In brief
The largest documented number lives in Russia: 6,890 people in the 2021 census.
In Russia's 2020 census (reference date 1 October 2021), 6,890 people identified with the nationality "Бежтинцы" (Bezhta people)1. That is less than 0.01% of the 130,587,364 residents who stated a nationality.
Rosstat counts this group within the "Avars" nationality.
Rosstat also assigns 4 other self-designations to this nationality (listed in Russian in the source table).
Main language: Bezhta. Glottolog classifies it in the Nakh-Daghestanian family.
Where they live: census figures
Each figure comes from the country's official census. Censuses define belonging differently (self-identification, citizenship, mother tongue, ancestry); the type is given on each row.
In detail: Russia, 2021 census
Where: the 10 regions with the largest numbers
Source [1]: Rosstat, 2020 census, vol. 5, table 1
Languages and their lineage
Bezhta
- Nakh-Daghestaniannakh1245
- Daghestaniandagh1238
- Avar-Andic-Tsezicavar1255
- Tsezictsez1239
- East Tseziceast2368
- Bezhtabezh1248
People-to-language links: Wikidata (properties P103 and P2936), checked against ISO 639-3 codes. Language classification: Glottolog 5.3.
Peoples of the same language family
Sources
- Rosstat. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation. Results of the 2020 All-Russian Population Census (reference date 1 October 2021), vol. 5, table 1. Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx (archived copy)
- Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)