This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Turkic languages belong to the larger Altaic language family and are spoken by approximately 200 million people worldwide. They are characterized by agglutination, vowel harmony, and a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order. These languages share a common origin but have diverged over time, resulting in significant linguistic diversity. Some well-known Turkic languages include Turkish, Uzbek, Kazakh, Azerbaijani, and Turkmen.
Turkic languages hold official language status in several regions across the world, primarily in Central Asia and parts of Eastern Europe. One prominent example is Turkey, where Turkish, a Turkic language, serves as the official language of the country. In Central Asia, Turkic languages such as Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen, and Uighur have official language status in their respective countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China.
Additionally, Turkic languages are recognized as official or co-official languages in regions of Russia, such as Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Sakha Republic (Yakutia). In some regions of Iran, including parts of Azerbaijan and the province of West Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Turkic is an official language. Furthermore, Turkic languages have official status in certain regions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The map below illustrates regions where Turkic languages hold official language status (Dark blue indicates independent states, light blue represents autonomous regions, and red dots denote cities or provinces).
Here are the top 10 countries with the highest number of Turkic-speaking inhabitants.
Rank
Country
Population
1
Turkey
82 million
2
Uzbekistan
34 million
3
Kazakhstan
19 million
4
Iran (Azerbaijan region)
15 million
5
China (Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region)
11 million
6
Russia (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Sakha Republic)
10 million
7
Azerbaijan
10 million
8
Turkmenistan
6 million
9
Kyrgyzstan
6 million
10
Afghanistan (mainly in northern regions)
1-2 million
If you’re considering learning Turkish, you might find these books helpful.
