Kurds

Kurds
کورد, Kurd
	Flag of Kurdistan
Total population
	30–35 million; (Washington Kurdish Institute, 2024 estimate)30–40 million; (The World Factbook, 2015 estimate)36.4–45.6 million; (Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate)
Regions with significant populations
Turkey	est. 14.3–20 million
Iran	est. 8.2–12 million
Iraq	est. 5.6–8.5 million
Syria	est. 1.5–3.6 million
Germany	1.2–1.5 million
Azerbaijan	150,000–180,000
France	150,000
Sweden	100,000+
Netherlands	100,000
Russia	63,818
Belgium	50,000
United Kingdom	49,841
Kazakhstan	47,938
Armenia	37,470
Switzerland	35,000
Denmark	30,000
Jordan	30,000
Austria	23,000
Greece	22,000
United States	20,591–40,000
Canada	16,315
Finland	15,850
Georgia	13,861
Kyrgyzstan	13,200
Australia	10,171
Indonesia	4,800
Languages
	Majority:; Kurdish; (Kurmanji; Sorani; Southern Kurdish; Laki); ; Minority:; Zaza; Gorani; Shabaki; ; Second languages:; Turkish; Persian; Arabic; Others; ;
Religion
	Predominantly:; Islam; (Sunni; Shia); ; Significant minority:; Yazidism; Yarsanism; Zoroastrianism; Alevism; Christianity; Judaism; ;
Related ethnic groups
	Other Iranic peoples

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Kurds (Kurdish: کورد, romanized: Kurd), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria. Consisting of 30–45 million people, the global Kurdish population is largely concentrated in Kurdistan, but significant communities of the Kurdish diaspora exist in parts of West Asia beyond Kurdistan and in parts of Europe, most notably including: Turkey's Central Anatolian Kurds (these spread through Eastern Anatolia in 1923 following the Armenian genocide in what was then Western Armenia), as well as Istanbul Kurds; Iran's Khorasani Kurds; the Caucasian Kurds, primarily in Azerbaijan and Armenia; and the Kurdish populations in various European countries, namely Germany, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

The Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, both of which belong to the Western Iranic branch of the Iranic language family, are the native languages of the Kurdish people. Other widely spoken languages among the community are those of their host countries or neighbouring regions, such as Turkish, Persian, or Arabic. The most prevalent religion among Kurds is Sunni Islam, with Shia Islam and Alevism being significant Islamic minorities. Yazidism, which is the ethnic religion of the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi people, is the largest non-Islamic minority religion among the broader Kurdish community, followed by Yarsanism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity.

Although they exercise autonomy in Iraq, the Kurds are a stateless nation. The prospect of Kurdish independence, which is rooted in early Kurdish nationalism, has been the source of much ethnic and political tension in West Asia since the 19th century. In the aftermath of World War I and the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western Allies made territorial provisions for the establishment of a Kurdish state, as outlined in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, but it was never ratified after being signed. Three years later, when the Treaty of Lausanne set the boundaries of the Turkish state, the Western Allies ceased their push for Kurdish statehood in the face of certain agreements and guarantees—chiefly Turkey's relinquishing of territorial claims over formerly Ottoman-ruled Arab lands in exchange for the Allies' recognition of Turkish sovereignty over all of Anatolia. As such, since the 20th century, the history of the Kurds has largely been marked by struggles for independence, predominantly in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, and to a lesser extent in the Iranian–Kurdish conflict and the comparatively recent Syrian–Kurdish conflict.