Balochi people
Sardar Ibrahim khan Sanjrani Iranian Baloch Khans in Qajar era, c. 1884
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Approx. 10 million (2017)) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Pakistan
|
7,211,241 (2016) |
 Iran
|
2,000,000 (2013) |
 UAE
|
468,000 (2014) |
 Oman
|
312,000 (1993) |
 Turkmenistan
|
30,000 |
 Saudi Arabia
|
16,000 |
| Languages | |
|
Balochi Urdu, Pashto (in Afghanistan and Balochistan), Brahui, Arabic. |
|
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Pashtuns | |
The Baloch or Baluch (Balochi: بلوچ) are a people who live mainly in the Balochistan region of the southeastern-most edge of the Iranian plateau in Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, as well as in the Arabian Peninsula.
They mainly speak the Balochi language, a branch of Northwestern Iranian languages, and are an Iranic people. About 50% of the total Baloch population live in Balochistan, a western province of Pakistan; 40% of Baloch are settled in Sindh; and a significant number of Baloch people in Punjab of Pakistan. They make up nearly 3.6% of the Pakistani population, about 2% of Iran's population (1.5 million) and about 2% of Afghanistan's population.
Baloch people co-inhabit desert and mountainous regions with Pashtuns, Baloch people practice Islam, are predominantly Sunni, and use Urdu as a lingua-franca to communicate with other ethnic groups, such as Pashtuns and Sindhis, similar to the rest of Pakistan.
Prominent Baloch people in Pakistan includes Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and President Asif Ali Zardari who is an ethnic Baloch from Sindh. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry born in Quetta, is the longest-serving Chief Justice of Pakistan is another prominent Baloch personality.
...
Wikipedia