What are the top 10 world's largest ethnic groups?

[Wolverine]

I know the Han Chinese are number one but can anyone help me with the rest?

Google doesn't really provide any solid answers, Wiki tells me Bengali is second, which I could see being true, as the whole country is homogenous, but who knows.

What after that, Arabs? Punjabis? Bantus? Russians?

[synop]

I know the Han Chinese are number one but can anyone help me with the rest?

Google doesn't really provide any solid answers, Wiki tells me Bengali is second, which I could see being true, as the whole country is homogenous, but who knows.

What after that, Arabs? Punjabis? Bantus? Russians?

Latino/Hispanic
Reflecting especially the Latin American population, which has origins in all the continents and many ancestries,[7] Hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather than a race.[5][8][9][10] The choice of name depends on geography: Hispanic and Latino Americans who reside in the eastern United States tend to prefer the term Hispanic, whereas those in the west usually prefer Latino.[4]

[AlexDelarge]

That's a very difficult question because it depends on what you mean with "ethnic group".

[Bandar Qasim]

Possibly Bantus, they are all quite closely related.

[Dave]

Chinese, Indian/Bangladesh/Pakistan, Native American Mix, Asians, Arabics

[TatyZ]

Must be Chineses and Indians |o|

[Doctoris Scientia]

Possibly Bantus, they are all quite closely related.

"Bantu" is a linguistic group; that's like saying Cushitic speakers represent a legitimate ethnic group. :confused:

[ilham_indonesia]

I think Han Chinese

[EclectYummination]

"Bantu" is a linguistic group; that's like saying Cushitic speakers represent a legitimate ethnic group. :confused:

Same thing with saying "Arabics" also.

Matta fact, I'm sure "Native American mix" wouldn't normally count as ethnicity regardless of the fact many Native Americans may feel some extra sort of solidarity among them today.

[Maroon King]

The biggest ethnic groups in Africa would be Yoruba and Hausa right? In South America, the Aymara and Quechua are the largest Indigenous ethnic groups.

[Unome]

I'm guessing here:

Han Chinese
Latinos/Hispanics
Indians
Meds (including Middle Easterners)
Slavs
Arabs
British Islanders
Germans
Aframs
Scandinavians

[Maroon King]

@Unome

Latino/Hispanic is only an ethnic group on the US EEO and Census forms. It's a paper ethnicity and a false one at that.

[Debian]

Han Chinese followed by south asian ethnicities may top it.

[annihilus]

Japanese in top10 I think.

[evon]

Han Chinese
Brazilian
Bengali
Japanese

ect..

[Malcolm Z]

A list I made using mainly wikipedia. I didn't separate New Worlders along ethnic lines. I'll try to make another list later separating them. For example, some Native American groups clearly don't consider themselves Americans, Brazilians or Mexicans, regardless of the race debate.

1. Han Chinese (1,310,158,851)
2. Americans (314,000,000)
3. Bengali (300,000,000)
4. Brazilians (192,853,373)
5. Mexicans (142,000,000)
6. Russian (131,754,393 - only counted Russians living in former URSS, not those in American or European diaspora)
7. Japanese (127,000,000)
8. Punjabi/Panjabi (120,000,000)
9. Bihari (105,000,000)
10. Filipinos (103,000,000)

Honorary mention to Ethiopians, the largest SSA group (13th place, 79,221,000), Egyptians the largest North African group (11th place, 88,000,000). If you count Arab people as one, then they're 300 million, tied in 3rd place with the Bengalis. There are lot of people who are Arab culturally in this 300 million count, like the population of the Maghreb, Egypt and Sudan.

---------- Post added 2011-08-23 at 18:20 ----------

Separating the New World countries along ethnic/racial lines:

1. Han Chinese (1,310,158,851)
2. Bengali (300,000,000)
3. White Americans (227,336,000)
4. Russians (131,754,393)
5. Japanese (127,000,000)
6. Punjabi/Panjabi (120,000,000)
7. Bihari (105,000,000)
8. Mestizo Mexicans (108,299,309)
9. Filipinos (103,000,000)
10. White Brazilians (92,052,861)
11. Egyptians (88,000,000)
12. Javanese (86,012,000)
13. Pardo Brazilians (83,182,065)
14. Koreans (81,000,000)
15. Ethiopians (79,221,000)

Again, if all Arab people are counted as one, then they are tied in 2nd place (300 million, counting people in Sudan, Argelia, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, etc).

I used the same proportion there's for the population at the home country for the diaspora, in the case of New World Countries. This may be misleading.

[EclectYummination]

Ethiopians really outnumber Nigerians?

What about Bantus? (since you did this for Arabs)

[Maroon King]

Ethiopians really outnumber Nigerians?

What about Bantus? (since you did this for Arabs)

that can't be because it is well known that Nigeria has the most Black people in the world.

[amerinese]

Population, Nigeria

www.google.com/publicdata
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators
154,728,890 - 2009

---------- Post added 2011-08-25 at 09:51 ----------

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html

Population:

155,215,573 (July 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8

---------- Post added 2011-08-25 at 09:51 ----------

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups; the following are the most populous and politically influential: Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%

[Malcolm Z]

Ethiopians really outnumber Nigerians?

What about Bantus? (since you did this for Arabs)

As Amerinese said, Nigerians are composed of several different ethnic groups that lots of times don't even share the same language. That's why I put them separately. It's difficult to measure populations in West, Central and South Africa, because ethnic census aren't done there (the same with India, lots of those numbers are estimations). Wikipedia says that Yoruba are 30-50 million, Hausa are 30-35 million, and Mandé are 27 million. There's no number for Fula, but they are significant.

Wikipedia says that Bantu are 335 million. This would make them the second most numerous group, surpassing Bengalis. But one could question a lot about considering Bantu an ethnicity. A macro-ethnicity maybe, but considering how many conflicts, traditions and different languages there are, it's difficult to consider them unified.

[Ubirajara]

For world historical and predicted populations:

http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/showthread.php?t=5098&page=4

[Saif ad-Dhib]

India is home to many different ethnic groups and within ethnic groups that have differing religions, they will segregate even further. Then other factors like caste, income, etc. will further divide the country in partitions.

[Lol_Race]

As Amerinese said, Nigerians are composed of several different ethnic groups that lots of times don't even share the same language. That's why I put them separately.
What about Ethiopians?

[Doctoris Scientia]

As Amerinese said, Nigerians are composed of several different ethnic groups that lots of times don't even share the same language. That's why I put them separately. It's difficult to measure populations in West, Central and South Africa, because ethnic census aren't done there (the same with India, lots of those numbers are estimations). Wikipedia says that Yoruba are 30-50 million, Hausa are 30-35 million, and Mandé are 27 million. There's no number for Fula, but they are significant.

Wikipedia says that Bantu are 335 million. This would make them the second most numerous group, surpassing Bengalis. But one could question a lot about considering Bantu an ethnicity. A macro-ethnicity maybe, but considering how many conflicts, traditions and different languages there are, it's difficult to consider them unified.

And Ethiopia? Divided into 70 some different ethnic groups, the two largest being the Oromo and Amhara.

[Malcolm Z]

And Ethiopia? Divided into 70 some different ethnic groups, the two largest being the Oromo and Amhara.

Yes, I noticed that later. Now I'm trying to do a count of African ethnicities correctly. It's going to take a while. Today I just finished Eastern Africa, biggest group are the Oromo (30 million) so far. Some countries are irritating, like Zambia, that have so many ethnicities and no census breakdown. I just had to assume everyone African there was Bantu.

[EclectYummination]

Population, Nigeria

www.google.com/publicdata
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators
154,728,890 - 2009

---------- Post added 2011-08-25 at 09:51 ----------

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html

Population:

155,215,573 (July 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8

---------- Post added 2011-08-25 at 09:51 ----------

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups; the following are the most populous and politically influential: Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%

Thanks for informing that they (Nigerians) would be number 8.


As Amerinese said, Nigerians are composed of several different ethnic groups that lots of times don't even share the same language. That's why I put them separately.

Why I asked is because you mentioned Ethios and Egyptians as being at 13th and 11th places respectively, as well as a plethora of other world Nations, not as ethnies but Nations. And I'm like, I recall Egypt and Nigeria being both up there, but was pretty sure Ethiopia was certainly not past them. Not that I'm aware of various Nations' numbers or anything, (I'm only aware of the U.S.'s and A.R. Egypt's at the moment for instance), but I remembered the order.


It's difficult to measure populations in West, Central and South Africa, because ethnic census aren't done there (the same with India, lots of those numbers are estimations).

Informative.


Wikipedia says that Yoruba are 30-50 million, Hausa are 30-35 million, and Mandé are 27 million. There's no number for Fula, but they are significant.

The Fula are certainly many.


Wikipedia says that Bantu are 335 million. This would make them the second most numerous group, surpassing Bengalis. But one could question a lot about considering Bantu an ethnicity. ..

I wasn't really considering them as such - and am aware that's it's really a language phylum among whose speakers exist some cultural commonalities.

And it's the same exact thing with your Arabs. That it could be questioned, that is, especially considering the group of places you listed together all as one group (who would be third with Bengalis After Bantus). A lot of the lighter skinned folk called Arab don't even really fully see themselves as Arab (some Berbers, Iranians, Syrians, even Iraqis, and others). Counting all of Sudan as Arab is ludicrous and rediculous when you consider that they make up like maybe 15% of North Sudanese or something. And then theirs there phenotype :D. Compare with Iraq, Tuareg, Berbers, Yemen, Saudis, Syria, etc). Aren't even Kurds considered Arab? Now, discounting North Africa and focusing on the Middle East: you mention fights? Aren't there different sects of Middle Easterner Muslams fighting all the time?

[Ubirajara]

How are relations between the various Nigerian ethnic groups?

[Humata]

A lot of the lighter skinned folk called Arab don't even really fully see themselves as Arab (some Berbers, Iranians, Syrians, even Iraqis, and others).


Arab World map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_world). You'll notice Iran and Turkey aren't included because they (shockingly) are not Arabic-speaking people.

Iraqi's and Egyptians are examples of people who are partially Arabized. As such, a large number consider themselves "Mesopotamian", "native Egyptian" and other identities that pre-date Arabization.



Counting all of Sudan as Arab is ludicrous and rediculous when you consider that they make up like maybe 15% of North Sudanese or something.


"Arab" is strictly a culturo-linguistic term.

Given the vast expanse of land and peoples the language is a mothertongue to, an Arab is traditionally seen as a person who speaks the language and comes from a nation with a pronounced Arabic culture.



Aren't even Kurds considered Arab?


As they don't speak Arabic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_language), Kurds are not Arab.



Now, discounting North Africa and focusing on the Middle East: you mention fights? Aren't there different sects of Middle Easterner Muslams fighting all the time?

In short... The Muslim Shi'a-Sunni-Christian animosity is still alive in Lebanon (was once a civil war), dissatisfaction simmers between Bahrain's Shi'a majority and the ruling Sunni's, there is a cultural struggle revolved around faith in Turkey, Kurds are actively fighting suppression in Syria and Iran, Turkey's fighting against the PKK (Kurds), nobody likes Israel still, Palestinians are split, Iran's progressive majority fighting repression against a hypocritical Islamic theocracy, Iraq is an ethnic and religious free-for-all and Syria's in a state of political chaos.

The fighting's more to do with differences and the aftermath of Imperial rule than "Islam" itself.

[EclectYummination]

Cool story bro.

Anyway, related thread:

World economic changes through to 2050 (http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/showthread.php?p=462743#post462743)

---------- Post added 2011-08-25 at 20:27 ----------

Oh, wait, although really contradicting nothing I implied your post did contain something I genuinely did not know.


As they don't speak Arabic, Kurds are not Arab.

Thanks.

[Scuba]

I think Han Chinese

hi there :)

actually there's no such thing "Han" race or ethnicity.
"Han" in "Han Chinese" refers to ancient state in Central Plain of China 2000 years ago.

[juan1193]

A list I made using mainly wikipedia. I didn't separate New Worlders along ethnic lines. I'll try to make another list later separating them. For example, some Native American groups clearly don't consider themselves Americans, Brazilians or Mexicans, regardless of the race debate.

1. Han Chinese (1,310,158,851)
2. Americans (314,000,000)
3. Bengali (300,000,000)
4. Brazilians (192,853,373)
5. Mexicans (142,000,000)
6. Russian (131,754,393 - only counted Russians living in former URSS, not those in American or European diaspora)
7. Japanese (127,000,000)
8. Punjabi/Panjabi (120,000,000)
9. Bihari (105,000,000)
10. Filipinos (103,000,000)

Honorary mention to Ethiopians, the largest SSA group (13th place, 79,221,000), Egyptians the largest North African group (11th place, 88,000,000). If you count Arab people as one, then they're 300 million, tied in 3rd place with the Bengalis. There are lot of people who are Arab culturally in this 300 million count, like the population of the Maghreb, Egypt and Sudan.

---------- Post added 2011-08-23 at 18:20 ----------

Separating the New World countries along ethnic/racial lines:

1. Han Chinese (1,310,158,851)
2. Bengali (300,000,000)
3. White Americans (227,336,000)
4. Russians (131,754,393)
5. Japanese (127,000,000)
6. Punjabi/Panjabi (120,000,000)
7. Bihari (105,000,000)
8. Mestizo Mexicans (108,299,309)
9. Filipinos (103,000,000)
10. White Brazilians (92,052,861)
11. Egyptians (88,000,000)
12. Javanese (86,012,000)
13. Pardo Brazilians (83,182,065)
14. Koreans (81,000,000)
15. Ethiopians (79,221,000)

Again, if all Arab people are counted as one, then they are tied in 2nd place (300 million, counting people in Sudan, Argelia, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, etc).

I used the same proportion there's for the population at the home country for the diaspora, in the case of New World Countries. This may be misleading.

That seems fairly accurate to me. Are Mexican Americans counted with Mexicans or with Americans or both?

[Irene]

Latino/Hispanic

latino is not an ethnic or national group, latino is like saying european!!

[gawasah]

Yes, I noticed that later. Now I'm trying to do a count of African ethnicities correctly. It's going to take a while. Today I just finished Eastern Africa, biggest group are the Oromo (30 million) so far. Some countries are irritating, like Zambia, that have so many ethnicities and no census breakdown. I just had to assume everyone African there was Bantu.

So, what are the results uve been able to come up with?? :/

[amerinese]

That seems fairly accurate to me. Are Mexican Americans counted with Mexicans or with Americans or both?

Probably neither from looking at the white Americans number, so that would bump Mestizo Mexicans up there with Russians and Japanese.

[Jaska]

There are many different levels, but we should choose which one to compare:
macro-groups: Arabian, Bantu, Latin American
nations: Egypt, Ethiopia, China
true ethnic groups: Egyptians, Han Chinese, Amhara Ethiopians

Here is a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_by_population

1. Han Chinese
2. Bengalis
3. Germans
4. Russians
5. Italians
6. Punjabi
7. Yamato
8. French
9. Telugu
10. English

[geomattica]

What's interesting is that some people I've talked to from China, feel there is no such thing as "Han Chinese". I think I understand why though:

As China became communist it too like the Soviet Union moved people around so much that their localized-regional ethnic identities became erased. While it seems that in Russia, there is a move to reclaim lost ancestral traditions and identities, the Chinese Communist government has apparently done a pretty darn good job of obliterating many ethnic identities and homogenizing everyone. The one lady I talked said, the concept really doesn't exist among many young people anymore. The wikipedia article on Han Chinese seems to suggest this is true in the section entitle "Han as a fluid concept". Even the government's move to recognize only five ethnicities seems to affirm this.

I did however meet one guy from Manchuria who identified himself as Manchurian first and Chinese second. That was some years ago though.

I wonder if China ceasing to be "communist" (such as it is) would make a difference at this point in time, regarding the desire of some of its people to regain those lost localized ethnic identities?

Real shocker from the wiki list was Italians: had no idea 5th largest as numbers in US are relatively small and Italy's population is on the decrease. Of course Latin American Italians are a different story. That's probably the real factor contributing to the large numbers I believe.

[Freewheel]

There are many different levels, but we should choose which one to compare:
macro-groups: Arabian, Bantu, Latin American
nations: Egypt, Ethiopia, China
true ethnic groups: Egyptians, Han Chinese, Amhara Ethiopians

Here is a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_by_population

1. Han Chinese
2. Bengalis
3. Germans
4. Russians
5. Italians
6. Punjabi
7. Yamato
8. French
9. Telugu
10. English

:confused::confused:

Sorry, I cant take that wikipedia's story seriously .90 million English vs 150 million number for German people, 145 millions Italians... Number for English people is less than the number of English speaking people of the UK, Canada, and Australia, let alone the USA.

[geomattica]

:confused::confused:

Sorry, I cant take that wikipedia's story seriously .90 million English vs 150 million number for German people, 145 millions Italians... Number for English people is less than the number of English speaking people of the UK, Canada, and Australia, let alone the USA.


Well it could be possible considering that not every English speaker claims ethnic English identity (I don't). English speaking countries attract a lot of non-ethinic English people from poorer regions of the world to migrate since they prospered over the last 100 years or so. In the US, ethnic English numbers are relatively low since its the trend of your average white ethnic household in the States to have lower birth rates. English were also relatively low in the US compared to German, and Irish as shown from the last census.

Being Catholic vs. non-Catholic is also a factor as traditionally Catholic families have more children. English are Protestant normally and have different views regarding number of children due partly to this. Another factor is overtime they became wealthier and yes there's a correlation between wealth and lower birth rates normally in the western industrialized world among the white ethnicities.

I'm not surprised English scored so low to be honest out of the top 10. Honestly, I'm surprised they even made it to the top 10.

Italian was more the shocker since birth rates among European and Italian American (US) households have become lower and lower from each generation. However, deeply Catholic and poorer Latin America with its many Italians has got to be the factor as to why ethnic Italian numbers are so relatively high world wide.