Main ethnicities in Myanmar

Introduction

There are many ethnic groups in Myanmar. The majority of ethnic groups in Myanmar belong to the Sino-Tibetan tribes. These are the five main ethnic groups in descending order.

Bamar

The Bamar people together with their closest ethnic relatives i.e. ethnic Rakhine aka Arakanese form around 71.5% of the population. They are the largest ethnic group in Myanmar and are Buddhists.

Both tribes are part of Lolo-Burmese people which is a branch of Sino-Tibetan people. The Bamar live mainly in the Irrawaddy river valleys and plains in central Myanmar whereas the Rakhine live mainly in Rakhine state in western coast of Myanmar.

Karen

Karen (Kayin) together with their closest ethnic relative i.e. Karenni (Kayah) aka Red Karen constitute around 11.5% of the population which makes them the second largest group in Myanmar. The percentage of Karen is underestimated in statistics of other websites.

Karen and Karenni are mostly Buddhists and they live mainly in Kayin and Kayah state along the south-eastern border with Thailand. Karen are part of Sino-Tibetan people and are genetic cousins to the ethnic Bamar people.

Red Karen

Shan

Shan people are part of Tai-Kadai people. They are the third largest ethnic group at around 8% of the population and are Buddhists. They live mainly in north-eastern border with Thailand and Laos especially Shan state.

They are genetically related to the ethnic Tai people in Thailand and are called Tai Yai. 'Shan' is actually the way the Burmese pronounce 'Siam' which is the old name for Thailand.

Han Chinese

Han Chinese form around 3% of the population. They live mainly in the big cities such as Yangon (Rangoon) and Mandalay. They also live in a region called Kokang (果敢) near the border with Yunnan, China.

Mon

Ethnic Mon are the natives of southern Myanmar. They form around 2% of the population and are traditionally Buddhists. They are related to the ethnic Wa and Palaung which are all part of Austroasiatic tribes.

They live mainly in Mon state and the Irrawaddy delta in southern Myanmar.

Ethnic groups map

The Kachin, Chin, South Naga tribes are all Sino-Tibetan people and each represent a much smaller population than the five major ethnic groups above.

The Kachin, Chin, South Naga live mainly in Kachin State, Chin State, Naga hills in Sagaing respectively.

The Kachin tribes is just a geographical grouping because they all speak different branches of Sino-Tibetan languages. The main tribe in Kachin State is the Jingpho.

East Asian origin, history, language, culture

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