Burmese People

Burmese people or Myanma people (Burmese: မြန်မာလူမျိုး) are citizens or people from Myanmar (Burma), irrespective of their ethnic or religious background. Myanmar is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. The Burmese government officially recognises 135 ethnic groups, who are grouped into eight ‘national races,’ namely the Bamar (Burmans), Shan, Karen, Rakhine (Arakanese), Mon, Kachin, Chin, and Kayah (Karenni).[14] Many ethnic and ethnoreligious communities exist outside these defined groupings, such as the Burmese Chinese and Panthay, Burmese Indians, Anglo-Burmese, and Gurkhas.

The 2014 Myanmar Census enumerated 51,486,253 persons.[15] There is also a substantial Burmese diaspora, the majority of whom have settled in neighbouring Asian countries.[1] Refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar make up one of the world’s five largest refugee populations.[16][17]