Punjabis

This article is about an ethnic group. For their language, see Punjabi language. For the geographical Punjabi region, see Punjab. For other uses, see Punjabi (disambiguation).

Punjabis
  • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
  • پنجابی
Total population
c. 150 million[1][2][3][4]
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan112,806,516 (2024)[a][6][7][8]
 India38,046,464 (2024)[b][3][c][10]
 Canada942,170 (2021)[11][d]
 United Kingdom700,000 (2006)[12]
 United States253,740[13]
 Australia132,496 (2017)[14]
 Malaysia56,400 (2019)[15]
 Philippines50,000 (2016)[16]
 New Zealand34,227 (2018)[17]
 Norway24,000 (2013)[18]
 Bangladesh23,700 (2019)[19]
 Germany18,000 (2020)[20]
   Nepal10,000 (2011)[21]
OthersSee Punjabi diaspora
Languages
L1: Punjabi and its dialects
L2: Urdu (in Pakistan) and Hindi and other Indian languages (in India)
Religion
Majority
Islam
Minority
Sikhism • Hinduism (incl. Nanakpanthis) • Christianity • Ravidassia[22]

Pakistani Punjab:
Majority
Islam (97%)
Minority
Christianity (2%) • Hinduism (0.2%) • Sikhism

Indian Punjab:
Majority
Sikhism (57.7%)
Minority
Hinduism (38.5%) • Islam (1.9%) • Christianity (1.3%)[23][24][25]
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-Aryan peoples
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Culture
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Punjab portal

The Punjabis (Punjabi: پنجابی (Shahmukhi); ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Gurmukhi); romanised as Panjābī)[26][27] are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group[28] associated with the Punjab region, comprising areas of northwestern India and eastern Pakistan.[29] They generally speak Standard Punjabi or various Punjabi dialects on both sides.[30]

Majority of the overall Punjabi population adheres to Islam with significant minorities practicing Sikhism and Hinduism and smaller minorities practicing Christianity. However, the religious demographics significantly vary when viewed from Pakistani and Indian sides, respectively, with over 95 percent of the Punjabi population from Pakistan being Muslim, with a small minority of Christians and Hindus and an even smaller minority of Sikhs. Over 57 percent of the population of the Indian state of Punjab is Sikh and over 38 percent Hindu with a small minority of Muslims and Christians.[23][24][31]

The ethnonym is derived from the term Punjab (Five rivers) in Persian to describe the geographic region of the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, where five rivers Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej merge into the Indus River,[32][33][34] in addition of the now-vanished Ghaggar.[35]

The coalescence of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab region into a broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of the 18th century CE.[36][37][38] Historically, the Punjabi people were a heterogeneous group and were subdivided into a number of clans called biradari (literally meaning "brotherhood") or tribes, with each person bound to a clan. With the passage of time, tribal structures became replaced with a more cohesive and holistic society, as community building and group cohesiveness form the new pillars of Punjabi society.[38][39]

Traditionally, the Punjabi identity is primarily linguistic, geographical and cultural. Its identity is independent of historical origin or religion and refers to those who reside in the Punjab region or associate with its population and those who consider the Punjabi language their mother tongue.[40] Integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections.[41] While Punjabis share a common territory, ethnicity and language, they are likely to be followers of one of several religions, most often Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism or Christianity.[42]

  1. ^ "Punjabi - Worldwide distribution".
  2. ^ Punjabis at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018) Closed access icon
  3. ^ a b "Abstract Of Speakers' Strength Of Languages And Mother Tongues - 2011" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Pakistan Census 2017" (PDF). www.pbs.pk. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  5. ^ "South Asia :: Pakistan — The World Fact book - Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  6. ^ "Ethnic Groups in Pakistan". Worldatlas.com. 30 July 2019. Punjabi people are the ethnic majority in the Punjab region of Pakistan and Northern India accounting for 44.7% of the population in Pakistan.
  7. ^ "Pakistan Census 2017" (PDF). www.pbs.pk. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Punjabi - Worldwide distribution".
  9. ^ "South Asia :: India — The World Fact book - Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  10. ^ "Punjabi - Worldwide distribution". Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  11. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (17 August 2022). "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Canada [Country]". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  12. ^ McDonnell, John (5 December 2006). "Punjabi Community". House of Commons. Retrieved 3 August 2016. We now estimate the Punjabi community at about 700,000, with Punjabi established as the second language certainly in London and possibly within the United Kingdom.
  13. ^ "US Census Bureau American Community Survey (2009-2013) See Row #62". 2.census.gov.
  14. ^ "Top ten languages spoken at home in Australia". Archived from the original on 9 July 2017.
  15. ^ "Malaysia". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Punjabi community involved in money lending in Philippines braces for 'crackdown' by new President". 18 May 2016.
  17. ^ "New Zealand". Stats New Zealand. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  18. ^ Strazny, Philipp (1 February 2013). Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-45522-4 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ "Bangladesh". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  20. ^ "Deutsche Informationszentrum für Sikhreligion, Sikhgeschichte, Kultur und Wissenschaft (DISR)". remid.de. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  21. ^ "National Population and Housing Census 2011" (PDF). Unstats.unorg. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  22. ^ Jacobsen, Knut A.; Myrvold, Kristina (2011). Sikhs in Europe: Migration, Identities and Representations. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4094-2434-5. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  23. ^ a b "C-1 Population By Religious Community - 2011". Archived from the original (XLS) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  24. ^ a b Wade Davis; K. David Harrison; Catherine Herbert Howell (2007). Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures. National Geographic. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-1-4262-0238-4.
  25. ^ "Punjabis". Encyclopaedia.
  26. ^ Minahan, James (2012). Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 257–259. ISBN 978-1-59884-659-1.
  27. ^ Temple, Richard Carnac (20 August 2017). A Dissertation on the Proper Names of Panjabis: With Special Reference to the Proper Names of Villagers in the Eastern Panjab. Creative Media Partners, LLC. ISBN 978-1-375-66993-1.
  28. ^ Goh, Daniel P. S.; Gabrielpillai, Matilda; Holden, Philip; Khoo, Gaik Cheng (12 June 2009). Race and Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Singapore. Routledge. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-134-01649-5.
  29. ^ Minahan, James (2012). Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-659-1.
  30. ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. 2010. pp. 522–523. ISBN 978-0-08-087775-4.
  31. ^ "Punjabis". Encyclopaedia.
  32. ^ Nayar, Kamala Elizabeth (2012). The Punjabis in British Columbia: Location, Labour, First Nations, and Multiculturalism. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0-7735-4070-5.
  33. ^ Gandhi, Rajmohan (2013). Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. New Delhi, India, Urbana, Illinois: Aleph Book Company. ISBN 978-93-83064-41-0.
  34. ^ Canfield, Robert L. (1991). Persia in Historical Perspective. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 1 ("Origins"). ISBN 978-0-521-52291-5.
  35. ^ West, Barbara A. (19 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-1913-7.
  36. ^ Malhotra, Anshu; Mir, Farina (2012). Punjab reconsidered : history, culture, and practice. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-807801-2. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  37. ^ Ayers, Alyssa (2008). "Language, the Nation, and Symbolic Capital: The Case of Punjab" (PDF). Journal of Asian Studies. 67 (3): 917–46. doi:10.1017/s0021911808001204. ISSN 0021-9118. S2CID 56127067.
  38. ^ a b Singh, Pritam; Thandi, Shinder S. (1996). Globalisation and the region : explorations in Punjabi identity. Coventry, United Kingdom: Association for Punjab Studies (UK). ISBN 978-1-874699-05-7.
  39. ^ Mukherjee, Protap; Lopamudra Ray Saraswati (20 January 2011). "Levels and Patterns of Social Cohesion and Its Relationship with Development in India: A Woman's Perspective Approach" (PDF). Ph.D. Scholars, Centre for the Study of Regional Development School of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi – 110 067, India.
  40. ^ Singh, Pritam; Thandi, Shinder S. (1999). Punjabi identity in a global context. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-564864-5.
  41. ^ Singh, Prtiam (2012). "Globalisation and Punjabi Identity: Resistance, Relocation and Reinvention (Yet Again!)" (PDF). Journal of Punjab Studies. 19 (2): 153–72. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  42. ^ Gupta, S.K. (1985). The Scheduled Castes in Modern Indian Politics: Their Emergence as a Political Context. New Delhi, India: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 121–122.


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