Nuristan

Ethnicity, languages and religion

Nuristan is one of the most ethnically homogeneous provinces in Afghanistan, with Nuristanis comprising the overwhelming majority of the population, consistently estimated at over 90 percent across multiple sources. The Nuristanis are not a single ethnic group but rather a collective of distinct sub-groups, the principal ones include the Kata, Kalasha (or Waigali), Ashkuni (or Wamayi), Kom and Prasun tribes, of which the Kata is the largest. Small communities of Gujars, a semi-nomadic pastoralist group, as well as Tajiks and Pashtuns are also present, though each constitutes less than one percent of the permanent population.