ABSTRACT
The Chechen Republic is located on the northern slopes of the Caucasus. To the east, it neighbours Dagestan. Stavropol Krai lies to the north-west and the Republic of North Osetiya-Alaniya and the Republic of Ingushetiya lie to the west. Georgia lies to the south-west. The Republic comprises lowlands in the north; mixed fields, pastures and forests in the Chechen plain; and high mountains and glaciers in the south. The Republic has an area of 15,647 sq km (6,041 sq miles). At January 2015 it had an estimated population of 1,370,268 and a population density of 87.8 per sq km. Only 34.7% of the population lived in urban areas. The capital of the Republic, Groznyi, had an estimated population of 283,659 in January 2015. Of those residents of the Republic who stated their ethnicity at the 2010 census, 95.3%wereChechen, 1.9%wereRussian (a lower proportion than in any other federal subject) and 1.0% were Kumyk. The Chechens are closely related to the Ingush (both of whom are known collectively as Vainakhs). They are Sunni Muslims, and their language is one of the Nakh dialects of the Caucasian linguistic family. Chechnya is in the time zone GMT+3.
