Why are there so many countries that end in -stan? In total 7 countries: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan include the suffix -stan in their names.
These countries have a combined population of nearly 280 million people (fewer than only China, India and the United States) and cover an area of 5.45 million square kilometers (7th largest in the world).