Map of Xinjiang

Location: east longitude 75°18’ to 94°65’ and north latitude 36°86’ to 48°05’
Area: 1.66 million square kilometers
Capital city: Urumqi  
Neighboring areas: Xinjiang borders the Tibet Autonomous Region (capital city: Lhasa) and India's Leh District to the south and Qinghai (capital city: Xining) and Gansu (capital city: Lanzhou) provinces to the southeast, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west.

Population and Ethnic Groups

There are currently 47 ethnic groups in Xinjiang where Uyghur, Han, Kazak, Hui, Mongolian, Tajik, Xibe, Manchu, Uzbek, Russian, Tatar predominate. Hence, it is one of the five autonomous regions administered by ethnic groups in China. According to statistics in 2004, the population in Xinjiang numbered 19.63 million, of which 11.83 million represent people with ethnic backgrounds, or 60.25 percent.

Of all the ethnic population the Uyghur people accounted for 8.98 million, or 45.73 percent of the total population; Han numbered 7.80 million, or 39.75 percent; Kazak had 1.38 million, or 7.04 percent; Hui 876,300, or 4.46 percent; Kirgiz 171,200, or 0.87 percent; Mongolian 169,600, or 0.86; Tajik 43,500, Xibe 40,800, Manchu 24,100; Uzbek l4,200, Russian 11,300, Daur 6,700; Tatars 4,700 and other people with ethnic backgrounds 1,079,000 or 0.55 percent. The natural population growth rate was 10.91 per thousand.

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