|Regions with significant populations| |Related ethnic groups|
The Slavs are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group living in
Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and
Central Asia, who speak the Indo-European Slavic languages, and
share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and
historical backgrounds. From the early 6th century they spread
to inhabit most of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
In addition to their main population centre in Europe, some East
Slavs (Russians) also settled later in Siberia and Central Asia.
Part of all Slavic ethnicities emigrated to other parts of the
world. Over half of Europe's territory is inhabited by Slavic-
speaking communities. The worldwide population of people of
Slavic descent is close to 350 million, making Slavs among the
largest panethnicities in the world. Modern nations and ethnic
groups called by the ethnonym Slavs are considerably diverse
both genetically and culturally, and relations between them –
even within the individ