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Genetik/Peoples/Rai people

Rai people

Раи · Q905467

language area per Glottologcensus counts
640,674
Nepal, census 2021 (national and/or ethnic group, UN)
Sino-Tibetan
language family (Glottolog)

In brief

The largest documented number lives in Nepal: 640,674 people in the 2021 census.

Main language: Kiranti. Glottolog classifies it in the Sino-Tibetan 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.

Nepal2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Rai» · [1]
640,674

Languages and their lineage

Kiranti

  1. Sino-Tibetansino1245
  2. Himalayishhima1249
  3. Mahakirantimaha1306
  4. Kirantikira1253

Nepali

  1. Indo-Europeanindo1319
  2. Classical Indo-Europeanclas1257
  3. Indo-Iranianindo1320
  4. Indo-Aryanindo1321
  5. Middle-Modern Indo-Aryanmidd1375
  6. Continental Indo-Aryancont1248
  7. Midlands Indo-Aryanmidl1245
  8. Indo-Aryan Northern zoneindo1310
  9. Eastern Paharieast1436
  10. Nepalinepa1254

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

Han ChineseHui peopleTujia peopleChinese peopleTibetansBai peopleTamang peopleHoa peopleLahu peopleLimbu peopleQiangJingpo peopleSherpaAkhaDungansPumiNu peopleMang peopleBamar (Burmans)

Sources

  1. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Nepal, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  2. Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)