Society

NUMBER OF AZERBAIJANIS LIVING OUTSIDE AZERBAIJAN

Among the approximately 50 millions of Azerbaijanis 10 million are living abroad and constitute the Azerbaijan diaspora. Political, economic and social-cultural activities of our nationals living in 5 continents around the world differ like the countries they are living in. The urgency of the Azerbaijan diaspora topic keeps the problem of Azerbaijanis geographic spread clarification and estimation of our nationals number highly relevant.

In this aspect, the absence of exact statistic data arises from the objective conditions. In the beginning of XX century, Azerbaijanis migrating to neighbouring Russia were registered as "Tatars" while those migrating to Turkey were registered as "Azerbaijani Turks". Our nationals living in South Azerbaijan were recognized as "Iran taabe".

This situation led to the recognition of Azerbaijanis living abroad as a part of the Russian, Turkish and Persian diasporas. In these conditions, our nationals in diasporas of foreign nations were facing the danger of assimilation.

In spite of these notable problems and difficulties Azerbaijanis, always preserving their ethnic self-consciousness, tried not to lose links with their historical homeland. Presently, our diaspora in different countries of the world follows these principles. The number of Azerbaijanis in North, Central and South parts of the American continent has particularly increased. Their number approximates 800000-1000000 in the United States, 12000 in Argentina, 75000 in Brazil, 170000 in Canada and 27000 in Mexico. Our nationals are living also in other states of the American continent such as Honduras, Guatemala, Peru and other countries. However, accurate information about their number in these countries is still missing.

The majority of Azerbaijanis living in the American continent are immigrants from Iran. Content and social-economic activity of this diaspora have been influenced by our nationals from Turkey since 1970 and immigrants from Azerbaijan since 1991.

The second continent in terms of the Azerbaijan diaspora geographic spread and content in Europe. Lately, according to statistic data the number of Azerbaijanis estimates at millions in Turkey and Russia, hundreds of thousands in Ukraine, Belarus, Germany and Great Britain, tens of thousands in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, France and Italy and more than ten thousand in Poland, Spain, Austria, Albania, Finland and Portugal. The number of Azerbaijani immigrants in other West states varies between 2 and 10 tens per country.

The majority of our nationals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Germany are those emigrated from Turkey. In the meantime, the majority of our nationals in Great Britain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Estonia, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and France come from North Azerbaijan.

The third-largest part of the Azerbaijan diaspora is located in the Asian continent. Its number amounts in millions in Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan and Middle Asia republics, tens of thousands in Indonesia, Arab Republic of Yemen, Democratic Republic of Yemen, China, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Syria and approximates one million in Iraq.

The number of naturalized Azerbaijanis in Africa continent amounts in hundreds of thousands in Egypt and Algeria and ten thousand in Sudan. Lately, the presence of Azerbaijani immigrants has registered also in the South African Republic and Zaire. There is also information about approximately ten thousands of Azerbaijanis living in the Australian continent.

The number of Azerbaijanis living in various world countries is shown in the table below (based on rough estimations):