Madhuri Dixit is from the Maratha people.
The 15th largest people on Earth are the Tamils, of whom there are 77 million people in the world, of which 63 million live in India.
Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand (Tamil by nationality), current world chess champion.
There are approximately the same number of Vietnamese (Viets) in the world as there are Tamils (77 million people).
Truong Tri Truc Diem (born 1987) – singer, actress, ambassador good will UNESCO. Represented Vietnam twice international competitions beauty: in 2007 she took part in the Miss Earth contest, and in 2011 in the Miss International contest.
Another large nation is the 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 USA, 60 million people have German roots, making it the largest ethnic group among Americans.
German actress Diane Kruger
The Telugu people, the main population of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, also number at least 75 million.
Indian spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti, Telugu by nationality.
About 70 million people are Thai - the main population of Thailand.
Thai Piyaporn Deejin, Miss Thailand 2008
About 65 million people are Turks.
Tuba Büyüküstün is a Turkish actress.
Also, at least 65 million people are Gujaratis - the main population of the Indian state of Gujarat.
Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarati by nationality
One of the largest peoples in Europe and the world is the French (64 million people).
Catherine Deneuve - French actress
Another European nation, one of the largest nations in the world, is the Italians. 60 million Italians live in Italy
Claudia Cardinale - Italian actress
About 60 million people are Sindhis. 53.5 million Sindhis live in Pakistan and about 6 million Sindhis live in India.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto is a Sindhi.