View source for Slavs

{{Short description|Grouping of related Eurasian ethnicities}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|Slav people|Slav|the Slavs of the Early Middle Ages|Early Slavs|the First Nations ethnic group|Slavey||Slav (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Slavs
| population       = see {{Section link||Population}}
| regions          = {{hlist|[[Central Europe]] ([[West Slavs]])| [[Southeastern Europe]] ([[South Slavs]])|[[Eastern Europe]], [[North Asia|Northern Asia]], and [[Central Asia]] ([[East Slavs]])}}
| langs            = [[Slavic languages]]
| rels             = Mostly [[Christianity in Europe|Christianity]]<br/>([[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]]{{·}}[[Catholic Church|Catholic]]{{·}}[[Protestantism|Protestant]]{{·}}[[Spiritual Christianity|Spiritual]])
<br/>Minorities:<br/>[[Irreligion|Irreligious]]{{·}}[[Islam in Europe|Islam]]{{·}}[[Judaism in Europe|Judaism]]{{·}}[[Slavic paganism]] ([[Slavic Native Faith|neopaganism]])
| related          = Other [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European peoples]]
}}
[[File:Slavic europe (Kosovo unshaded).svg|alt=|thumb|Contemporary map of the [[Slavic people|Slavic speaking countries]] of [[Europe]]. 
{{en|{{legend|#7cdc87|West Slavic countries}}
{{legend|#008000|East Slavic countries}}
{{legend|#004040|South Slavic countries}}]]

The '''Slavs''' or '''Slavic people''' are groups of people who speak [[Slavic languages]]. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of [[Eurasia]]; they predominantly inhabit [[Central Europe]], [[Eastern Europe]], [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]], and [[North Asia|Northern Asia]], though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the [[Baltic states]] and [[Central Asia]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kirch|first=Aksel|title=Russians as a Minority in Contemporary Baltic States|jstor=44481642|publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]]|journal=[[Bulletin of Peace Proposals]]|volume=23|number=2|pages=205–212|date=June 1992|doi=10.1177/096701069202300212|s2cid=157870839}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Ramet|first=Pedro|title=Migration and Nationality Policy in Soviet Central Asia|jstor=23261898|journal=Humboldt Journal of Social Relations|publisher=[[California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt]]|date=1978|pages=79–101|volume=6|number=1}}</ref> and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the [[Americas]], [[Western Europe]], and [[Northern Europe]].<ref name="msu" />

[[Early Slavs]] lived during the [[Migration Period]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]] (approximately from the 5th to the 10th century AD), and came to control large parts of [[Central Europe|Central]], [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]], and [[Southeast Europe]] between the sixth and seventh centuries. Beginning in the 7th century, they were gradually [[Christianization of the Slavs|Christianized]]. By the 12th century, they formed the core population of a number of medieval Christian states: [[East Slavs]] in the [[Kievan Rus']], [[South Slavs]] in the [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]], the [[Principality of Serbia (early medieval)|Principality of Serbia]], the [[Duchy of Croatia]] and the [[Banate of Bosnia]], and [[West Slavs]] in the [[Principality of Nitra]], [[Great Moravia]], the [[Duchy of Bohemia]], and the [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Kingdom of Poland]].

Beginning in the mid-19th century, a [[Pan-Slavism|pan-Slavic]] movement has emphasized the common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus of the movement was in the Balkans, whereas the [[Russian Empire]] was opposed to it.

The Slavic languages belong to the [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic branch]] of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]]. Present-day Slavs are classified into three groups:<ref name="Slav (people) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia" /><ref name="palgrave">{{cite book |last1=Kamusella |last2=Nomachi |last3=Gibson |first1=Tomasz |first2=Motoki |first3=Catherine |date=2016 |title= The Palgrave Handbook of Slavic Languages, Identities and Borders |location=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-34839-5}}</ref><ref name="CPotSN">{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/32675557 |title=Cultural Proximity of the Slavic Nations |website=Academia |last=Serafin |first=Mikołaj |format=PDF |date=January 2015 |access-date=28 April 2017 |archive-date=22 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722200348/https://www.academia.edu/32675557/Cultural_Proximity_of_the_Slavic_Nations |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="belgrade">{{cite book |last1=Živković |last2=Crnčević |last3=Bulić |last4=Petrović |last5=Cvijanović |last6=Radovanović |first1=Tibor |first2=Dejan |first3=Dejan |first4=Vladeta |first5=Irena |first6=Bojana |date=2013 |title=The World of the Slavs: Studies of the East, West and South Slavs: Civitas, Oppidas, Villas and Archeological Evidence (7th to 11th Centuries AD) |location=Belgrade |publisher=Istorijski institut |isbn=978-86-7743-104-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gasparov |first1=Boris |last2=Raevsky-Hughes |first2=Olga |title=Christianity and the Eastern Slavs, Volume I: Slavic Cultures in the Middle Ages |date=2018 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-30247-1 |pages=120 & 124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RbnADwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>Stephen Barbour, Cathie Carmichael, ''Language and Nationalism in Europe'', Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 199, {{ISBN|0-19-823671-9}}</ref>
* [[West Slavs]] ([[Czechs]], [[Kashubians]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Silesians]], [[Slovaks]], and [[Sorbs]]);
* [[East Slavs]] ([[Belarusians]], [[Russians]], [[Rusyns]], and [[Ukrainians]]);
* [[South Slavs]] ([[Bosniaks]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Croats]], [[Gorani people|Gorani]], [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]], [[Montenegrins]], [[Serbs]], and [[Slovenes]]).

Though the majority of Slavs are [[Christians]], some groups, such as the Bosniaks, mostly identify as [[Muslims]]. Modern Slavic nations and ethnic groups are considerably diverse, both genetically and culturally, and relations between them may range from "ethnic solidarity to mutual feelings of hostility" — even within the individual groups.<ref name="Psychology Press">{{cite book |author1=Robert Bideleux |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vzw8CHYQobAC |title=A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change |author2=Ian Jeffries |date=January 1998 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-16112-1 |page=325}}</ref>

==Ethnonym==
{{main|Slavs (ethnonym)}}
The oldest mention of the Slavic [[ethnonym]] is from the 6th century AD, when [[Procopius]], writing in [[Byzantine Greek]], used various forms such as ''Sklaboi'' ({{lang|grc|Σκλάβοι}}), ''Sklabēnoi'' ({{lang|grc|Σκλαβηνοί}}), ''Sklauenoi'' ({{lang|grc|Σκλαυηνοί}}), ''Sthlabenoi'' ({{lang|grc|Σθλαβηνοί}}), or ''Sklabinoi'' ({{lang|grc|Σκλαβῖνοι}}),<ref name="procopius"/> and his contemporary [[Jordanes]] refers to the {{lang|la|Sclaveni}} in [[Latin]].<ref name="jordanes"/> The oldest documents written in [[Old Church Slavonic]], dating from the 9th century, attest the autonym as ''Slověne'' ({{lang|cu|Словѣне}}). Those forms point back to a Slavic [[endonym|autonym]], which can be reconstructed in [[Proto-Slavic]] as {{wikt-lang|sla-pro|*slověninъ|*Slověninъ}}, plural ''Slověne''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

The reconstructed autonym {{lang|sla|*Slověninъ}} is usually considered a derivation from {{lang|sla|slovo}} ("word"), originally denoting "people who speak (the same language)", meaning "people who understand one another", in contrast to the Slavic word denoting "[[German people]]", namely {{wikt-lang|sla-pro|*němьcь}}, meaning "silent, mute people" (from Slavic {{wikt-lang|sla-pro|*němъ}} "[[muteness|mute]], mumbling"). The word ''slovo'' ("word") and the related ''slava'' ("glory, fame") and ''{{lang|mis|sluh}}'' ("hearing") originate from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root {{wikt-lang|ine-pro|*ḱlew-}} ("be spoken of, glory"), cognate with Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|κλέος}} ({{grc-tr|κλέος}} "fame"), as in the name [[Pericles]], Latin {{wikt-lang|la|clueō}} ("be called"), and English {{wikt-lang|en|loud}}.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In medieval and early modern sources written in Latin, Slavs are most commonly referred to as ''Sclaveni'' or the shortened version ''Sclavi''.{{sfn|Curta|2001|pp=41–42, 50, 55, 60, 69, 75, 88}}

==History==
[[File:The origin and dispersion of Slavs in the 5-10th centuries.png|thumb|The origin and migration of Slavs in Europe between the 5th and 10th centuries AD: {{legend|#84C18E|Slavic [[urheimat]] within [[Polesia]] (modern-day southern [[Belarus]], northern [[Ukraine]], and eastern [[Poland]])}} {{legend|#B3CB9A|Expansion of the Slavic migration in Europe}}]]

===Origins===
====First mentions====
{{Main|Early Slavs}}
{{See also|Vistula Veneti|Spori|Antes (people){{!}}Antes|Sclaveni|Wends|Fatyanovo–Balanovo culture|Middle Dnieper culture|Milograd culture|Zarubintsy culture|Kyiv culture|Prague-Korchak culture|Penkovka culture|Kolochin culture|Ipotești–Cândești culture}}
[[File:Bolgari_sclavi_teracota_Vinitza_FYROM.jpg|thumb|Terracotta tile from the 6th–7th century AD found in [[Vinica, North Macedonia|Vinica]], [[North Macedonia]], depicting a battle scene between the [[Bulgars]] and Slavs, with the Latin inscription BOLGAR and SCLAVIGI<ref>{{cite book |last1= Balabanov |first1= Kosta |title= Vinica Fortress: mythology, religion and history written with clay |date=2011 |publisher=Matica |location=Skopje |pages=273–309}}</ref>]]

[[Ancient Rome | Ancient Roman]] sources refer to the [[Early Slavs|Early Slavic]] peoples as [[Vistula Veneti| "Veneti"]], who dwelt in a region of central Europe east of the [[Germanic Peoples|Germanic]] tribe of [[Suebi]] and west of the Iranian [[Sarmatians]] in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD,<ref>Coon, Carleton S. (1939) ''The Peoples of Europe''. Chapter VI, Sec. 7 New York: Macmillan Publishers.</ref><ref>Tacitus. ''Germania'', page 46.</ref> between the upper [[Vistula]] and [[Dnieper]] rivers. Slavs - called ''[[Antes (people)|Antes]]'' and ''[[Sclaveni]]'' - first appear in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] records in the early 6th century AD. Byzantine historiographers of the era of the emperor [[Justinian I]] ({{reign | 527 | 565}}), such as [[Procopius of Caesarea]], [[Jordanes]] and [[Theophylact Simocatta]], describe tribes of these names emerging from the area of the [[Carpathian Mountains]], the lower [[Danube]] and the [[Black Sea]] to invade the Danubian provinces of the [[Eastern Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Jordanes, in his work ''[[Getica]]'' (written in 551 AD),<ref>Curta 2001: 38. Dzino 2010: 95.</ref> describes the Veneti as a "populous nation" whose dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula and occupy "a great expanse of land". He also describes the Veneti as the ancestors of Antes and Slaveni, two early Slavic tribes, who appeared on the Byzantine frontier in the early-6th century.

Procopius wrote in 545 that "the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a single name in the remote past; for they were both called ''[[Sporoi]]'' in olden times". The name ''Sporoi'' derives from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] σπείρω ("to [[sowing|sow]]"). He described them as barbarians, who lived under [[democracy]] and believed in one god, "the maker of lightning" ([[Perun]]), to whom they made sacrifice. They lived in scattered housing and constantly changed settlement. In war, they were mainly [[infantry | foot soldier]]s with shields, spears, bows, and little armour, which was reserved mainly for [[Tribal chief | chief]]s and their inner circle of warriors.<ref>{{cite book |last= Barford |first= Paul M |year= 2001 |publisher= Cornell University Press |title = The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe | isbn = 978-0-8014-3977-3 }}</ref> Their language is "barbarous" (that is, not Greek), and the two tribes are alike in appearance, being tall and robust, "while their bodies and hair are neither very fair or blond, nor indeed do they incline entirely to the dark type, but they are all slightly ruddy in color. And they live a hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts..."<ref name="ufl" />

Jordanes describes the Sclaveni as having swamps and forests for their cities.<ref name="jordanes1" /> Another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly-impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes.<ref name="strategikon" />

[[Menander Protector]] mentions [[Daurentius]] ({{reign | c. 577 | 579}}) who slew an [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avar]] envoy of Khagan [[Bayan I]] for asking the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars; Daurentius declined and is reported as saying: "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs – so it shall always be for us as long as there are wars and weapons".{{sfn|Curta|2001|pp=91–92, 315}}

====Migrations====
{{Further|Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe}}
[[File:Slavic tribes in the 7th to 9th century.jpg|thumb|Slavic tribes from the 7th to 9th centuries AD in Europe]]
According to eastern<!-- eastern or western?? --> homeland theory,{{cn|date=August 2024}} prior to becoming known to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] world, [[Slavic language|Slavic]]-speaking tribes formed part of successive multi-ethnic confederacies of [[Eurasia]] – such as the Sarmatian, [[Hun Empire | Hun]] and [[Goths | Gothic]] empires. The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germanic tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (thought{{cn|date=August 2024}} to be in conjunction with the movement of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: [[Huns]], and later [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]] and [[Bulgars]]) started the [[migration period|great migration]] of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes who had fled from the Huns and their allies. Slavs, according to this account, moved westward into the country between the [[Oder]] and the [[Elbe]]-[[Saale]] line; southward into [[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], much of present-day [[Austria]], the [[Pannonian plain]] and the [[Balkans]]; and northward along the upper [[Dnieper]] river. It has also been suggested that some Slavs migrated with the [[Vandals]] to the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and even to [[North Africa]].<ref name="encyclopedia"/>

Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] borders in large numbers.<ref>{{cite book|author= Cyril A. Mango|title= Byzantium, the empire of New Rome|url= https://archive.org/details/byzantium00cyri_0|url-access= registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/byzantium00cyri_0/page/26 26]|year= 1980|publisher= Scribner|isbn= 978-0-684-16768-8}}</ref> Byzantine records note that Slav numbers were so great, that grass would not regrow where the Slavs had marched through{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}. Military movements resulted in even the [[Peloponnese]] and [[Asia Minor]] being reported to have Slavic settlements.<ref>Tachiaos, Anthony-Emil N. 2001. ''Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica: The Acculturation of the Slavs''. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.</ref> This southern movement has traditionally been seen as an invasive expansion.<ref name="hri"/> By the end of the 6th century, Slavs had [[Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps|settled the Eastern Alps regions]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Štih|first= Peter|title= The Middle Ages Between the Eastern Alps and the Northern Adriatic: Select Papers on Slovene Historiography and Medieval History|date= 2010|section= V. Wiped Out By The Slavic Settlement? The Issue Of Continuity Between Antiquity And The Early Middle Ages In The Slovene Area|section-url= https://brill.com/view/book/9789004187702/Bej.9789004185913.i-463_007.xml|isbn= 978-9-004-18770-2|publisher= [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|pages= 85–99|doi= 10.1163/ej.9789004185913.i-463.18|series= East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages|volume=2}}</ref>

[[Pope Gregory I]] in 600 AD wrote to Maximus, the bishop of [[Salona]] (in [[Dalmatia]]), expressing concern about the arrival of the Slavs,

{{blockquote|'''Latin:''' ''Et quidem de Sclavorum gente, quae vobis valde imminet, et affligor vehementer et conturbor. Affligor in his quae jam in vobis patior; conturbor, quia per Istriae aditum jam ad Italiam intrare coeperunt.''}}

{{Blockquote|'''English:''' I am both distressed and disturbed about the Slavs, who are pressing hard on you. I am distressed because I sympathize with you; I am disturbed because they have already begun to arrive in [[Italy]] through the entry-point of [[Istria]].<ref>Željko Rapanić; (2013) O početcima i nastajanju Dubrovnika (The origin and formation of Dubrovnik. additional considerations) p. 94; Starohrvatska prosvjeta, Vol. III No. 40, [https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=241899]</ref>}}

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Great moravia svatopluk.png|thumb|[[Great Moravia]] during [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svatopluk I]] ({{Reign|871|894}}), according to Štefanovičová (1989)]]

When Slav migrations ended, their first [[Sovereign state|state]] organizations appeared, each headed by a prince with a treasury and a defense force. In the 7th century, the Frankish merchant [[Samo]] supported the Slavs against their [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avar]] rulers and became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe, [[Samo's Empire]]. This early Slavic polity probably did not outlive its founder and ruler, but it was the foundation for later [[West Slavs|West Slavic]] states on its territory.

The oldest of them was [[Carantania]]; others are the [[Principality of Nitra]], the [[Moravia]]n principality (see under [[Great Moravia]]) and the [[Balaton Principality]]. The [[First Bulgarian Empire]] was founded in 681 as an alliance between the ruling [[Bulgars]] and the numerous [[Seven Slavic tribes|Slavs]] in the area, and their [[Bulgarian language|South Slavic]] language, the [[Old Church Slavonic]], became the main and official language of the empire in 864 AD. Bulgaria was instrumental in the spread of [[Cyrillic script|Slavic literacy]] and Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. [[Duchy of Croatia]] was founded in 7th century and later became [[Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)|Kingdom of Croatia]].<ref>During the reign of [[Heraclius]] (<abbr>r.</abbr> 610–641). ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' chapter 30.</ref> [[Principality of Serbia (early medieval)|Principality of Serbia]] was founded in 8th, [[Duchy of Bohemia]] and [[Kievan Rus']] both in the 9th century.

The expansion of the [[Hungarian people|Magyars]] into the [[Carpathian Basin]] and the [[Germanization]] of [[Archduchy of Austria|Austria]] gradually separated the [[South Slavs]] from the [[West Slavs|West]] and [[East Slavs]]. Later Slavic states, which formed in the following centuries included the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], the [[History of Poland during the Piast dynasty|Kingdom of Poland]], [[Banate of Bosnia]], [[Duklja]] and [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Kingdom of Serbia]] which later grew into [[Serbian Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

=== Modern era ===
[[File:Pan-Slavic postcard "Dědictví otců, zachovej nám, Pane".jpg|thumb|upright|Pan-Slavic postcard depicting [[Saints Cyril and Methodius|Cyril and Methodius]], with the text "God/Our Lord, watch over our grandfatherland/<br>heritage" in 8 Slavic languages.]]
[[Pan-Slavism]], a movement which came into prominence in the mid-19th century, emphasized the common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires: the Byzantine Empire, [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]]. Austria-Hungary envisioned its own political concept of [[Austro-Slavism]], in opposition of Pan-Slavism that was predominantly led by the [[Russian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stergar |first=Rok |date=12 July 2017 |title=Panslavism |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/panslavism |website=International Encyclopedia of the First World War}}</ref> 

As of 1878, there were only three majority Slavic states in the world: the Russian Empire, [[Principality of Serbia]] and [[Principality of Montenegro]]. [[Bulgaria]] was effectively independent but was ''de jure'' vassal to the Ottoman Empire until official independence was declared in 1908. The Slavic peoples who were, for the most part, denied a voice in the affairs of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], were calling for national self-determination.<ref name=":1" /> 

During [[World War I]], representatives of the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes set up organizations in the [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] countries to gain sympathy and recognition.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Stergar |first1=Rok |title=Nationalities (Austria-Hungary) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/nationalities_austria-hungary |publisher=International Encyclopedia of the First World War}}</ref> In 1918, after World War I ended, the Slavs established such independent states as [[Czechoslovakia]], the [[Second Polish Republic]], and the [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]].

The first half of the 20th century in Russia and the [[Soviet Union]] was marked by a succession of [[Russian Civil War|wars]], [[Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union|famine]]s and other disasters, each accompanied by large-scale population losses.<ref name=":2">Mark Harrison (2002). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=yJcD7_Q_rQ8C&pg=PA167 Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940–1945]''". [[Cambridge University Press]]. p.167. ISBN 0-521-89424-7</ref> The two major famines were in [[Russian famine of 1921–1922|1921 to 1922]] and [[Holodomor|1932 to 1933]], which caused millions of deaths mostly around the [[Volga region]], [[1921–1923 famine in Ukraine|Ukraine]] and the [[North Caucasus|Northern Caucasus]].<ref>Rudnytskyi, Omelian et al. “The 1921–1923 Famine and the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine: Common and Distinctive Features.” ''Nationalities Papers'' 48.3 (2020): 549–568. Web.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Livi-Bacci |first=Massimo |date=2021-07-28 |title=Nature, Politics, and the Traumas of Europe |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=579–609 |doi=10.1111/padr.12429 |issn=0098-7921|doi-access=free }}</ref> The latter resulted from Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[Collectivization in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|collectivization of agriculture in Ukraine]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2023-02-24 |title=Russia and Ukraine: the tangled history that connects—and divides—them |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/russia-and-ukraine-the-tangled-history-that-connects-and-divides-them |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=History |language=en}}</ref> 

During the war, [[Nazi Germany]] used hundreds of thousands of people for [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slave labor in their concentration camps]], the majority of whom were [[Jews|Jewish]] or Slavic.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Gwiazda II |first=Henry J. |date=2016 |title=The Nazi Racial War: Concentration Camps in the New Order |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/tpr/article/61/3/59/215387/The-Nazi-Racial-War-Concentration-Camps-in-the-New |journal=The Polish Review |language=en |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=59–84 |doi=10.5406/polishreview.61.3.0059}}</ref> Both groups were a part of what Germans claimed to be a "vast racially [[Dehumanization|subhuman]] surplus population" that they "[[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|intended to eliminate]] in time from [[New Order (Nazism)|their new empire]]",<ref name=":4" /> their term for "racial subhumans" being ''[[Untermensch]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-01 |title=Vocabulary Terms Related To The Holocaust - Holocaust Museum Houston |url=https://hmh.org/education/resources/vocabulary-terms-related-holocaust/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=hmh.org |language=en-US}}</ref> Thus, one of [[Adolf Hitler]]'s ambitions at the start of [[World War II]] was to exterminate, expel, or enslave most or all West and East Slavs from their native lands, so as to make "[[Lebensraum|living space]]" for German settlers.<ref name=":2" />

In early 1941, Germany began planning [[Generalplan Ost]], the genocide of Slavs in Eastern Europe which was supposed to start after a major expansion of [[German camps in occupied Poland during World War II|German concentration camps in occupied Poland]] and the fall of Stalin's regime.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2022-03-18 |title=Remembrance of the Great Patriotic War and Russia's Invasion of Ukraine |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/great-patriotic-war-russia-invasion-ukraine |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}}</ref> This plan was to be carried out gradually over 25 to 30 years.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{cite book |last1=Fritz |first1=Stephen G. |title=Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxGxGgzxKHsC&q=Generalplan+Ost |at=Generalplan Ost (General plan for the east) |year=2011 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |via=Google Books |isbn=978-0-8131-4050-6}}</ref> After an approximate 30 million<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Blakemore |first=Erin |date=2017-02-21 |title=The Nazis' Nightmarish Plan to Starve the Soviet Union |url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-nazis-nightmarish-plan-to-starve-the-soviet-union/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> Slavs would be killed through starvation and their major cities depopulated, the Germans were supposed to repopulate Eastern Europe.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Germany - Germany from 1871 to 1918 {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Germany/Germany-from-1871-to-1918 |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Rubenstein |first=Joshua |date=2010-11-26 |title=The Devils' Playground |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/books/review/Rubenstein-t.html |access-date=2024-05-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in [[Operation Barbarossa]], Hitler paused the plan to focus on the [[The Holocaust|extermination of the Jews]].<ref name=":8" /> However, some of the plan was nonetheless implemented. Millions of Slavs were murdered in Eastern Europe;<ref name=":8" /> this includes victims of the [[Hunger Plan]], Germany's intentional starvation of the region,<ref name=":7" /> as well as the [[German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war|murders of 3.3. million Soviet prisoners of war]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-persecution-of-soviet-prisoners-of-war |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> Germany's [[Heinrich Himmler]] also ordered his subordinate [[Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben]] to start repopulating [[Crimea]], and hundreds of ethnic Germans were forcibly moved to cities and villages there.<ref>Berkhoff, Karel C. ''Central European History'', vol. 39, no. 4, 2006, pp. 728–30. ''JSTOR'', <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/20457191</nowiki>. Accessed 23 May 2024.</ref> The Soviet [[Red Army]] took back their land from the Germans [[Operation Bagration|in 1944]].<ref name=":8" /> Stephen J. Lee estimates that, by the end of [[World War II]] in 1945, the Russian population was about [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|90 million fewer]] than it could have been otherwise.<ref>Stephen J. Lee (2000). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KnvJO9yfvEAC&pg=PA86 European dictatorships, 1918–1945]''". Routledge. p.86. ISBN 0-415-23046-2.</ref> 

The ultra-nationalist, fascist [[Ustaše]] committed [[Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|genocide against Serbs]] during World War II.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yeomans|first=Rory|author-link=Rory Yeomans|title=The Utopia of Terror: Life and Death in Wartime Croatia|year=2015|page=18|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781580465458|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HEDCwAAQBAJ|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927204208/https://books.google.com/books?id=8HEDCwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The Serbian nationalist [[Chetniks]] committed [[Chetnik war crimes in World War II|genocide against Croats and Bosniaks]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Totten |first1=Samuel |last2=Parsons |first2=William Spencer |title=Centuries of Genocide: Essays and Eyewitness Accounts |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-41587-191-4 |page=483 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XYp-z5aP4MC&pg=PA483}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hoare|first=Marko Attila|author-link=Marko Attila Hoare|title=The History of Bosnia: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWQtAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Saqi|isbn=978-0-86356-953-1|pages=254, 279}}</ref> Also during World War II, [[fascist Italy]] sent tens of thousands of Slavs to [[List of Italian concentration camps|concentration camps]] in mainland Italy, [[Italian Libya|Libya]], and [[Balkans campaign (World War II)|the Balkans]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-10-22 |title='The Italians hid behind Nazi crimes to forget their own and failed to firmly anchor democracy in their society' |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2022/10/22/the-italians-hid-behind-nazi-crimes-to-forget-their-own-and-failed-to-firmly-anchor-democracy-in-their-society_6001338_23.html |access-date=2024-05-23 |work=Le Monde.fr |language=en}}</ref>

In 1991, the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union collapsed]], and many former Soviet republics became independent countries.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9">{{cite news |date=10 December 2013 |title=Kyrgyzstan Offers an Unlikely Window Into Slavic Culture |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2013/12/10/kyrgyzstan-offers-an-unlikely-window-into-slavic-culture-a30350 |work=[[The Moscow Times]]}}</ref> Currently, former Soviet states in Central Asia such as [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Kyrgyzstan]] have very large minority Slavic populations, with most being Russians.<ref name=":9" /> Kazakhstan has the largest Slavic minority population.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm Russians left behind in Central Asia], by Robert Greenall, [[BBC News]], 23 November 2005.</ref>

==Languages==
{{main|History of the Slavic languages|Slavic languages}}
[[File:Lenguas_eslavas_orientales.PNG|thumb|upright|left|East Slavic languages{{imagefact|date=November 2022}}
{{legend|#008080|[[Russian language|Russian]]}}
{{legend|#00FF7F|[[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]}}
{{legend|#FFD700|[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]}}
{{legend|#FF7F50|[[Rusyn language|Rusyn]]}}]]
[[File:South_Slavic_dialect_continuum.svg|thumb|right|South Slavic dialect continuum with major dialect groups]]
[[File:Lenguas eslavas occidentales.PNG|thumb|upright|left|West Slavic languages{{imagefact|date=November 2022}}<br />
{{legend|#FF0000|[[Polish language|Polish]]}}
{{legend|#A52A2A|[[Kashubian language|Kashubian]]}}
{{legend|#FF6347|[[Silesian language|Silesian]]}}
{{legend|#8B008B|[[Polabian language|Polabian]] †}}
{{legend|#FF00FF|[[Lower Sorbian]]}}
{{legend|#EE82EE|[[Upper Sorbian]]}}
{{legend|#FF8C00|[[Czech language|Czech]]}}
{{legend|#FFD700|[[Slovak language|Slovak]]}}
]]
[[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]], the supposed ancestor language of all Slavic languages, is a descendant of common [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]], via a [[Proto-Balto-Slavic|Balto-Slavic stage]] in which it developed numerous lexical and morphophonological isoglosses with the [[Baltic language]]s. In the framework of the [[Kurgan hypothesis]], "the Indo-Europeans who remained after the migrations [from the steppe] became speakers of Balto-Slavic".<ref name="kortlandt"/>

Proto-Slavic is defined as the last stage of the language preceding the geographical split of the historical [[Slavic languages]]. That language was uniform, and on the basis of borrowings from foreign languages and Slavic borrowings into other languages, it cannot be said to have any recognizable dialects, which suggests that there was, at one time, a relatively-small [[Slavic urheimat|Proto-Slavic homeland]].<ref name="kortlandt5" /> However, from a historical and archaeological point of view, the existence of a homogeneous Proto-Slavic people is judged improbable.{{sfn|Brather|2008|pp=54-55}}

Slavic linguistic unity was to some extent visible as late as Old Church Slavonic manuscripts which, though based on local Slavic speech of [[Thessaloniki]], could still serve the purpose of the first common Slavic literary language.<ref>J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, ''The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World'' (2006), pp. 25–26.</ref>

[[Standard language|Standardised]] Slavic languages that have official status in at least one country are: [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], [[Montenegrin language|Montenegrin]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Slovene language|Slovene]], and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]. Russian is the most spoken Slavic language, and is the most spoken [[native language]] in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://learn.utoronto.ca/programs-courses/languages-and-translation/language-learning/russian|title=Russian|publisher=[[University of Toronto]]|quote=Russian is the most widespread of the Slavic languages and the largest native language in Europe.|access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref>

The alphabets used for Slavic languages are usually connected to the dominant religion among the respective ethnic groups. Orthodox Christians use the [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic alphabet]] while Catholics use the [[Latin alphabet]]; the Bosniaks, who are Muslim, also use the Latin alphabet and Cyrillic alphabet in Serbia. Additionally, some [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholics]] and [[Latin Church|Western Catholics]] use the Cyrillic alphabet. Serbian and Montenegrin use both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. There is also a Latin script to write in Belarusian, called [[Belarusian Latin alphabet|Łacinka]] and in Ukrainian, called [[Ukrainian Latin alphabet|Latynka]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

==Ethno-cultural subdivisions==
[[West Slavs]] originate from early Slavic tribes which settled in [[Central Europe]] after the [[East Germanic tribes]] had left this area during the [[migration period]].<ref>{{cite book|last1= Kobyliński|first1= Zbigniew |chapter= The Slavs|editor1-last= McKitterick |editor1-first= Rosamond |editor1-link= Rosamond McKitterick |title= The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 1, c.500-c.700 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JcmwuoTsKO0C |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page= 531|isbn= 978-0-521-36291-7 |year= 1995}}</ref> They are noted as having mixed with [[Germans|Germanics]], [[Hungarians]], [[Celts]] (particularly the [[Boii]]), [[Old Prussians]], and the [[Pannonian Avars]].<ref name="Stocki1950">{{cite book|author=Roman Smal Stocki |title=Slavs and Teutons: The Oldest Germanic-Slavic Relations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VM0KAQAAIAAJ |year=1950 |publisher=Bruce}}</ref> The West Slavs came under the influence of the [[Western Roman Empire]] (Latin) and of the [[Catholic Church]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

[[East Slavs]] have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed and contacted with [[Finnic peoples|Finns]], [[Balts]]<ref name="ZickelDivision1991">{{cite book|author1=Raymond E. Zickel|author2=Library of Congress. Federal Research Division|title=Soviet Union: A Country Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnYsAAAAYAAJ|date=1 December 1991|publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress|isbn=978-0-8444-0727-2|page=138}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Comparative Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTAkDMtho0sC&pg=PA182|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-6033-8|pages=182–}}</ref> and with the remnants of the people of the [[Goths]].<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/98572077 Tarasov I.M. On the Mention of the Dnieper Varangians in the Context of the Legend of the Beginning of Kiev. 2023. P. 59–60]</ref> Their early Slavic component, [[Antes people|Antes]], mixed or absorbed [[Iranian peoples|Iranians]], and later received influence from the [[Khazars]] and [[Vikings]].{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=237}} The East Slavs trace their national origins to the tribal unions of [[Kievan Rus']] and [[Rus' Khaganate]], beginning in the 10th century. They came particularly under the influence of the [[Byzantine Empire]] and of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

[[South Slavs]] from most of the region have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed with the local Proto-Balkanic tribes ([[Illyrian tribes|Illyrian]], [[Dacian tribes|Dacian]], [[Thracian tribes|Thracian]], [[Paeonian tribes|Paeonian]], [[Hellenic tribes]]), and [[Celtic tribes]] (particularly the [[Scordisci]]), as well as with Romans (and the Romanized remnants of the former groups), and also with remnants of temporarily settled invading East Germanic, Asiatic or Caucasian tribes such as [[Gepids]], [[Huns]], [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]], Goths and [[Bulgars]].{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} The original inhabitants of present-day Slovenia and continental Croatia have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed with Romans and romanized Celtic and Illyrian people as well as with Avars and Germanic peoples (Lombards and East Goths). The South Slavs (except the Slovenes and Croats) came under the cultural sphere of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] (Byzantine Empire), of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and [[Islam]], while the Slovenes and the Croats were influenced by the [[Western Roman Empire]] (Latin) and thus by the [[Catholic Church]] in a similar fashion to that of the West Slavs.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

==Genetics==
Consistent with the proximity of their languages, analyses of [[Y chromosome]]s, [[Mitochondrial DNA|mDNA]], and [[autosome|autosomal]] marker CCR5 delta 32 shows that [[East Slavs]] and [[West Slavs]] are genetically very similar, but demonstrating significant differences from neighboring Finno-Ugric, [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], and North Caucasian peoples. Such genetic homogeneity is somewhat unusual, given such a wide dispersal of Slavic populations.{{sfn|Verbenko|2005|pp=10–18}}{{sfn|Balanovsky|2012|p=13}} Together they form the basis of the "''East European''" [[gene cluster]], which also includes non-Slavic [[Hungarians]] and [[Aromanians]].{{sfn|Verbenko|2005|pp=10–18}}{{sfn|Balanovsky|2012|p=23}}

Only [[Northern Russian dialects|Northern Russians]] among East and West Slavs belong to a different, "''Northern European''" genetic cluster, along with [[Balts]], [[Germanic-speaking Europe|Germanic]] and [[Baltic Finnic peoples]] (Northern Russian populations are very similar to Balts).{{sfn|Balanovsky|Rootsi|2008|pp=236–250}}{{sfn|Balanovsky|2012|p=26}}

[[File:Mapa de R1a.png|thumb|Global distribution of the [[R1a]] haplogroup, which is the most frequently found haplogroup among the Slavic peoples of Europe]]

The 2006 Y-DNA study results "suggest that the Slavic expansion started from the territory of present-day Ukraine, thus supporting the hypothesis placing the earliest known homeland of Slavs in the basin of the middle [[Dnieper]]".<ref name="Rębała ''et al.'' 2007">{{cite journal | pmid = 17364156 | year = 2007 | last1 = Rebała | first1 = K | last2 = Mikulich | first2 = AI | last3 = Tsybovsky | first3 = IS | last4 = Siváková | first4 = D | last5 = Dzupinková | first5 = Z | last6 = Szczerkowska-Dobosz | first6 = A | last7 = Szczerkowska | first7 = Z | title = Y-STR variation among Slavs: Evidence for the Slavic homeland in the middle Dnieper basin | volume = 52 | issue = 5 | pages = 406–14 | doi = 10.1007/s10038-007-0125-6 | journal = Journal of Human Genetics | doi-access = free }}</ref> According to genetic studies until 2020, the distribution, variance and frequency of the [[Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup|Y-DNA haplogroups]] [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a]] and [[Haplogroup I-M438#I2a-L621|I2]] and their subclades R-M558, R-M458 and I-CTS10228 among [[South Slavs]] correlate with the spread of Slavic languages during the medieval Slavic expansion from Eastern Europe, most probably from the territory of present-day Ukraine and [[Lesser Poland|Southeastern Poland]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=A. Zupan|title=The paternal perspective of the Slovenian population and its relationship with other populations|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251567977|journal=[[Annals of Human Biology]]|volume=40|issue=6|date=2013|doi=10.3109/03014460.2013.813584|pmid=23879710|display-authors=etal|pages=515–526 |s2cid=34621779|quote=However, a study by Battaglia et al. (2009) showed a variance peak for I2a1 in the Ukraine and, based on the observed pattern of variation, it could be suggested that at least part of the I2a1 haplogroup could have arrived in the Balkans and Slovenia with the Slavic migrations from a homeland in present-day Ukraine... The calculated age of this specific haplogroup together with the variation peak detected in the suggested Slavic homeland could represent a signal of Slavic migration arising from medieval Slavic expansions. However, the strong genetic barrier around the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, associated with the high frequency of the I2a1b-M423 haplogroup, could also be a consequence of a Paleolithic genetic signal of a Balkan refuge area, followed by mixing with a medieval Slavic signal from modern-day Ukraine.}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Underhill |first1=Peter A. |year=2015 |title=The phylogenetic and geographic structure of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=124–131 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2014.50 |pmid=24667786 |pmc=4266736 |quote=R1a-M458 exceeds 20% in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Western Belarus. The lineage averages 11–15% across Russia and Ukraine and occurs at 7% or less elsewhere (Figure 2d). Unlike hg R1a-M458, the R1a-M558 clade is also common in the Volga-Uralic populations. R1a-M558 occurs at 10–33% in parts of Russia, exceeds 26% in Poland and Western Belarus, and varies between 10 and 23% in the Ukraine, whereas it drops 10-fold lower in Western Europe. In general, both R1a-M458 and R1a-M558 occur at low but informative frequencies in Balkan populations with known Slavonic heritage.}}</ref><ref name="Utevska">{{cite thesis |type=PhD |author=O.M. Utevska |date=2017 |title=Генофонд українців за різними системами генетичних маркерів: походження і місце на європейському генетичному просторі |trans-title=The gene pool of Ukrainians revealed by different systems of genetic markers: the origin and statement in Europe |publisher=National Research Center for Radiation Medicine of [[National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine]]|url=http://nrcrm.gov.ua/science/councils/dissertation/|language=uk|pages=219–226, 302}}</ref><ref name="Neparaczki">{{cite journal |last1=Neparáczki |first1=Endre |last2=Maróti |first2=Zoltán |display-authors=1 |date=2019 |title=Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=9 |issue=16569 |page=16569 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5 |pmc=6851379 |pmid=31719606 |bibcode=2019NatSR...916569N |quote=Hg I2a1a2b-L621 was present in 5 Conqueror samples, and a 6th sample form Magyarhomorog (MH/9) most likely also belongs here, as MH/9 is a likely kin of MH/16 (see below). This Hg of European origin is most prominent in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, especially among Slavic speaking groups.}}</ref><ref name="HorolmaTibor2019">{{cite book|first1=Horolma|last1=Pamjav|first2=Tibor|last2=Fehér|first3=Endre|last3=Németh|first4=László|last4=Koppány Csáji|title=Genetika és őstörténet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xq2xDwAAQBAJ|year=2019|publisher=Napkút Kiadó|language=hu|isbn=978-963-263-855-3|page=58|quote=Az I2-CTS10228 (köznevén "dinári-kárpáti") alcsoport legkorábbi közös őse 2200 évvel ezelőttre tehető, így esetében nem arról van szó, hogy a mezolit népesség Kelet-Európában ilyen mértékben fennmaradt volna, hanem arról, hogy egy, a mezolit csoportoktól származó szűk család az európai vaskorban sikeresen integrálódott egy olyan társadalomba, amely hamarosan erőteljes demográfiai expanzióba kezdett. Ez is mutatja, hogy nem feltétlenül népek, mintsem családok sikerével, nemzetségek elterjedésével is számolnunk kell, és ezt a jelenlegi etnikai identitással összefüggésbe hozni lehetetlen. A csoport elterjedése alapján valószínűsíthető, hogy a szláv népek migrációjában vett részt, így válva az R1a-t követően a második legdominánsabb csoporttá a mai Kelet-Európában. Nyugat-Európából viszont teljes mértékben hiányzik, kivéve a kora középkorban szláv nyelvet beszélő keletnémet területeket.}}</ref><ref name="Fóthi">{{Citation |last1=Fóthi |first1=E. |last2=Gonzalez |first2=A. |last3=Fehér |first3=T. |display-authors=etal |title=Genetic analysis of male Hungarian Conquerors: European and Asian paternal lineages of the conquering Hungarian tribes |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |volume=12 |issue=1 |date=2020 |page=31 |doi=10.1007/s12520-019-00996-0|doi-access=free|bibcode=2020ArAnS..12...31F |quote=Based on SNP analysis, the CTS10228 group is 2200 ± 300 years old. The group's demographic expansion may have begun in Southeast Poland around that time, as carriers of the oldest subgroup are found there today. The group cannot solely be tied to the Slavs, because the proto-Slavic period was later, around 300–500 CE... The SNP-based age of the Eastern European CTS10228 branch is 2200 ± 300 years old. The carriers of the most ancient subgroup live in Southeast Poland, and it is likely that the rapid demographic expansion which brought the marker to other regions in Europe began there. The largest demographic explosion occurred in the Balkans, where the subgroup is dominant in 50.5% of Croatians, 30.1% of Serbs, 31.4% of Montenegrins, and in about 20% of Albanians and Greeks. As a result, this subgroup is often called Dinaric. It is interesting that while it is dominant among modern Balkan peoples, this subgroup has not been present yet during the Roman period, as it is almost absent in Italy as well (see Online Resource 5; ESM_5).}}</ref><ref name="Kassian2020">{{citation |last1=Kushniarevich |first1=Alena |last2=Kassian |first2=Alexei |editor=Marc L. Greenberg |date=2020 |title=Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics Online |chapter=Genetics and Slavic languages |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/2589-6229_ESLO_COM_032367 |access-date=10 December 2020 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341945550 |quote=The geographic distributions of the major eastern European NRY haplogroups (R1a-Z282, I2a-P37) overlap with the area occupied by the present-day Slavs to a great extent, and it might be tempting to consider both haplogroups as Slavic-specic patrilineal lineages}}</ref>

According to a 2017 study, Slavic speakers like Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians have similar genetic components. Ukrainians and Belarusians have near-equal amounts of two "European components", which are commonly found in North Europe and Caucasus respectively. There is also no evidence of Asian admixture. However, samples of [[Novosibirsk]] residents and [[Old Believers]] in Siberia have 5-10% Central Siberian ancestry despite being genetically close to European Slavs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Triska |first1=Petr |last2=Chekanov |first2=Nikolay |last3=Stepanov |first3=Vadim |last4=Khusnutdinova |first4=Elza K. |display-authors=3 |date=2017 |title=Between Lake Baikal and the Baltic Sea: genomic history of the gateway to Europe |journal=BMC Genetics |volume=18 |issue=1 |page=110 |doi=10.1186/s12863-017-0578-3 |doi-access=free |pmid=29297395 |pmc=5751809 }}</ref>

==Religion==
{{See also|Slavic paganism}}
[[File:"Swiatowid (cult statue)", Kraków 2013.2.jpg|thumb|upright|The "[[Zbruch Idol]]" preserved at the [[Archaeological Museum of Kraków|Kraków Archaeological Museum]]]]
The [[Slavic paganism|pagan Slavic]] populations [[Christianization of the Slavs|were Christianized]] between the 7th and 12th centuries. [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] is predominant among East and South Slavs, while [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] is predominant among West Slavs and some western [[South Slavs]]. The religious borders are largely comparable to the [[East–West Schism]] which began in the 11th century. Islam first arrived in the 7th century during the [[early Muslim conquests]], and was gradually adopted by a number of Slavic ethnic groups through the centuries in the Balkans.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Among Slavic populations who profess a religion, the majority of contemporary Christian Slavs are Orthodox, followed by Catholic. The majority of Muslim Slavs follow the [[Hanafi]] school of the [[Sunni]] branch of Islam.<ref name="Ramet1989">{{cite book|author-link=Sabrina P. Ramet|author=Sabrina P. Ramet|title=Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50GTIhntKvYC&pg=PA380|year=1989|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-0891-1|pages=380–}}</ref> Religious delineations by nationality can be very sharp; usually in the Slavic ethnic groups, the vast majority of religious people share the same religion.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

{{Col-begin|width=60%}}
{{Col-break}}
Mainly [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]]:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Goldblatt|first=Harvey|title=Orthodox Slavic Heritage and National Consciousness: Aspects of the East Slavic and South Slavic National Revivals|journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies|publisher=Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute|pages=336–354|date=December 1986|volume=10|number=3/4|jstor=41036261}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Zdravkovski|first1=Aleksander|last2=Morrison|first2=Kenneth|chapter=The Orthodox Churches of Macedonia and Montenegro: The Quest for Autocephaly|pages=240–262|title=Religion and Politics in Post-Socialist Central and Southeastern Europe|date=January 2014|doi=10.1057/9781137330727_10|isbn=978-1-349-46120-2}}</ref>
* [[Russians]]
* [[Ukrainians]]
* [[Serbs]]
* [[Bulgarians]]
* [[Belarusians]]
* [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]]
* [[Montenegrins]]
{{Col-break}}
Mainly [[Catholicism]]:{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
* [[Polish people|Poles]]
* [[Silesians]]
* [[Kashubians]]
* [[Gorals]]
* [[Czechs]] (largely [[Irreligion in the Czech Republic|irreligious]])
* [[Slovaks]]
* [[Croats]]
* [[Slovenes]]
* [[Sorbs]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Sparrow|first=Thomas|title=Sorbs: The ethnic minority inside Germany|url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210615-sorbs-the-ethnic-minority-inside-germany|work=[[BBC]]|date=16 June 2021|access-date=3 April 2022}}</ref>
* [[Rusyns]]{{efn|name=rusyn-religion|Originally Eastern Orthodox, with some groups adopting [[Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church|Byzantine-Rite Catholicism]] under Polish and Austro-Hungarian rule and reverting to Eastern Orthodoxy starting in the late 19th Century.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}}}
* [[Banat Bulgarians]]<ref name="VučkovićXXI">{{cite journal |last=Vučković |first=Marija |date=2008 |title=Savremena istraživanja malih etničkih zajednica |trans-title=Contemporary studies of small ethnic communities |url=https://www.academia.edu/5364641 |language=sh |journal=XXI Vek |volume=3 |pages=2–8 |access-date=1 March 2019}}</ref>
{{Col-break}}
Mainly [[Islam in Europe|Islam]]:
* [[Bosniaks]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lopasic|first=Alexander|title=Bosnian Muslims: A Search for Identity|journal=[[British Society for Middle Eastern Studies]]|volume=8|number=2|date=1981|pages=115–121|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|doi=10.1080/13530198108705319|jstor=194542}}</ref>
* [[Pomaks]]<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hugh Poulton|author2=Suha Taji-Farouki|title=Muslim Identity and the Balkan State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQqHjwW6XzcC&pg=PA33|date=January 1997|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-85065-276-2|page=33}}</ref>
* [[Gorani people|Gorani]]<ref>{{citation|editor=Bursać, Milan|year=2000|title=ГОРАНЦИ, МУСЛИМАНИ И ТУРЦИ У ШАРПЛАНИНСКИМ ЖУПАМА СРБИЈЕ: ПРОБЛЕМИ САДАШЊИХ УСЛОВА ЖИВОТА И ОПСТАНКА: Зборник радова са "Округлог стола" одржаног 19. априла 2000. године у Српској академији наука и уметности|publisher=SANU|location=Belgrade|url=http://www.rastko.rs/rastko-gora/zbornici/gora2000.php|pages=71=73}}</ref>
* [[Torbeši]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Kowan |first=J. |year=2000 |title=Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference |location=London |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=0-7453-1594-1 |page=111 }}</ref>
* [[Muslims (ethnic group)|Ethnic Muslims]]
{{col-end}}

==Relations with non-Slavic people==
{{See also|Baltic Slavic piracy|Narentines|Germania Slavica|Bavaria Slavica}}
Throughout their history, Slavs came into contact with non-Slavic groups. In the postulated homeland region (present-day [[Ukraine]]), they had contacts with the Iranian [[Sarmatians]] and the Germanic [[Goths]]. After their subsequent spread, the Slavs began assimilating non-Slavic peoples. For example, in the Northern Black Sea region, the Slavs assimilated the remnants of the Goths.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/98572077 Tarasov I.M. On the Mention of the Dnieper Varangians in the Context of the Legend of the Beginning of Kiev. 2023. P. 59–60]</ref> In the Balkans, there were [[Prehistory of Southeastern Europe|Paleo-Balkan]] peoples, such as Romanized and [[Hellenization|Hellenized]] ([[Jireček Line]]) [[Illyrians]], [[Thracians]] and [[Dacians]], as well as [[Greeks]] and [[Celts|Celtic]] [[Scordisci]] and [[Serdi]].<ref>''The Cambridge Ancient History'', Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, {{ISBN|0-521-22717-8}}, 1992, page 600: "In the place of the vanished Treres and Tilataei we find the Serdi for whom there is no evidence before the first century BC. It has for long being supposed on convincing linguistic and archeological grounds that this tribe was of Celtic origin."</ref> Because Slavs were so numerous, most indigenous populations of the Balkans were Slavicized. Thracians and Illyrians mixed as ethnic groups in this period. 

A notable exception is Greece, where [[Sclaveni#Relationship between the Slavs in Byzantium|Slavs were Hellenized]] because [[Byzantine Greeks|Greeks]] were more numerous, especially with more Greeks returning to Greece in the 9th century and the influence of the church and administration,{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=41}} however, Slavicized regions within [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], [[Thrace]] and [[Moesia Inferior]] also had a larger portion of locals compared to migrating Slavs.<ref>Florin Curta's An ironic smile: the Carpathian Mountains and the migration of the Slavs, Studia mediaevalia Europaea et orientalia. Miscellanea in honorem professoris emeriti Victor Spinei oblata, edited by George Bilavschi and Dan Aparaschivei, 47–72. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române, 2018.</ref> Other notable exceptions are the territory of present-day [[Romania]] and [[Hungary]], where Slavs settled en route to present-day Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and [[East Thrace]] but assimilated, and the modern [[Albanians|Albanian]] nation which claims descent from Illyrians and other Balkan tribes.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

The status of the [[Bulgars]] as a ruling class and their control of the land nominally left their legacy in the [[Bulgaria|Bulgarian country and people]], but Bulgars were gradually also Slavicized into the present-day South Slavic ethnic group known as [[Bulgarians]]. The [[Romance languages|Romance speakers]] within [[Dalmatian city-states|the fortified Dalmatian cities]] retained their culture and language for a long time.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=35}} Dalmatian Romance was spoken until the high Middle Ages, but, they too were eventually assimilated into the body of Slavs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simmonds |first=Lauren |date=May 11, 2023 |title=Croatian Language – The Difference between Dalmatic and Dalmatian |url=https://total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/croatian-language-8/#:~:text=The%20Dalmatic%20language%20does%20not,both%20Slavic%20and%20Romance%20languages}}</ref>

In the Western Balkans, South Slavs and Germanic [[Gepids]] intermarried with invaders, eventually producing a Slavicized population.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} In Central Europe, the West Slavs intermixed with [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]], [[Hungarians|Hungarian]], and [[Celts|Celtic]] peoples, while in Eastern Europe the East Slavs had encountered [[Baltic Finns|Finnic]] and [[Varangians|Scandinavian people]]s. Scandinavians ([[Varangians]]) and Finnic peoples were involved in the [[Kievan Rus'|early formation of the Rus' state]] but were completely Slavicized after a century. Some [[Finno-Ugric peoples|Finno-Ugric]] tribes in the north were also absorbed into the expanding Rus population.{{sfn|Balanovsky|Rootsi|2008|pp=236—250}} In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] tribes, such as the [[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] and the [[Pecheneg]], caused a massive migration of East Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north.<ref name="The course of the Russian history2">{{cite book |last=Klyuchevsky |first=Vasily |date=1987 |chapter-url=http://www.kulichki.com/inkwell/text/special/history/kluch/kluch16.htm |title=The course of the Russian history |chapter=1: Mysl |publisher=Мысль |language=ru |isbn=5-244-00072-1 |access-date=9 October 2009}}</ref> In the Middle Ages, groups of [[Saxons|Saxon]] ore miners settled in medieval [[Bosnia]], [[Serbia]] and [[Bulgaria]], where they were Slavicized.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

[[File:Slavic raids on Scandinavia, Nar.Muz.Mor., Gdańsk, Poland.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Map showing [[Baltic Slavic piracy|Slavic raids]] on Scandinavia in the mid-12th century]]

''[[Saqaliba]]'' refers to the Slavic [[Mercenary|mercenaries]] and [[Slavery|slave]]s in the medieval Arab world in [[North Africa]], [[Sicily]] and [[Al-Andalus]]. Saqaliba served as caliph's guards.<ref name="fordham2">{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html |title=ch 1 |author=Lewis |year=1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010401012040/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html |archive-date=1 April 2001}}</ref><ref>Eigeland, Tor. 1976. [http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/197605/the.golden.caliphate.htm "The golden caliphate"]. ''Saudi Aramco World'', September/October 1976, pp.&nbsp;12–16.</ref> In the 12th century, [[Baltic Slavic piracy|Slavic piracy in the Baltics]] increased. The [[Wendish Crusade]] was started against the Polabian Slavs in 1147, as a part of the [[Northern Crusades]]. The pagan chief of the Slavic [[Obotrites|Obodrite]] tribes, [[Niklot]], began his open resistance when [[Lothar III]], [[Holy Roman Emperor]], invaded Slavic lands. In August 1160, Niklot was killed, and German colonization (''[[Ostsiedlung]]'') of the Elbe-Oder region began. In [[Hanoverian Wendland]], [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]] and [[Lusatia]], invaders started [[germanization]]. Early forms of germanization were described by German monks: [[Helmold]] in the manuscript ''[[Chronicon Slavorum]]'' and [[Adam of Bremen]] in ''[[Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum]].''<ref name="britannica2">{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639735/Wend |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507201210/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639735/Wend |archive-date=2008-05-07 |title=Wend |website=Britannica.com |date=13 September 2013 |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> The [[Polabian language]] survived until the beginning of the 19th century in what is now the German state of [[Lower Saxony]].<ref name="britannica42">{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/Polabian-language |title=Polabian language |website=Britannica.com |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> In [[Eastern Germany]], around 20% of Germans have historic Slavic paternal ancestry, as revealed in Y-DNA testing.<ref>{{cite journal|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=2013|title=Contemporary paternal genetic landscape of Polish and German populations: from early medieval Slavic expansion to post-World War II resettlements|journal=European Journal of Human Genetics|volume=21|issue=4|pages=415–22|doi=10.1038/ejhg.2012.190|pmc=3598329|pmid=22968131}}</ref> Similarly, in Germany, around 20% of the foreign surnames are of Slavic origin.<ref>{{cite journal|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=2006|title=Y-chromosomal STR haplotype analysis reveals surname-associated strata in the East-German population|journal=European Journal of Human Genetics|volume=14|issue=5|pages=577–582|doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201572|pmid=16435000|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[History of the Cossacks|Cossacks]], although Slavic and practicing [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]], came from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, including [[Tatars]] and other peoples.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} The [[Gorals]] of southern [[Poland]] and northern [[Slovakia]] are partially descended from the originally Balkan Romance speaking [[Vlachs]], who migrated into the region from the 14th to 17th centuries and were quickly absorbed into the local population, especially since the majority of Vlachs were already [[Slavicisation|slavicized]] and the term became synonymous with Ruthenians. The populations of [[Moravian Wallachia]], [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] and parts of northern Slovakia are also descended partially from the Vlachs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wołoscy pasterze w Ochotnicy oraz tutejsze nazwy pochodzenia wołoskiego |url=http://skansen-studzionki.pl/wolosi-w-ochotnicy |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=skansen-studzionki.pl |language=pl-PL}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Redakcja |date=2017-11-23 |title=Skąd pochodzą górale? Inwazja Wołochów zmieniła historię polskich gór |url=https://naszahistoria.pl/skad-pochodza-gorale-inwazja-wolochow-zmienila-historie-polskich-gor/ar/12701192 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Nasza Historia |language=pl-PL}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul Robert |title=With their backs to the mountains: a history of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns |date=2015 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-615-5053-46-7 |location=Budapest}}</ref> Conversely, some Slavs were assimilated into other populations. Although the majority continued towards Southeast Europe, attracted by the riches of the area that became the state of Bulgaria, a few remained in the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe and were assimilated into the [[Hungarian people|Magyar]] people. Numerous rivers and places in [[History of Romania|Romania]] have a name with Slavic origins.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nandriș |first=Grigore |title=The Relations between Toponymy and Ethnology in Rumania |jstor=4204755 |volume=34 |number=83 |date=June 1956 |pages=490–494 |journal=[[The Slavonic and East European Review]] |publisher=[[Modern Humanities Research Association]]}}</ref>

==Population==
[[File:Slavic ancestry in the USA and Canada.png|thumb|Slavs in the US (1990 census) and Canada (2016 census) by area:
{{legend|#6A006A|20–35%}}
{{legend|#63070C|14–20%}}
{{legend|#9A0E15|11–14%}}
{{legend|#D2131D|8–11%}}
{{legend|#FF7F27|5–8%}}
{{legend|#FFC90E|3–5%}}
{{legend|#BBBBBB|0–3%}}]]
[[File:Percentage of Russians by region.svg|thumb|Percentage of ethnic Russians by [[federal subjects of Russia|federal subjects]] of Russia according to the [[Russian Census (2010)|2010 census]]:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_etn_10.php |title=EAll- Russian population census 2010 – Population by nationality, sex and subjects of the Russian Federation |work=Demoscope Weekly |year=2010}}</ref>
{{legend|#ff0000|above 80%}}
{{legend|#ff9955|70—79%}}
{{legend|#ffccaa|50—69%}}
{{legend|#ffe6d5|20—49%}}
{{legend|#ffffff|below 20%}}]]

''[[Winkler Prins]]'' (2002) estimated the number of Slavs worldwide to be around {{circa}} 260 million at the time.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Slaven |encyclopedia=[[Encarta]] Encyclopedie [[Winkler Prins]] |date=1993–2002 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum |language=nl}}</ref>{{reliable source|date=August 2022}} Currently it is estimated that there are 300 million Slavic inhabitants in [[Central Europe|Central]], [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]], and [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Loginova |first1=Nina N. |last2=Radovanović |first2=Milan M. |last3=Yamashkin |first3=Anatoliy A. |last4=Vasin |first4=Goran |last5=Petrović |first5=Marko D. |last6=Demirović Bajrami |first6=Dunja |date=2020-12-31 |title=Analysis of the population dynamics in the "Slavic World" with a special focus on Russia |journal=Indonesian Journal of Geography |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=317 |doi=10.22146/ijg.51202 |issn=2354-9114|doi-access=free }}</ref>
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Ethnicity
! colspan="2" data-sort-type="number" | Estimates and census data
|-
| [[Belarusians]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 8.37 million Belarusians in Belarus <small>(2009 Belarusian census)</small><ref name='2009census'>{{cite web|url=http://www.belstat.gov.by/en/perepis-naseleniya/perepis-naseleniya-2009-goda/main-demographic-and-social-characteristics-of-population-of-the-republic-of-belarus/changes-in-the-populations-of-the-majority-ethnic-groups/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728160107/http://www.belstat.gov.by/en/perepis-naseleniya/perepis-naseleniya-2009-goda/main-demographic-and-social-characteristics-of-population-of-the-republic-of-belarus/changes-in-the-populations-of-the-majority-ethnic-groups/|archive-date=28 July 2016 |title=Changes in the populations of the majority ethnic groups |website=belstat.gov.by|access-date=2016-07-28}}</ref>
* 46,787 [[Belarusian minority in Poland|Belarusians in Poland]] <small>(2011 Polish census)</small><ref name="2011 Polish census"/>
* 20,710 "Byelorussian"	(5,125 Byelorussian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Bosniaks]] <small>(previously called "Bosnian Muslims")</small>
| colspan="2" | 
* 1,898,963 Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina <small>(1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992)</small><ref name="Audit of Sarajevo">{{Cite web |url=http://www.eured-bih.org/publikacije/SERSEA_SWOTeng.pdf |title=Socio-Economic Audit of Sarajevo Macro Region |date=March 2004 |access-date=8 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227125845/http://www.eured-bih.org/publikacije/SERSEA_SWOTeng.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2007 }}</ref>{{rp|43}}
* {{circa}} 1.9 million Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina <small>(2013–2022 ''[[The World Factbook|CIA World Factbook]]'' estimate)</small><ref>This number is derived from the 2022 total population estimate of 3,816,459, multiplied by 0.501 based on the 2013 50.1% Bosniak share estimate. It is not certain that the Bosniak share was still 50.1% in 2022. The ''Factbook'' notes: "Republika Srpska authorities dispute the methodology and refuse to recognize the results." {{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bosnia-and-herzegovina/|title = Bosnia and Herzegovina - the World Factbook|date=18 August 2022}}</ref>
* 153,801 Bosniaks in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=143}}
* 58,956 Bosniaks in Montenegro <small>(2023 Montenegrin census)</small><ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=144}}
* 17,018 Bosniaks in North Macedonia <small>(2002 North Macedonia census)</small><ref name="2002 North Macedonia census"/>
* 26,740 "Bosnians" (15,610	Bosnian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Bulgarians]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 10 million Bulgarians worldwide <small>(Kolev early 2000s estimate)</small><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=buOgAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%B1%D1%8A%D0%BB%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5+%D0%B2+%D1%87%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0+1945 Kolev, Yordan, Българите извън България 1878 – 1945, 2005, р. 18] Quote:"В началото на XXI в. общият брой на етническите българи в България и зад граница се изчислява на около 10 милиона души./At the beginning of the 21st century, the total number of ethnic Bulgarians in Bulgaria and abroad was estimated at about 10 million people."</ref>
* {{circa}} 6.5 million Bulgarians in Bulgaria <small>(Jeffreys et al. 2008 estimate)</small><ref name="Jeffreys 2008">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc6pDjcpnoUC&pg=PA7|title=The Report: Bulgaria 2008|publisher=Oxford Business Group|year=2008|isbn=978-1-902339-92-4|pages=7–8|access-date=26 March 2016}}</ref>
* {{circa}} 10 million Bulgarian speakers worldwide <small>(Jeffreys et al. 2008 estimate)</small><ref name="Jeffreys 2008"/>
* {{circa}} 9 million Bulgarians worldwide, of which nearly 7 million in Bulgaria <small>(Cole 2011 estimate)</small><ref name=Cole>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M9fDifnkMJMC&pg=PA55 |title=Ethnic Groups of Europe: An Encyclopedia|work=google.bg|isbn=978-1-59884-303-3|last1=Cole|first1=Jeffrey E.|author-link1=Jeffrey Cole|date=2011-05-25|publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref>
* {{circa}} 9 million Bulgarians worldwide, of which {{circa}} 7.3 million in Bulgaria <small>(Danver 2015 estimate)</small><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA271 |title=Native Peoples of the World |work=google.bg|isbn=978-1-317-46400-6 |last1=Danver |first1=Steven L. |date=2015-03-10 |publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
* 12,918 Bulgarians in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
* 34,560 Bulgarians	(19,965 Bulgarian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Bunjevci]]
| colspan="2" |
* 11,104 Bunjevci in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
|-
| [[Croats]]
| colspan="2" | 
* {{circa}} 4.5 million Croats in Croatia and {{circa}} 4 million Croats abroad <small>(1993 estimate by Palermo & Sabanadze 2011)</small><ref name="PalermoSabanadze2011">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDm-lw2nQ7IC&pg=PA11|title=National Minorities in Inter-State Relations|last=Palermo|first=Francesco|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|others=Natalie Sabanadze|year=2011|isbn=978-90-04-17598-3|editor=Francesco Palermo|page=11|chapter=National Minorities in Inter-State Relations: Filling the Legal Vacuum?}}</ref>
* 759,906 Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina <small>(1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992)</small><ref name="Audit of Sarajevo"/>{{rp|43}}
* {{circa}} 4.5 million Croats outside Croatia <small>(Winland 2004 estimate)</small><ref name="diasporas">{{citation|author=Daphne Winland|title=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Volume I: Overviews and Topics; Volume II: Diaspora Communities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC|year=2004|volume=2|page=76|chapter=Croatian Diaspora|edition=illustrated|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]]|isbn=978-0-306-48321-9|quote=It is estimated that 4.5 million Croatians live outside Croatia&nbsp;...|editor1=Melvin Ember|editor2=Carol R. Ember|editor3=Ian Skoggard}}</ref>
* {{circa}} 4.5 million Croats and people of Croatian heritage outside Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina <small>(HWC 2003 estimate)</small><ref name="HWC">{{cite web|url=http://www.crowc.org/english/about.asp?subcat=general|title=Hrvatski Svjetski Kongres|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030623031342/http://www.crowc.org/english/about.asp?subcat=general|archive-date=2003-06-23|access-date=1 June 2016}}, Croatian World Congress, "''4.5 million Croats and people of Croatian heritage live outside of the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina''"</ref>
* 39,107 Croats in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=143}}
* 5,150 Croats in Montenegro <small>(2023 Montenegrin census)</small><ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=144}}
* 133,965 Croats (55,595 Croatian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Czechs]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 6.1 million Czechs in Czechia <small>(2021–22 ''[[The World Factbook|CIA World Factbook]]'' estimate)</small><ref>An estimated 57.3% ethnic Czechs (2021) on an estimated 10,705,384 total population (2022) makes about 6.1 million. However, 31.6% was unspecified, so this may be far off the real figure. {{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/czechia/|title=Czech Republic|publisher=CIA - The World Factbook|access-date=16 August 2022}}</ref>
* 6,732,104 Czechs in Czechia <small>(2011 Czech census)</small><ref name="2011 Czech census">{{cite web|url=http://notes2.czso.cz/cz/sldb2011/cd_sldb2011_11_12/index_html_files/PVCR062.pdf|title=Tab. 6.2 Obyvatelstvo podle národnosti podle krajů|date=2011|website=Czech Statistical Office|language=cs|trans-title=Table. 6.2 Population by nationality, by region|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131022340/http://notes2.czso.cz/cz/sldb2011/cd_sldb2011_11_12/index_html_files/PVCR062.pdf|archive-date=31 January 2012}}</ref>
* 28,996 Czechs in Slovakia <small>(2021 Slovak census)</small><ref name="2021 Slovak census"/>
* 3,447 Czechs in Poland <small>(2011 Polish census)</small><ref name="2011 Polish census"/>
* 104,585 Czechs (23,250 Czech-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Czechoslovaks]] (a supra-ethnic category of Czechs and Slovaks)
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 304,000 people with Czechoslovak ancestry in the United States <small>(2010 American Community Survey)</small><ref name="FactFinder 2010"/>
* 40,715 "Czechoslovak, not otherwise specified" (5,075 Czechoslovak-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Gorani people|Gorani]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 60,000 Gorani worldwide <small>(2009 estimate by political party Građanska inicijativa Goranaca)</small><ref>{{cite web|url=http://gig.rs/program.html|title= Program političke stranke GIG|quote=Do Nato intervencije na Srbiju, 24.03.1999.godine, u Gori je živelo oko 18.000 Goranaca. U Srbiji i bivšim jugoslovenskim republikama nalazi se oko 40.000 Goranaca, a značajan broj Goranaca živi i radi u zemljama Evropske unije i u drugim zemljama. Po našim procenama ukupan broj Goranaca, u Gori u Srbiji i u rasejanju iznosi oko 60.000.}}</ref>
* 7,700 Gorani in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
|-
| [[Kashubians]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 331,000 Kashubs and {{circa}} 184,000 "half-Kashubs" <small>(couldn't speak Kashubian)</small> in the [[Gdańsk Voivodeship (1975–1998)|Gdańsk region]] <small>(Latoszek 1980s)</small><ref name="Kwidzińska">{{Cite book |last1=Kwidzińska |first1=Sławina |date=2007 |title=The Kashubs Today: Culture — Language — Identity |url=http://instytutkaszubski.republika.pl/pdfy/angielski.pdf |location=Gdańsk |publisher=The Kashubian Institute |pages=34–35 |isbn=978-83-89079-78-7 |access-date=19 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134213/http://instytutkaszubski.republika.pl/pdfy/angielski.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>
* 52,665 inhabitants of Poland spoke Kashubian at home (49,855 of them also spoke Polish at home) <small>(2002 Polish census)</small><ref name="Modrzejewski"/>
* 566,737 "Kashubs and people with partial Kashubian ancestry" in Pomerania <small>(Mordawski 2005)</small><ref name="Modrzejewski">["Polen-Analysen. Die Kaschuben" (PDF). Länder-Analysen (in German). Polen NR. 95: 10–13. September 2011. http://www.laender-analysen.de/polen/pdf/PolenAnalysen95.pdf]</ref>
* 232,547 Kashubians in Poland <small>(2011 Polish census)</small>{{efn|Including 16,000 single ethnic identity, 216,000 multiple ethnic identity Polish and Kashubian, 1,000 multiple ethnic identity Kashubian and another in Poland.<ref name="2011 Polish census"/>}}
|-
| [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]]
| colspan="2" |
* 1,297,981 Macedonians in North Macedonia <small>(2002 North Macedonia census)</small><ref name="2002 North Macedonia census">{{cite web |url=http://www.stat.gov.mk/Publikacii/knigaX.pdf |title=Census of population in the Republic of Macedonia 2002 |website=www.stat.gov.mk}} (page 62)</ref>
* {{circa}} 580,000 [[Macedonian diaspora|Macedonian emigrants]] <small>(1964 estimate)</small><ref>{{Citation
|last=Topolinjska
|first=Z.
|year=1998
|title=In place of a foreword: facts about the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian language
|journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language
|issue=131
|pages=1–11
|doi=10.1515/ijsl.1998.131.1
|s2cid=143257269
}}</ref>
* 14,767 Macedonians in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
* 43,110 Macedonians (18,405 Macedonian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Montenegrins]]
| colspan="2" |
* 256,436 Montenegrins in Montenegro <small>(2023 Montenegrin census)</small><ref name="2023 Montenegrin census">{{cite web |title=Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Montenegro 2023 |url=https://monstat.org/uploads/files/popis%202021/saopstenja/SAOPSTENJE_Popis%20stanovnistva%202023%20II_cg.pdf |publisher=[[Statistical Office of Montenegro]] |access-date=15 October 2024}}</ref>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=144}}
* {{circa}} 500,000 Montenegrins outside Montenegro <small>(2014 [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Montenegro)|Montenegrin Foreign Ministry]] estimate)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Širom svijeta pola miliona Crnogoraca |author= |work=RTCG - Radio Televizija Crne Gore - Nacionalni javni servis |date=20 September 2014 |access-date=18 August 2022 |url= https://rtcg.me/vijesti/dijaspora/66019/sirom-svijeta-pola-miliona-crnogoraca.html}}</ref>
** 20,238 Montenegrins in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=143}}
** 4,165 Montenegrins (915 Montenegrin-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Moravians (ethnic group)|Moravians]]
| colspan="2" |
* 522,474 Moravians in Czechia <small>(2011 Czech census)</small><ref name="2011 Czech census"/>
* 1,098 Moravians in Slovakia <small>(2021 Slovak census)</small><ref name="2021 Slovak census"/>
|-
| [[Muslims (ethnic group)]] (a supra-ethnic category of [[Bosniaks]], [[Gorani people|Gorani]], [[Torbeši]])
| colspan="2" |
* 13,011 Muslims in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=143}}
* 10,162 Muslims in Montenegro <small>(2023 Montenegrin census)</small><ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=144}}
* 12,121 Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina <small>(2013 BiH census)</small><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.popis.gov.ba/popis2013/knjige.php?id=2|title=Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Ethnicity/national affiliation, religion and mother tongue (Popis 2013 BiH) |date=2019 |website=www.popis.gov.ba|access-date=18 August 2022}}</ref>{{rp|27}}
|-
| [[Polish people|Poles]]
| colspan="2" |
* 37,393,651 inhabitants of Poland with declared Polish ethnicity <small>(2011 Polish census)</small><ref>Including 36,522,000 single declared ethnic identity, 871,000 multiple declared ethnic identities (Polish and another ethnic identity, especially 431,000 Polish and Silesian, 216,000 Polish and Kashubian and 224,000 Polish and another identity).{{Cite web |title=Przynależność narodowo-etniczna ludności – wyniki spisu ludności i mieszkań 2011 |author= |work=stat.gov.pl |date=29 January 2013 |access-date=16 August 2022 |url=https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/Przynaleznosc_narodowo-etniczna_w_2011_NSP.pdf}}</ref><ref name="2011 Polish census">{{cite book|author=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|date=January 2013|title=Ludność. Stan i struktura demograficzno-społeczna|trans-title=Narodowy Spis Powszechny Ludności i Mieszkań 2011|url=http://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/LUD_ludnosc_stan_str_dem_spo_NSP2011.pdf|language=pl|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|access-date=12 December 2014 |pages=89–101}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://stat.gov.pl/files/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5670/22/1/1/struktura_narodowo-etniczna.pdf|title=Struktura narodowo-etniczna, językowa i wyznaniowa ludności Polski [Narodowy Spis Powszechny Ludności i Mieszkań 2011]|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|date=November 2015|isbn=978-83-7027-597-6|location=Warsaw|pages=129–136|language=pl}}</ref>
* Over 20,000,000 [[Polish diaspora]] <small>(2015 estimate by wspolnotapolska.org.pl)</small><ref>[http://wspolnota-polska.org.pl/polonia_w_liczbach.html Świat Polonii, witryna Stowarzyszenia Wspólnota Polska: "Polacy za granicą"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908143840/http://wspolnota-polska.org.pl/polonia_w_liczbach.html|date=8 September 2015}} (''Polish people abroad'' as per summary by Świat Polonii, internet portal of the association ''Wspólnota Polska'')</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2022|reason=Not a scholary source.}}
* 1,106,585	Poles (264,415 Polish-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Russians]]
| colspan="2" | 
* {{circa}} 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation <small>(2002 ''[[Winkler Prins]]'' estimate)</small><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Russische Federatie – feiten en cijfers |encyclopedia=[[Encarta]] Encyclopedie [[Winkler Prins]] |date=1993–2002 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum |language=nl}}</ref>
* 622,445 Russians (120,165 Russian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Rusyns]] <br /> <small>(incl. [[Boykos]], [[Lemkos]], [[Hutsuls]])</small>
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 1.2 million Rusyns worldwide <small>(1995 Magocsi estimate)</small><ref>{{cite journal |last=Magocsi |first=Paul Robert |author-link=Paul Robert Magocsi |year=1995 |title=The Rusyn Question |journal=Political Thought |url=http://www.litopys.org.ua/rizne/magocie.htm |volume=2–3 |issue=6 |pages=221–231}}</ref>
* 23,746 Rusyns in Slovakia <small>(2021 Slovak census)</small><ref name="2021 Slovak census"/>
* 11,483 Ruthenians in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
* 10,531 Lemkos in Poland <small>(2011 Polish census)</small><ref name="2011 Polish census"/>
|-
| [[Serbs]]
| colspan="2" | 
* 5,360,239 Serbs in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census">{{cite web | url=https://popis2022.stat.gov.rs/en-us/5-vestisaopstenja/news-events/20230428-konacnirezpopisa/ | title=Final results of the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings, 2022 | publisher=Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia | date=28 April 2023 | access-date=28 April 2023 | language=en}}</ref>
* {{circa}} 2.3 million [[Serbian diaspora]] <small>(2008 World Bank estimate)</small><ref name="Baird KvK">{{cite web|url=http://rs.one.un.org/organizations/12/Serbian%20Diaspora%20and%20Youth,%20June%202011.pdf|title=Svaki drugi Srbin živi izvan Srbije |author=Theodore E. Baird and Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels |date=May 2014|publisher=Novosti|page=5|archive-date=18 October 2012|access-date=31 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018231514/http://rs.one.un.org/organizations/12/Serbian%20Diaspora%20and%20Youth,%20June%202011.pdf}}</ref>
* {{circa}} 3.2–3.8 million Serbian diaspora <small>(2006 MARRI estimate)</small><ref name="Baird KvK"/>
* {{circa}} 3.9–4.2 million Serbian diaspora broadly defined <small>(2008 [[Ministry of Religion and Diaspora (Serbia)|Serbian Ministry for Diaspora]] estimate)</small><ref name="Baird KvK"/>
* 1,365,093 Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina <small>(1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992)</small><ref name="Audit of Sarajevo"/>{{rp|43}}
* 205,370 [[Serbs of Montenegro|Serbs in Montenegro]] <small>(2023 Montenegrin census)</small><ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=143}}
* 35,939 [[Serbs in North Macedonia]] <small>(2002 North Macedonia census)</small><ref name="2002 North Macedonia census"/>
* 96,535 Serbs (52,730 Serbian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Silesians]]
| colspan="2" |
* 435,750 Silesians in Poland <small>(2011 Polish census)</small><ref name="2011 Polish census"/>
* 12,231 Silesians in Czechia <small>(2011 Czech census)</small><ref name="2011 Czech census"/>
* {{circa}} 2 million Silesians in Poland <small>(Grabowska 2002 estimate)</small><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ies.ee/iesp/grabowska.pdf |title=The Institute for European Studies, Ethnological institute of UW |access-date=2012-08-16}}</ref>{{rp|6}}
|-
| ''Slavs'' <small>(in the United States and Canada)</small>
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 137,000 people with "Slavic" ancestry in the United States <small>(2010 American Community Survey)</small><ref name="FactFinder 2010"/>
* 4,870 "Slavic, not otherwise specified" (1,470 Slavic-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census">{{cite web|date=October 25, 2017|title=Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity Highlight Tables (2016 Canadian census) |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/imm/Table.cfm?Lang=E&T=31&Geo=01&SO=4D|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027195802/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/imm/Table.cfm?Lang=E&T=31&Geo=01&SO=4D|archive-date=October 27, 2017|publisher=Statistics Canada}}</ref> 
|-
| [[Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia|Slavs in Greece]] (also a sub-ethnic category of Macedonians and Bulgarians)
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 200,000 speakers of "Macedonian" in Greece <small>(Friedman 1985)</small><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=42&menu=004 |title=UCLA Language Materials Project: Language Profile |publisher=Lmp.ucla.edu |access-date=2015-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209045725/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=42&menu=004 |archive-date=2011-02-09 }}</ref>
* {{circa}} 150,000—350,000 "Macedonians in Greek Macedonia" <small>(various estimates around 1995)</small><ref name="Poulton">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j_NbmSoRsRcC |title=Who are the Macedonians?|last=Poulton|first=Hugh|year=1995|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=1-85065-238-4|page=167 |quote=As often occurs with Yugoslav sources, there appears to be confusion about the numbers as there is about the numbers of Macedonians in Greek Macedonia at present: some Yugoslav sources put the latter figure at 350,000 but more sober estimates put it at 150–200,000.}}</ref>
* {{circa}} 20,000—50,000 "Slavic-speakers in northern Greece" <small>(1990 [[United States Department of State|USDoS]] estimates)</small><ref name="USDoS 1990">{{cite web |url=http://www.gate.net/~mango/Danforth_National_Conflict.htm |title=National Conflict in a Transnational World: Greeks and Macedonians at the CSCE |publisher=Gate.net |access-date=2015-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924020829/http://www.gate.net/~mango/Danforth_National_Conflict.htm |archive-date=2015-09-24 }}</ref>
** {{circa}} 5,000—10,000 of them self-identified as "Macedonians" <small>(1990 [[United States Department of State|USDoS]] estimates)</small><ref name="USDoS 1990"/>
* {{circa}} 10,000—50,000 Slavs in Greece <small>(2002 [[United States Department of State|USDoS]] estimates)</small><ref>{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/eur/8261.htm |title=Greece |publisher=State.gov |date=2002-03-04 |access-date=2015-09-04}}</ref>
|-
| [[Slovaks]]
| colspan="2" | 
* 4,353,775 Slovaks in Slovakia <small>(2011 Slovak census)</small><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://portal.statistics.sk/files/ev_narodnost_12_7_v12.pdf |title=Základné údaje zo sčítania obyvateľov, domov a bytov 2011 |trans-title=Basic data from the 2011 Census of Population, Houses and Apartments |work=statistics.sk |publisher=Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic |date=July 2012 |access-date=18 August 2022 |language=sk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114103943/http://portal.statistics.sk/files/ev_narodnost_12_7_v12.pdf |archive-date=14 November 2012}}</ref>{{rp|10}}
* 4,567,547 Slovaks in Slovakia <small>(2021 Slovak census)</small><ref name="2021 Slovak census">{{Cite web |title=Ethnic composition of Slovakia 2021 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/slovakia-ethnic-loc2021.htm |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>
* 149,140 Slovaks in Czechia <small>(2011 Czech census)</small><ref name="2011 Czech census"/>
* 41,730 Slovaks in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
* {{circa}} 762,000 people with Slovak ancestry in the United States <small>(2010 American Community Survey)</small><ref name="FactFinder 2010">{{Cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B04003&prodType=table |title=2010 American Community Survey |author= |work=American FactFinder |publisher= |date=2010 |access-date=18 August 2022 |language= |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150118121537/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B04003&prodType=table |archive-date=18 January 2015 }}</ref>
* 2,294 (1,889 single, 947 multiple ethnic identity) Slovaks in Poland <small>(2011 Polish census)</small><ref name="2011 Polish census"/>
* 72,290 Slovaks (20,475 Slovak-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Slovenes]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 1,632,000 Slovenes in Slovenia <small>(2002 Slovenian census)</small><ref name="Zupančič">{{cite web |url=http://zgs.zrc-sazu.si/Portals/8/Slo_Geo_Over/16.pdf |title=Ethnic Structure of Slovenia and Slovenes in Neighbouring Countries |work=Slovenia: a geographical overview |first=Jernej |last=Zupančič |publisher=Association of the Geographic Societies of Slovenia |date=August 2004 |access-date=18 August 2022}}</ref>
* {{circa}} 2.5 million Slovenes worldwide <small>(2004 Zupančič estimate<ref name="Zupančič"/>)</small>
** {{circa}} 1.8 million Slovenes in Slovenia <small>(2004 Zupančič estimate<ref name="Zupančič"/>)</small>
** {{circa}} 0.7 million [[Slovene diaspora]] <small>(2004 Zupančič estimate<ref name="Zupančič"/>)</small>
* 2,829 Slovenes in Serbia <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
* 40,470 Slovenes (13,690 Slovenian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
|-
| [[Sorbs]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 60,000 Sorbs in Germany (20,000 of which still spoke Sorb) <small>(2007 Reuters estimate)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Germany's Sorb minority struggles for survival |last=Chambers |first=Madeline |work=Reuters |date=26 November 2007 |access-date=18 August 2022 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/germany-sorbs-idUKL2243639820071126}}</ref>
|-
| [[Ukrainians]]
| colspan="2" |
* {{circa}} 46.7~51.8 million Ukrainians worldwide <small>(2001 Ukrainian census + various diaspora estimates)</small><ref name="Magocsi2010">{{cite book|author=Paul R. Magocsi|title=A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TA1zVKTTsXUC&pg=PA10|year=2010|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-1021-7|pages=10–}}</ref>
* {{circa}} 58,693,854 Ukrainians worldwide <small>(1994 Pawliczko estimate<ref name="Satzewich">{{cite book|author=Vic Satzewich|title=The Ukrainian Diaspora|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfWBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-43495-4|pages=19–21}}</ref>)</small>
** {{circa}} 37,419,000 Ukrainians in Ukraine <small>(1994 Pawliczko estimate<ref name="Satzewich"/>)</small>
** {{circa}} 21,274,854 [[Ukrainian diaspora]] <small>(1994 Pawliczko estimate<ref name="Satzewich"/>)</small>
* 1,359,655 Ukrainians (273,810 Ukrainian-only) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
* 51,001 Ukrainians in Poland <small>(2011 Polish census)</small><ref name="2011 Polish census"/>
* {{circa}} 1.2 million [[2022 Ukrainian refugee crisis#Poland|Ukrainian refugees recorded in Poland]] <small>(August 2022 UNHCR figures)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Situation Ukraine Refugee Situation |author= |work=data.unhcr.org |date= |access-date=18 August 2022 |url= https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine}}</ref>
|-
| [[Yugoslavs]] (a supra-ethnic category of Bosniaks, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes)
| colspan="2" |
* 210,395 [[Yugoslav Americans|Yugoslavs in the United States]] <small>(2021 American Community Survey)</small><ref name="2021ACS">{{cite web |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=people%20reporting%20ancestry&t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B04006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408113537/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=people%20reporting%20ancestry&t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B04006 |title=2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |work=[[American Community Survey]] 2021 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |archive-date=8 April 2022 |access-date=19 November 2022}}</ref>
* 38,480 "Yugoslavian, not otherwise specified" (8,570 [[Yugoslav Canadians|Yugoslav-only]]) in Canada <small>(2016 Canadian census)</small><ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
* 27,143 [[Yugoslavs in Serbia]] <small>(2022 Serbian census)</small><ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>{{sfn|Đečević|Vuković-Ćalasan|Knežević|2017|p=143}}
* 26,883 Yugoslavs in Australia <small>(2011 Australian census)</small><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/factsheetsancserb?opendocument&navpos=450 |title=Fact sheets: Ancestry – Serbian |publisher=[[Australian Bureau of Statistics]] |date=20 September 2016 |access-date=30 July 2023}}</ref>
* 2,570 Yugoslavs in Bosnia and Herzegovina <small>(2013 Bosnian and Herzegovinian census)</small><ref name="BIH">{{cite web |url=https://www.popis.gov.ba/popis2013/doc/Knjiga2/K2_B_E.pdf#page=14 |page=27 |title=Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i stanova u Bosni i Hercegovini - Etnička/nacionalna pripadnost, vjeroispovjest i maternji jezik |trans-title=Census of population, households and dwellings in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Ethnic/national affiliation, religion and mother tongue |publisher=Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina |publication-date=2019}}</ref>
* 1,632 Yugoslavs in Montenegro <small>(2023 Montenegrin census)</small><ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>
|}

==Historiography==
{{Main|List of Slavic studies journals}}

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Asia Minor Slavs]]
* [[Ethnic groups in Europe]]
* [[Gord (archaeology)]]
* [[Church Slavonic]]
* [[Lech, Čech, and Rus]]
* [[List of contemporary ethnic groups]]
* [[List of Slavic tribes]]
* [[Outline of Slavic history and culture]]
* [[Panethnicity]]
* [[Pan-Slavic colors]]
* [[Slavic names]]
* [[Bulgarisation]]
* [[Polonization]]
* [[Russification]]
* [[Serbianisation]]
* [[Polonization]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist|30em}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist
|refs =
<!--<ref name="HungaryEarlyHistory">{{cite book |title = A Country Study: Hungary |publisher=Federal Research Division, [[Library of Congress]] |url = http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+hu0013) |access-date=6 March 2009 }}</ref>
<ref name="Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race - A Study of the Settlement of England and the Tribal Origin of the Old English People">{{Cite book   |last = Shore   |first = Thomas William |author-link = Thomas William Shore |title = Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race – A Study of the Settlement of England and the Tribal Origin of the Old English People |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tDSsxref4C8C&pg=PA100 |publisher = Read Books |year = 2008 |pages = 84–102 |ISBN = 978-1-4086-3769-2 }}</ref>-->

<ref name="Slav (people) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |author=Encyclopædia Britannica |url = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Slav |title = Slav (people) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |date=18 September 2006 |access-date=18 August 2010 }}</ref>

<!--<ref name="The course of the Russian history">{{cite book |last=Klyuchevsky |first=Vasily |title=The course of the Russian history |volume = v.1 |url = http://www.kulichki.com/inkwell/text/special/history/kluch/kluch16.htm |isbn = 978-5-244-00072-6 |year=1987 |publisher="Myslʹ |access-date=9 October 2009 }}</ref>
<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639735/Wend |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080507201210/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639735/Wend|archive-date=2008-05-07 |title = Wend – Britannica Online Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |date=13 September 2013 |access-date=4 April 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name="britannica4">{{cite encyclopedia |url = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Polabian-language |title = Polabian language |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date = 4 April 2014 }}</ref>-->

<!--<ref name="development2">Search and Development. EASTERN SLAVS: THEIR ROOTS, THEIR COMING-TO BE. Author: T. Alexeyeva. Archeology Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences</ref> -->

<ref name="encyclopedia">Mallory & Adams "Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture</ref>

<!--<ref name="European">''Etudes slaves et est-européennes: Slavic and East-European studies'', Volume 3 (1958), p.107.</ref> Hide in case needed again. -->

<ref name="hri">Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou 1992: [http://www.hri.org/docs/macque/text5.html Middle Ages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227041253/http://www.hri.org/docs/macque/text5.html |date=27 December 2007 }}</ref>

<ref name="jordanes">Jordanes, ''The Origin and Deeds of the Goths,'' V.33.</ref>

<ref name="jordanes1">Jordanes, ''The Origin and Deeds of the Goths'', V. 35.</ref>

<ref name="kortlandt">[http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art111e.pdf F. Kortlandt, The spread of the Indo-Europeans], ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'', vol. 18 (1990), pp. 131–140. Online version, p. 4.</ref>

<ref name="kortlandt5">[http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art111e.pdf F. Kortlandt, The spread of the Indo-Europeans], ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'', vol. 18 (1990), pp. 131–140. Online version, p. 3.</ref>

<!--<ref name="lemko">[http://lemko.org/lih/whoarewe.html Who are we], lemko.org</ref> Hide in case it's needed -->

<ref name="msu">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990225154722/http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture1.html|archive-date=25 February 1999|title=Geography and ethnic geography of the Balkans to 1500|date=25 February 1999}}</ref>

<ref name="procopius">Procopius, ''History of the Wars,\'', VII. 14. 22–30, VIII.40.5</ref>

<ref name="strategikon">''Maurice's Strategikon: handbook of Byzantine military strategy'', trans. G.T. Dennis (1984), p. 120.</ref>

<ref name="ufl">{{cite web|url=http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/fcurta/Procopius.htm |title=Procopius, History of the Wars, VII. 14. 22–30 |publisher=Clas.ufl.edu |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>
}}

=== Sources ===
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* {{cite book |editor-last=Scholz |editor-first = Bernhard Walter |title = Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories |year=1970 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sTzl6wFjehMC |isbn = 978-0-472-06186-0 |ref=none}}
{{refend}}
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* {{cite journal |date=January 2008 |last1=Balanovsky |first1=Oleg |last2=Rootsi |first2=Siiri |display-authors=etal |title=Two sources of the Russian patrilineal heritage in their Eurasian context |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=82 |issue=1 |pages=236–250 |pmc=2253976 |pmid=18179905 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.09.019}}
* {{cite thesis |year=2012 |surname=Balanovsky |given=Oleg P. |title=Изменчивость генофонда в пространстве и времени: синтез данных о геногеографии митохондриальной ДНК и Y-хромосомы |trans-title=Variability of the gene pool in space and time: synthesis of data on the genogeography of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome |type=Dr. habil. in Biology thesis |url=http://www.med-gen.ru/ar/ar_Balanovsky.pdf |place=Moscow: [[USSR Academy of Medical Sciences|Russian Academy of Medical Sciences]] |language=ru}}
* {{cite book |last=Barford |first=Paul M. |title=The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe |year=2001 |location=Ithaca, NY |publisher=Cornell University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z9ItAtbJ5AC |isbn=978-0-8014-3977-3 |ref=none}}
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* {{cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |author-link=Florin Curta |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 |year=2006 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-521-81539-0 |ref=none}}
* Curta Florin, [https://www.academia.edu/229543/The_early_Slavs_in_Bohemia_and_Moravia_a_response_to_my_critics The early Slavs in Bohemia and Moravia: a response to my critics]
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* {{cite book |last=Dvornik |first=Francis |author-link=Francis Dvornik |title=The Slavs in European History and Civilization |year=1962 |location=New Brunswick |publisher=Rutgers University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/slavsineuropeanh0000dvor |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Fine |first=John Van Antwerp Jr. |author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |year=1991 |orig-date=1983 |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |publisher=University of Michigan Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C |isbn=978-0-472-08149-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Fine |first=John Van Antwerp Jr. |author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |year=1994 |orig-date=1987 |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |publisher=University of Michigan Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |ref=none}}
* Lacey, Robert. 2003. ''Great Tales from English History''. Little, Brown and Company. New York. {{ISBN|0-316-10910-X}}.
* Lewis, Bernard. ''Race and Slavery in the Middle East''. Oxford Univ. Press.
* {{cite journal |last1=Mathieson |first1=Iain |date=February 21, 2018 |title=The Genomic History of Southeastern Europe |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=555 |issue=7695 |pages=197–203 |bibcode=2018Natur.555..197M |doi=10.1038/nature25778 |pmc=6091220 |pmid=29466330 |ref=none}}
* Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou, Maria. 1992. [http://www.hri.org/cgi-bin/brief?/docs/macque/ ''The "Macedonian Question": A Historical Review'']. © Association Internationale d'Etudes du Sud-Est Europeen (AIESEE, International Association of Southeast European Studies), Comité Grec. Corfu: Ionian University. (English translation of a 1988 work written in Greek.)
* {{cite book |last=Obolensky |first=Dimitri |author-link=Dimitri Obolensky |title=The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe, 500–1453 |year=1974 |orig-date=1971 |location=London |publisher=Cardinal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlBoAAAAMAAJ |isbn=978-0-351-17644-9 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Ostrogorsky |first=George |author-link=George Ostrogorsky |year=1956 |title=History of the Byzantine State |location=Oxford |publisher=Basil Blackwell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bt0_AAAAYAAJ |ref=none}}
* Rębała, Krzysztof, ''et al.''. 2007. [https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10038-007-0125-6 Y-STR variation among Slavs: evidence for the Slavic homeland in the middle Dnieper basin]. ''Journal of Human Genetics'', May 2007, 52(5): 408–414.
* {{cite journal |last=Verbenko |first=Dmitry A. |display-authors=etal |title=Variability of the 3'ApoB Minisatellite Locus in Eastern Slavonic Populations |journal=Human Heredity |date=2005 |volume=60 |number=1 |pages=10–18 |doi=10.1159/000087338 |pmid=16103681 |s2cid=8926871}}
* {{cite book |last=Vlasto |first=Alexis P. |author-link=Alexis P. Vlasto |title=The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs |year=1970 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpVOAAAAIAAJ |isbn=978-0-521-07459-9}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikimedia}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100614174952/http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/25/8/1651 Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeny in Eastern and Western Slavs, B. Malyarchuk, T. Grzybowski, M. Derenko, M. Perkova, T. Vanecek, J. Lazur, P. Gomolcaknd I. Tsybovsky, Oxford Journals] (archived 14 June 2010)
*{{Wikisource-inline|list=
**{{Cite Americana|short=1|wstitle=Slavs|noicon=x}}
**{{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Slavs|short=1|noicon=x}}
**{{CathEncy|wstitle=The Slavs|author=Leopold Lénard|noicon=x}}
}}

{{Slavic ethnic groups}}
{{History of Slavs}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slavic Peoples}}
[[Category:Slavs| ]]
[[Category:Indo-European peoples]]