 A Wakhi girl photographed near the village of Zood Khun in the Chapursan Valley of Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 100,000–120,000[1][2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Pakistan | 64,000 (2018)[citation needed] |
 Afghanistan | 21,000 (2018)[citation needed] |
 Tajikistan | 20,000 (2018)[citation needed] |
 China | 14,000 (2018)[citation needed] |
| Languages | |
| Wakhi | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Islam (Isma'ili Shia) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Iranian peoples Especially Ossetians and Yaghnobis | |
The Wakhi people (Wakhi: ښیک مردمِش, Shughni: Waxiēn, Persian: مردمان وخی; Russian: Ваханцы; Chinese: 瓦汗 or 瓦罕), also locally referred to as the Wokhik (وخیک),[3] are an Iranian ethnic group native to Central and South Asia. They are found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and China—primarily situated in and around Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, the northernmost part of Pakistan's Gilgit−Baltistan and Chitral, Tajikistan's Gorno−Badakhshan Autonomous Region and the southwestern areas of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.[4] The Wakhi people are native speakers of the Wakhi language, an Eastern Iranian language.
- ^ "Iranian languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
- ^ "Wakhi". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
- ^ Kreutzmann, Hermann (3 September 2003). "Ethnic minorities and marginality in the Pamirian Knot: survival of Wakhi and Kirghiz in a harsh environment and global contexts". The Geographical Journal. 169 (3). Blackwell Publishing: 215–235. doi:10.1111/1475-4959.00086.
- ^ "Wakhi". Endangered Language Alliance. Retrieved 14 July 2018.