Hazāra (Persian: هزاره) are a Persian-speaking people who mainly live in central Afghanistan and in Pakistan. They are mostly Shiite Muslims and comprise the third largest ethnic group of Afghanistan, forming about 18% (according to other sources up to 25%) of the total population. Over half a million Hazaras live in neighboring Pakistan, native to the region of Quetta and also some Hazaras live in Iran mostly as refugees.
|c. 7–8 million|
|Regions with significant populations|
|Pakistan||900,000. Some ~ 40,000 Afghan citizens of Hazara descent in Pakistan (2005)|
|Dari (Hazaragi) (eastern varieties of Persian)|
|Shia Islam (Twelver and Ismaili), with Sunni minorities (see Aimaq Hazara)|
|Related ethnic groups|
|Aimaqs, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmens|
- James B. Minahan (10 Feb 2014). Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-61069-018-8.
Due to a lack of census statistics, estimates of the total Hazara population range from five million to more than eight million.
- "Afghanistan". cia.gov. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
- Census of Afghans in Pakistan 2005, UNHCR Statistical Summary Report (retrieved August 14, 2016)
- Yusuf, Imran (5 October 2011). "Who are the Hazara?". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- Smyth, Phillip (3 June 2014). "Iran's Afghan Shiite Fighters in Syria". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- "Austria holds refugee talks as young Hazaras flee persecution to make 'dangerous' journey to Europe – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2017-08-19.
- Nowell, Laurie (2014-07-16). "The Hazaras of Dandenong". The Age. Retrieved 2017-08-19.
- The population of people with descent from Afghanistan in Canada is 48,090. Hazara make up an estimated 20% of the population of Afghanistan depending to the source. The Hazara population in Canada is estimated from these two figures. Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada
- Afghan Hazaras' new life in Indonesia: Asylum-seeker community in West Java is large enough to easily man an eight-team Afghan football league, Al Jazeera, 21 March 2014, retrieved 5 August 2016
- L. Dupree, "Afghānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy", in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition 2006, (LINK).
- CIA World Factbook.
- "A survey of the Afghan people - Afghanistan in 2006", The Asia Foundation, technical assistance by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS; India) and Afghan Center for Socio-economic and Opinion Research (ACSOR), Kabul, 2006, PDF Archived 2006-12-15 at the Wayback Machine.
- Kamal Hyder reports (12 Nov 2011). "Hazara community finds safe haven in Peshawar". Aljazeer English. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- "Ethnic Groups of Afghanistan". Library of Congress Country Studies on Afghanistan. 1997. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
In 1996, approximately 40 percent of Afghans were Pashtun, 11.4 of whom are of the Durrani tribal group and 13.8 percent of the Ghilzai group. Tajiks make up the second largest ethnic group with 25.3 percent of the population, followed by Hazaras, 9-18 percent; Uzbeks, 6.3 percent; Turkmen, 2.5 percent; Qizilbash, 1.0; 6.9 percent other.