Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Below are commonly accepted designations for nationality within the individual states.

Be aware that ethnic and political designations may differ.  For instance, Azeri indicates an ethnic group, whereas Azerbaijani is a political designation for a citizen of the country.

Twelve republics of the former Soviet Union compose the Commonwealth of Independent States:

NGS preferred spellings for peoples of the Caucasus:

*Use of Azeri and Azerbaijani is evolving. Azeri is more commonly used for the ethnic group and language, whereas Azerbaijani is more often used as a noun to describe a resident of the country or as the adjective form of the country name.