How many Caucasian languages are spoken in the Caucasus region?

According to different linguistic classifications, the number of Caucasian languages spoken in the Caucasus region varies from 30 to 40.1

It is important to note that the term "Caucasian languages" specifically refers to those indigenous to the region, excluding languages introduced in historical times such as Indo-European (e.g., Armenian, Ossetic) and Turkic languages (e.g., Azerbaijani). These indigenous languages are categorized into three distinct families:1

• Northwest Caucasian (also known as Abkhazo-Adyghian)12
• Northeast Caucasian (also known as Nakho-Dagestanian)12
• South Caucasian (also known as Kartvelian or Iberian)13

The region is famously diverse, with these language communities ranging in size from only a few hundred speakers to large groups numbering in the millions.1