The censuses of 1979 and 1989 suggested annual population growth of a little over 2 %, with a birth rate of 30.4 per 1,000 in 1989. The around birth rate in 1994 was twenty-six per 1,000, the death rate seven per 1,000, with a rate of natural increase of 1.9 %. In 1993 average life expectancy was around at sixty-two years for males, seventy years for females--the second lowest rate among the former Soviet republics. In 1993 the infant mortality rate was around at 47.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Early marriage and large family size have combined to make Kyrgyzstan's population a comparatively young one. In 1989, some 39.5 % of the population was below working age, and only 10.1 % was of pension age. The 1989 census suggested that only about 38 % of the nation's population was urbanized

The Kyrgyz speak a language belonging to the northwestern, or Kipchak, group of the Turkic languages. They were formerly a transhumant (nomadic) people who were settled into collectivized agriculture by the Soviet regime. Besides Kyrgyz, the nation's population includes minorities of Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, and Germans (exiled to the region from European parts of the Soviet Union in 1941), as well as Tatars, Kazaks, Dungans (Hui; Chinese Muslims), Uighurs, and Tajiks. Since freedom in 1991, many Russians and Germans have emigrated.