Azerbaijan, formally known as the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a transcontinental nation that sits on the border between West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is surrounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, Iran to the south, and the Russian Republic of Dagestan to the north. It is a part of the South Caucasus area. The largest capital city is Baku.
Caucasian Albania was the first kingdom to dominate over what is now Azerbaijan, followed by many Persian empires. It was a part of Qajar Iran until the 19th century, but the Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 caused the Qajar Empire to give up its Caucasian lands to the Russian Empire; the boundary between Russia and Iran was established by the Treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828. Before being annexed by Russia in the 19th century and controlled as part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty, the area north of the Aras was a part of Iran.
When the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declared its independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918—a year after the fall of the Russian Empire—becoming the first secular democratic state with a majority of Muslims, an Azerbaijani national identity began to take shape by the late 19th century.
After being overrun, the nation became the Soviet Union’s Azerbaijan SSR in 1920. Shortly before the Soviet Union broke apart the same year, on August 30, 1991, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan declared its independence.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is predominantly Armenian, was divided into the self-declared Republic of Artsakh in September 1991. After the First Nagorno-Karabakh War ended in 1994, the region and seven neighboring districts were recognized by the international community as being a part of Azerbaijan.
The seven districts and portions of Nagorno-Karabakh were restored to Azerbaijani sovereignty in 2020, following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh fled when the Republic of Artsakh was overthrown by an Azerbaijani invasion in 2023.
The Republic of Azerbaijan is unitary and semi-presidential. It is one of the six autonomous Turkic republics and a participating member of the TÜRKSOY community as well as the Organization of Turkic republics. In addition to being a member of 38 international organizations, such as the OSCE, the UN, the Council of Europe, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the NATO PfP program, Azerbaijan has diplomatic ties with 182 nations. It was a founder member of the OPCW, the CIS, and GUAM. Additionally, Azerbaijan is a WTO observer state.
Although 97% of the population is ostensibly Muslim, there is no official religion recognized by the constitution, and all of the country’s main political parties are secular. On the Human Development Index, Azerbaijan is ranked 91st, making it a developing nation.
Since taking office in 1993, the ruling New Azerbaijan Party has faced criticism for alleged authoritarianism under President Heydar Aliyev and his son Ilham Aliyev, as well as for worsening the nation’s record on human rights. This includes escalating limitations on civil liberties, particularly those related to press freedom and political repression.
Etymology
The name Atropates, a Persian satrap of the Achaemenid Empire who was later restored as the satrap of Media under Alexander the Great, is where the current derivation of the term “Azerbaijan” originates. This name’s original etymology is believed to have its roots in Zoroastrianism, which was previously quite popular.
The Avestan phrase “we worship the fravashi of the holy Atropatene” (âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide) appears in the Frawardin Yasht (“Hymn to the Guardian Angels”) of the Avesta. The word “Atropates” itself means “Protected by the (Holy) Fire” or “The Land of the (Holy) Fire” and is the Greek transcription of an Old Iranian compound name, most likely Median. Both Strabo and Diodorus Siculus mentioned the Greek name.
Through the ages, the name changed to become Āturpātākān (Middle Persian), Ādharbādhagān, Ādhorbāygān, Āzarbāydjān (New Persian), and finally, it is now known as Azerbaijan.
When the autonomous Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was founded in 1918 following the fall of the Russian Empire, the Musavat government officially chose the term Azerbaijan for the region that is now the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Up until that point, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic’s portion was known as Arran and Shirvan, whereas the term was only used to refer to the neighboring territory of modern northwest Iran. Iran objected to the newly approved national name because of this.
The name of the nation was also spelled Azerbaydzhan (Russian: Азербaйджа́н) in Latin under Soviet administration. From 1940 until 1991, the name of the nation was also written in Cyrillic character, as Азљрбајѹан.
History
Antiquity
The Guruchay culture of Azykh Cave is linked to the earliest records of human habitation in Azerbaijan, which date back to the late Stone Age.
In the ninth century BC, the Scythians were among the first people to settle there. Iranian Medes took over the region south of the Aras River after the Scythians. Between 900 and 700 BC, the Medes created a sizable empire that was eventually absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC. Zoroastrianism spread as a result of the Achaemenids’ conquest of the region.
From the Sasanid period to the Safavid period
In 252, the Sasanian Empire made Caucasian Albania a tributary state, and in the fourth century, King Urnayr formally declared Christianity to be the national religion. Although completely subservient to Sassanid Iran, Caucasian Albania maintained its monarchy and continued to exist as a separate political entity until the ninth century.
The Sasanian marzban, or military governor, possessed the majority of civil, ecclesiastical, and military authority, whereas the Albanian king, though one of the primary vassals of the Sasanian emperor, had just a pretense of authority.
With the Muslim conquest of Persia, Caucasian Albania, a subordinate state of the Sasanians, found itself nominally under Muslim administration in the early part of the 7th century. When Christian opposition headed by King Juansher was put down in 667, the Umayyad Caliphate drove both the Sasanians and the Byzantines from the South Caucasus and made Caucasian Albania a tributary state.
Many provincial dynasties, such as the Sallarids, Sajids, and Shaddadids, filled the power vacuum created by the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate. The land was progressively taken over by waves of Oghuz Turks, who migrated from Central Asia at the start of the 11th century and took on a Turkoman ethnonym at that time.
The Seljuk Empire was the first of these Turkic kingdoms to be created, and by 1067 it had spread into what is now Azerbaijan.
Many Indo-European and Caucasian languages, including Armenian and Old Azeri, an Iranian language, were spoken by the pre-Turkic population that inhabited the present-day region of Azerbaijan. Over time, this language was progressively superseded by a Turkic language that was an early form of the contemporary Azerbaijani language.
According to some linguists, the Tati dialects spoken in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan are descended from Old Azeri, much way the Tats speak them. Eldiguzids, who were nominally the sultans of the Seljuk Empire but occasionally had de facto authority over them, governed the local areas under the ensuing Seljuk Empire. Local poets like Nizami Ganjavi and Khaqani contributed to the flourishing of Persian literature in what is now Azerbaijan during the Seljuk Empire.
The Timurid Empire of Timur included the Shirvanshahs, a local Arabic dynasty that was eventually Persianized, as a vassal state and supported him in his conflict with Tokhtamysh, the leader of the Golden Horde. Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu were the two separate and antagonistic Turkoman nations that arose after Timur’s death.
The Shirvanshahs returned, retaining their high degree of autonomy as local rulers and vassals, as they had done since 861, for many decades to come. The Safavid dynasty of Iran conquered and annexed the Shirvanshahs in 1501. The Safavids, who also converted the people of what is now Iran, converted the Sunni populace throughout the course of the following century to Shia Islam.
Up until 1538, when Safavid monarch Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576) totally overthrew the Shirvanshahs and established the Safavid province of Shirvan, the Safavids permitted them to continue ruling under Safavid suzerainty over the region.
The Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590 gave the Sunni Ottomans a short opportunity to conquer modern-day Azerbaijan; but, by the early 17th century, they were driven out by Safavid Iranian monarch Abbas I (r. 1588–1629).
Following the fall of the Safavid Empire, Baku and its surroundings were temporarily under Russian occupation as a result of the Russo-Persian War (1722–1723). The Ottomans ruled over the remaining portion of modern-day Azerbaijan from 1722 until 1736.
From the earliest Safavid era until the end of the 19th century, the region that is now Azerbaijan was ruled by Iran, notwithstanding minor intermissions like these by Safavid Iran’s surrounding enemies.
Modern history
The Iranian Afsharid dynasty dominated the region following the Safavids. Many of Nader Shah’s former subjects profited from the unrest that followed his demise (1736–1747). In the region, several autonomous khanates with varying degrees of autonomy arose.
These khanates’ rulers were vassals and subjects of the Iranian shah, and they had direct links to the country’s governing dynasty. International trade routes connected Central Asia with the West, allowing the khanates to maintain authority over their affairs.
The Zand and Qajar dynasties of Iran ruled the region in turn after that. Imperial Russia adopted a more assertive geopolitical posture toward Iran and the Ottoman Empire, its two southern neighbors, and competitors, starting in the late 1700s.
Russia now made a concerted effort to seize control of the Caucasus, which was primarily held by Iran. The Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 began when the Russians attacked and pillaged the Iranian town of Ganja in 1804. Russian military superiority brought the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 to a successful conclusion.
As per the Treaty of Gulistan, Qajar Iran was compelled to yield suzerainty over the majority of the khanates, as well as Georgia and Dagestan, to the Russian Empire after losing the war that lasted from 1804 to 1813.
Prior to Russian occupation in the 19th century, the region north of the Aras River, which includes the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, was part of Iran. Ten or so years later, the Russians invaded the Erivan Khanate in Iran, breaking the Gulistan pact.
This led to the last round of fighting between the two, known as the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828). The Erivan, Nakhchivan, and Talysh Khanates, which were the final areas of the modern Azerbaijani Republic that were under Iranian control, were compelled to relinquish their sovereignty by Qajar Iran as a consequence of the Treaty of Turkmenchay.
The Aras River, which became part of the boundary between Iran and the Azerbaijan Republic after the Soviet Union’s dissolution, marked the new frontier between the two countries when all of Iran’s Caucasian regions were absorbed by Russia.
Qajar The present Azerbaijan Republic’s area was part of Iran’s forcible cession of its Caucasian lands to Russia in the 19th century, and as a result, the Azerbaijani ethnic group is currently divided between Azerbaijan and Iran.
Despite the Russian invasion, Shia and Sunni intellectuals in the Russian-held towns of Baku, Ganja, and Tiflis (Tbilisi, now Georgia) continued to be deeply engrossed in Iranian culture, literature, and language for the entirety of the 19th century. The end of the 19th century saw the emergence of the Azerbaijani national identity in post-Iranian East Caucasia, which was ruled by Russia.
The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, which was short-lived and eventually gave rise to the modern republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, was established following the fall of the Russian Empire during World War I. The March Days killings in Baku and surrounding territories of the Russian Empire’s Baku Governorate, which occurred between March 30, 1918, and April 2, 1919, came next.
The leading Musavat party declared independence as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) after the republic disintegrated in May 1918. The name “Azerbaijan” was adopted for the new republic, although it had only previously been used to refer to the neighboring northwest region of modern-day Iran. The ADR was the Muslim world’s first contemporary parliamentary republic.
One of the Parliament’s major achievements was granting women the right to vote, which made Azerbaijan the first Muslim country to provide women the same political rights as men. The founding of the Baku State institution, the first modern institution in the Muslim East, was another significant achievement of ADR.
After just 23 months of independence, the Bolshevik 11th Soviet Red Army invaded Azerbaijan, creating the Azerbaijan SSR on April 28, 1920. The majority of the recently established Azerbaijani army was sent to quelling an Armenian uprising that had recently erupted in Karabakh; yet, the people of Azerbaijan would not relinquish their short-lived independence of 1918–20 lightly or swiftly. Up to 20,000 Azerbaijani soldiers lost their lives fending against what amounted to a Russian reconquest. The early Soviet era that followed saw the definitive formation of the Azerbaijani national identity.
The Treaty of Kars was signed by the Soviet republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia with Turkey on October 13, 1921. By virtue of the Kars Treaty, the formerly autonomous Republic of Aras would likewise become the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic inside the Azerbaijan SSR. Conversely, Turkey consented to restore Gyumri (formerly known as Alexandropol) and Armenia was granted the territory of Zangezur.
Eighty percent of the oil provided by Baku to the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front during World War II was produced in Azerbaijan, which was vital to the Soviet Union’s strategic energy policy. By the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Decree of February 1942, over 500 workers and employees of the Azerbaijani oil sector received medals and orders for their dedication. Baku was the center of the German Wehrmacht’s Operation Edelweiss because it was the USSR’s petroleum-based energy powerhouse. Between 1941 and 1945, one-fifth of Azerbaijan’s population served in the armed forces.
Azerbaijan had 3.4 million people living there at the time, but some 681,000 of them—more than 100,000 of them women—went to the front. Approximately 250,000 Azerbaijanis lost their lives on the front lines. Over 130 people from Azerbaijan received the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Major-General Azi Aslanov of Azerbaijan was named a Hero of the Soviet Union twice.
Independence
Civil instability and ethnic conflict increased throughout the Soviet Union after Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost policies, particularly in Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous area of the Azerbaijan SSR. The unrest in Azerbaijan sprang from Moscow’s lack of concern for an already intense conflict, leading to demands for independence and secession, which reached their zenith with Baku’s Black January events.
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic’s flag was once again the official flag of the country when the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR ratified the “Declaration of Sovereignty of the Azerbaijan Republic” later in 1990 and removed the term “Soviet Socialist” from the title.
Following the unsuccessful Soviet coup attempt in Moscow in 1991, the Soviet Union formally ended on December 26, 1991, but on October 18, 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan enacted a Declaration of Independence, which was later confirmed by a national referendum. Today, on October 18, the nation commemorates its Day of Restoration of Independence.
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, in which Armenia supported the ethnic Armenian majority in Nagorno-Karabakh, overshadowed the country’s early years of independence. Armenians had up to 14–16% of Azerbaijani land by 1994, when hostilities ended, including Nagorno-Karabakh.
Numerous crimes and pogroms were carried out by both sides throughout the conflict, including the murders at Malibeyli, Gushchular, and Garadaghly as well as the Khojaly massacre. Other atrocities and pogroms included the Baku, Maraga, and Kirovabad massacres. In addition, almost a million people—more than 800,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000 Armenians—were displaced, and an estimated 30,000 people died.
In four resolutions (822, 853, 874, and 884) the UN Security Council calls for “the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” In the 1990s, a large number of Russians and Armenians departed Azerbaijan as refugees. In Azerbaijan, there were 484,000 Armenians and 510,000 ethnic Russians, according to the 1970 census.
Aliyev family rule, 1993–present
Colonel Surat Huseynov staged a military coup in 1993 that toppled democratically elected president Abulfaz Elchibey and brought Heydar Aliyev, the previous head of Soviet Azerbaijan, to power. The prime minister at the time, Surat Huseynov, attempted a second military takeover of Heydar Aliyev in 1994, but he was detained and accused of treason.
A year later, in 1995, Rovshan Javadov, the head of the OMON special force, launched another coup against Aliyev. After the coup attempt was foiled, the latter was killed and Azerbaijan’s OMON forces were dissolved. Simultaneously, the nation was tarnished by widespread corruption in the governmental bureaucracy. Aliyev won reelection for a second term in October 1998.
After his father passed away in 2003, Heydar Aliyev’s son Ilham Aliyev assumed the positions of president and chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party. In October 2013, he was elected to a third term as president. 2018 saw President Ilham Aliyev win reelection for a fourth time in an election that the major opposition parties boycotted as illegitimate.
New fighting along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact began on September 27, 2020, in the ongoing conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Russia. Azerbaijan’s and Armenia’s armed forces both declared military and civilian deaths.
Given that Azerbaijan had gained a substantial amount of territory, the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement and the conclusion of the six-week conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia were highly applauded in that country.
Even though the economy has significantly improved—especially with the development of the Shah Deniz gas field and the Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli oil production—the Aliyev family’s reign has come under fire for electoral fraud, extreme economic disparity, and internal corruption.
Nearly all ethnic Armenians in the area fled as Azerbaijan started an offensive against the separatist Republic of Artsakh in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, which led to Artsakh’s collapse and reunification on January 1, 2024.
Geography
Geographically speaking, Azerbaijan is situated between Eastern Europe and Western Asia in the South Caucasus area of Eurasia. Between latitudes 38° and 42° N and longitudes 44° and 51° E is where it is located. With 1,007 km (626 km) shared with Armenia, 756 km (470 mi) with Iran, 480 km with Georgia, 390 km (242 mi) with Russia, and 15 km (9 mi) with Turkey, Azerbaijan’s land boundaries span 2,648 km (1,645 mi).
The longest stretch of the Azerbaijani portion of the Caspian Sea is 800 km (497 mi) long, while the widest point is 456 km (283 mi) long. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked enclave inside the nation.
Azerbaijan’s topography is dominated by three areas: the vast flatlands in the middle of the nation; the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north; and the Caspian Sea, whose shoreline acts as a natural border to the east. Together, the Talysh Mountains, the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, and other mountain ranges occupy almost 40% of the nation.
Mount Bazardüzü, at 4,466 meters (14,652 feet), is the highest mountain in Azerbaijan, while the Caspian Sea is the lowest point at -28 meters (-92 feet). Azerbaijan is home to about half of the world’s mud volcanoes; these volcanoes were also considered for inclusion in the list of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
Surface waterways are the primary sources of water. Out of the 8,350 rivers, only 24 have a length longer than 100 km (62 mi). In the eastern part of the nation, every river empties into the Caspian Sea. The longest river, the 1,515 km (941 mi) Kur, is transboundary with Armenia, while the largest lake is Sarysu, which is 67 km2 (26 sq mi). The Baku Archipelago contains the majority of Azerbaijan’s islands that are situated along the Caspian Sea.
The Azerbaijani government has taken action to protect the country’s ecology since gaining independence in 1991. Following the year 2001, when the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline brought in additional funds and the state budget grew, environmental preservation at the national level picked up speed.
Protected areas quadrupled in size in just four years and currently account for 8% of the nation’s land area. Since 2001, the government has nearly increased the portion of the budget designated for environmental preservation and established seven sizable reserves.
Landscape
There are many different types of landscapes in Azerbaijan. Mountain ridges, crests, highlands, and plateaus make up more than half of Azerbaijan’s landmass. These features rise to hypsometric levels of 400–1000 meters (including the Middle and Lower lowlands), 100–120 meters in some places (Talis, Jeyranchol-Ajinohur, and Langabiz–Alat foreranges), and 0–50 meters and up in others (Qobustan, Absheron). The remaining land area of Azerbaijan is made up of lowlands and plains. In the Caucasus area, hypsometric markers range from around -28 meters at the seashore of the Caspian Sea to 4,466 meters at the Bazardüzü mountain.
Cold arctic air masses of the Scandinavian anticyclone, moderate air masses of the Siberian anticyclone, and Central Asian anticyclone are the main factors influencing the creation of the climate in Azerbaijan. The various topography of Azerbaijan influences the methods in which air masses reach the nation.
The nation is shielded from the direct effects of cold air masses originating from the north by the Greater Caucasus. As a result, most of the nation’s plains and foothills have a subtropical climate. Conversely, the foothills and plains have significant levels of sun radiation.
Azerbaijan is located in nine of the eleven climatic zones that currently exist. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic’s Julfa and Ordubad districts recorded the absolute lowest temperature (-33 °C, or -27.4 °F) and the absolute high temperature (quantify). The lowest annual precipitation occurs in Absheron (200 to 350 mm or 7.9 to 13.8 in) and the highest in Lankaran (1,600 to 1,800 mm or 63 to 71 in).
The majority of Azerbaijan’s water systems are made up of rivers and lakes, which underwent substantial alteration throughout their lengthy geological formation. Particularly, the country’s relics of old rivers serve as proof of this. The nation’s water systems are always changing as a result of both natural processes and industrial activity brought about by humans.
Part of Azerbaijan’s water systems are man-made ponds and rivers (canals). With a yearly water supply of about 100,000 cubic meters (3,531,467 cubic feet) per square kilometer, Azerbaijan falls short of the global average. Large water reservoirs are all constructed on Kur. Azerbaijan’s hydrography is essentially a part of the Caspian Sea basin.
The two main rivers of Azerbaijan are the Kura and the Aras. The Kura-Aras Lowland is traversed by them. The rivers that flow straight into the Caspian Sea mostly originate in the Talysh Mountains and the northeastern slope of the Major Caucasus. They then follow the lowlands of Samur-Devechi and Lankaran.
Translation: “Burning Mountain” describes Yanar Dag, a natural gas fire that burns nonstop on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula in the Caspian Sea close to Baku, sometimes referred to as the “land of fire.” From a thin, permeable layer of sandstone, flames shoot skyward. It is a destination for tourists traveling through the Baku region.
Biodiversity
Travelogues from Easterners have the earliest accounts of the abundance and variety of fauna in Azerbaijan. Animal engravings have persisted to this day on old rocks, architectural structures, and stones. During the 17th century, naturalists traveled to Azerbaijan and gathered the first data on the country’s flora and wildlife.
Azerbaijan has documented and categorized 106 species of mammals, 97 species of fish, 363 species of birds, 10 species of amphibians, and 52 species of reptiles. The Karabakh horse, an indigenous mountain-steppe racer and riding horse is the national animal of Azerbaijan. The Karabakh horse is known for its intellect, grace, speed, and good temperament. Despite being one of the oldest breeds and having an ancient heritage, horses are currently considered an endangered species.
There are more than 4,500 species of higher plants in Azerbaijan’s flora. Azerbaijan’s distinct climate contributes to a far higher species richer flora than those of the other South Caucasus nations. In Azerbaijan, there are 66% of the species that flourish across the Caucasus.
The nation is divided into four ecoregions: the Eastern Anatolian montane steppe, the Caucasus mixed forests, the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests, and the Azerbaijani shrub desert and steppe. With a mean score of 6.55/10 on the 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index, Azerbaijan was ranked 72nd out of 172 nations worldwide.
Economy
Azerbaijan joined the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Monetary Fund after attaining independence in 1991. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan, commercial banks, and non-banking credit institutions make up the country’s banking sector.
Based on the Azerbaijan State Savings Bank, a subsidiary of the former State Savings Bank of the USSR, the National (now Central) Bank was established in 1992. The Central Bank acts as the central bank of Azerbaijan, with the authority to oversee all commercial banks and issue the manat, the country’s currency. The state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan, headed by Abbas Ibrahimov, and UniBank are two significant commercial banks.
Driven by increases in demand and spending, the first-quarter 2007 inflation rate rose to 16.6%. In contrast to this number, nominal incomes and monthly salaries increased by 29% and 25%, respectively; yet, price rises in the non-oil industry contributed to inflation. Azerbaijan’s rapidly expanding energy industry is causing inflation and raising the cost of non-energy exports, which is why the country is exhibiting some symptoms of the infamous “Dutch disease”.
Chronically high inflation was brought under control in the early 2000s. As a result, on January 1, 2006, the new Azerbaijani manat was introduced, solidifying the economic reforms and eliminating the last traces of an unstable economy. In the Global Competitiveness Report for 2010–2011, Azerbaijan is placed higher than other CIS nations, at number 57.
By 2012, Azerbaijan’s GDP has grown twenty times over from its 1995 baseline.
Demographics
52.9% of Azerbaijan’s 10,164,464 total population lived in urban areas as of March 2022, with 47.1% residing in rural areas. 50.1% of the population was female as of January 2019. In the same year, there were 0.99 men for every female.
In 2011, the population growth rate was 0.85%, while the global average was 1.09%. A high rate of migration is a major factor limiting population expansion. Azerbaijan had a migration rate of -1.14% per 1,000 inhabitants in 2011.
42 countries are home to Azerbaijani diaspora citizens. In Azerbaijan, there are numerous centers catering to ethnic minorities, such as the German cultural society “Karelhaus”, the Slavic cultural center, the Azerbaijani-Israeli community, the Kurdish cultural center, the International Talysh Association, the Lezgin national center “Samur”, the Azerbaijani-Tatar community, the Crimean Tatars society, and so on.
Azerbaijan comprises 78 cities, 63 city districts, and one city with a unique legal status. 4248 villages and 261 urban-type communities come behind them.
Ethnicity
The ethnic composition of the population according to the 2009 population census: 91.6% Azerbaijanis, 2.0% Lezgins, 1.4% Armenians (almost all Armenians live in the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh), 1.3% Russians, 1.3% Talysh, 0.6% Avars, 0.4% Turks, 0.3% Tatars, 0.3% Tats, 0.2% Ukrainians, 0.1% Tsakhurs, 0.1% Georgians, 0.1% Jews, 0.1% Kurds, other 0.2%.
Languages
Azerbaijani is a Turkic language that is used as the official language of Azerbaijan. It is the mother tongue of almost 92% of the people in the country.
In Azerbaijan, people still speak Russian and, in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian. About 1.5% of the country’s population speaks each as their first language. In 1989, around 76% of the inhabitants in the Nagorno-Karabakh territory spoke Armenian, making it the dominant language in the area. Approximately 95% of the people in the area were native speakers of Armenian following the first Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Twelve other minority languages, namely Avar, Budukh, Georgian, Juhuri, Khinalug, Kryts, Lezgin, Rutul, Talysh, Tat, Tsakhur, and Udi, are spoken as first languages in Azerbaijan. Only minuscule minority groups, some of which are tiny and dwindling, speak any of these languages.
Religion
Azerbaijan is regarded as the most secular nation with a majority of Muslims. Muslims make up almost 97% of the population. It is believed that 35–45% of Muslims identify as Sunnis and 55–65% of Muslims as Shia. The diverse ethnic groups in the nation practice different faiths. Azerbaijan guarantees religious freedom and is classified as a secular state under Article 48 of its Constitution. Just 21% of respondents from Azerbaijan said that religion has a significant role in their everyday life in a Gallup poll conducted between 2006 and 2008.
Approximately 280,000 Christians (3.1%) make up the nation’s religious minority; the majority are Russian and Georgian Orthodox as well as Armenian Apostolic (almost all Armenians reside in the breakaway area of Nagorno-Karabakh). There were 250 Roman Catholics in 2003. As of 2002, Lutherans, Baptists, and Molokanos were among the other Christian denominations.
Additionally, there is a little Protestant community. Azerbaijan is home to the only Jewish-majority town outside of Israel and the United States. It also has an old Jewish community with a 2,000-year history; Jewish organizations[who?] estimate that 12,000 Jews remain in Azerbaijan. Along with followers of various religions, Azerbaijan is also home to members of the Bahá’í, Hare Krishna, and Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations. Unofficial restrictions on religious freedom have been placed on some religious groupings.
Members of certain Muslim and Christian groups have been detained, according to a U.S. State Department report on the subject, and many groups have trouble registering with the State Committee on Religious Associations of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SCWRA), the body in charge of regulating religion.
Education
A significant portion of the Azerbaijani population holds a higher education degree, particularly in scientific and technological fields. Despite two shifts in the dominant alphabet—from Roman to Cyrillic in the 1930s and from Perso-Arabic script to Latin in the 1920s—literacy and average education levels increased significantly throughout the Soviet era from their extremely low beginning points. In 1970, all males and females (ages nine to forty-nine) were literate, according to Soviet records. As per the 2009 United Nations Development Program Report, Azerbaijan has a 99.5 percent literacy rate.
One of the first acts the Azerbaijani Parliament enacted after gaining independence was to replace the Cyrillic alphabet with a modified Latin one in order to distance the country from the Soviet Union. Apart from that, there haven’t been many structural changes to the Azerbaijani system.
The restoration of religious instruction, which was outlawed during the Soviet era, and curriculum revisions that removed ideological elements and reinstated the usage of the Azerbaijani language have been among the first improvements.
The educational institutions comprise thousands of preschools, regular secondary schools, vocational schools, specialized secondary schools, and technical schools, in addition to primary schools. Education is required up until the ninth grade.
