A Chechen family in America
Chechens are an ethnic group of North Caucasian people that are native to the republic of Chechnya in Russia. The Chechen people are almost entirely Muslim, with most being nondenominational or Sunni. Chechen paganism existed until the 19th century, and Orthodox Christianity was spread to the Chechens under the Russian Empire, although Islam prevailed as the main belief. The Chechens were exiled to Central Asia in 1944 during World War II due to a failed rebellion against the USSR, and they would attempt to form their own country in the 1990s and early 2000, to no avail. Today, most Chechens live in Russia. 1,431,360 Chechens live in Russia, 100,000 in Turkey, 34,000 in Kazakhstan, 30,000 in France, 25,000 in Austria, 17,000 in Belgium, 15,000 in Jordan, 12,000 in Germany, 10,000 in Iraq, 10,000 in Georgia, 6,000 in Syria, 5,000 in Azerbaijan, 5,000 in Egypt, 2,877 in Ukraine, 2,100 in Spain, and 1,000 in Vietnam.