 Balkar shepherd wearing a traditional Caucasian chokha | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 135,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Russia
| 125,044 120,898[1] |
 Kazakhstan | 1,798 (2009) |
| Languages | |
| Karachay-Balkar (Balkar dialect), Kabardian, Russian | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Karachays, Kumyks, North Caucasian peoples | |
Balkars (Karachay-Balkar: Малкъарлыла, romanized: Malqarlıla or Таулула, romanized: Tawlula, lit. 'Mountaineers')[2] are a Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Caspian subgroup of the Northwestern (Kipchak) group of Turkic languages.
- ^ "Russian Census of 2021". (in Russian)
- ^ Peter B. Golden (2010). Turks and Khazars: Origins, Institutions, and Interactions in Pre-Mongol Eurasia. p. 33.