Armenians
Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, romanized: hayer, [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Armenian highlands of West Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of the Republic of Armenia and constituted the main population of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh until the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. There is a wide-ranging diaspora of around five million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil, Argentina, Syria, and Turkey. The present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian genocide with the exceptions of Iran, former Soviet states, and parts of the Levant.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 8 million to 11–16 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Armenia 2,961,514 | |
| Russia | 1,182,388–2,900,000 |
| United States | 1,000,366–1,500,000 |
| France | 250,000–750,000 |
| Georgia | 168,191 |
| ∟ Abkhazia | 41,864 |
| Azerbaijan | 50-1,000 |
| Lebanon | 150,000 |
| Iran | 120,000 |
| Germany | 90,000–110,000 |
| Ukraine | 100,000 (2001) |
| Brazil | 100,000 |
| Greece | 80,000 |
| Argentina | 70,000 |
| Turkey | 60,000 300,000–5,000,000 (Hidden Armenians) |
| Canada | 68,855 |
| Uzbekistan | 50,000–70,000 |
| Poland | 40,000–80,000 |
| Belgium | 40,000 |
| Spain | 40,000 |
| Bulgaria | 30,000 |
| Syria | 25,000–30,000 |
| Kazakhstan | 25,000 |
| Australia | 22,526 |
| United Kingdom | 18,000–20,000 |
| United Arab Emirates | 8,000–10,000 |
| Netherlands | 5,689[n]–8,374[m] (2021) |
| Israel and Palestine | 2,000–10,000 |
| Languages | |
| Armenian, Armenian Sign | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity Armenian Apostolic Church · Catholic · Protestant Armenian Native Faith | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Hemshin, Hayhurum, Lom | |
^ n: by legal nationality ^ m: by nationality, naturalisation and descendant background | |
Armenian is an Indo-European language. It has two mutually intelligible spoken and written forms: Eastern Armenian, today spoken mainly in Armenia, Artsakh, Iran, and the former Soviet republics; and Western Armenian, used in the historical Western Armenia and, after the Armenian genocide, primarily in the Armenian diasporan communities. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots.
Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian Christian church, which is also the world's oldest national church. Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus' death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew. In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion, followed by the first pilgrimages to the Holy Land where a community established the Armenian Quarter of Old Jerusalem.