-Stan Countries 2023

The suffix “-stan” is of Indo-European and Indo-Iranian origin. The suffix means “country” or “place of” in Persian. Countries and regions bearing this prefix are located throughout Asia, Russia, and other areas where Persian culture has been adopted. There are seven nations that have the suffix “-stan” in their English names. Those nations are Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Of these nations, Kazakhstan is the largest by area. The smallest is Tajikistan. By population, Pakistan is the largest with a population of over 207 million. The smallest by population is Turkmenistan, which has a population of over 5.1 million.

There are also several nations that have the suffix in the names in Armenian, Persian, or Turkish. In Armenian, this includes Armenia (Hayastan), Georgia (Vrastan), Greece (Hunastan), and Poland (Lehastan). In Persian, this includes Armenia (Armanestan), England (Engelestan), Georgia (Gorjestan), Hungary (Majarestan), India (Hindustan), Mongolia (Mogholestan), and Serbia (Serbestan). In Turkish, this includes Bulgaria (Bulgaristan), Croatia (Hirbatistan), Greece (Yunanistan), Hungary (Macaristan), India (Hindistan), Mongolia (Mogolistan), Poland (Suudi Arabistan), and Serbia (Sirbistan).

There are also several sub-national regions and cities that feature this suffix. This includes the cities of Arghistan and Gulistan in Afghanistan, Burastan and Aygestan in Armenia, Takestan and Larestan in Iran, and other areas throughout Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan.