Bangladesh is the eighth-most populated country in the world with almost 2.2% of the world's population. As per the final results of the 2022 Census of Bangladesh, the country's population is 169,828,911. Bangladesh has one of the highest population densities in the world.
Hinduism in Southeast Asia had a profound impact on the region's cultural development and its history. As the Indic scripts were introduced from the Indian subcontinent, people of Southeast Asia entered the historical period by producing their earliest inscriptions around the 1st to 5th century CE. Today, Hindus in Southeast Asia are mainly Overseas Indians and Balinese. There are also Javanese and Balamon Cham minority in Cambodia and south central Vietnam who also practice Hinduism.
Rakhine State, formerly known as Arakan State, is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between latitudes 17°30' north and 21°30' north and longitudes 92°10' east and 94°50' east. The Arakan Mountains or Rakhine Yoma separated Rakhine State from central Burma from North to South. Off the coast of Rakhine State there are some fairly large islands such as Ramree, Cheduba and Myingun. Rakhine State has an area of 36,762 square kilometres (14,194 sq mi) and its capital is Sittwe.
The Meitei people, also known as Meetei, Manipuri people, is an ethnic group native to Manipur. They form the largest and dominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India. They speak the Meitei language, one of the 22 official languages of the Republic of India and the sole official language of Government of Manipur. The Meiteis primarily settled in the Imphal Valley region in modern-day Manipur, though a sizeable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. There is also a notable presence of Meitei people in the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53% of Manipur's population.
Buddhism in Nepal started spreading since the reign of Ashoka through Indian and Tibetan missionaries. The Kiratas were the first people in Nepal who embraced the Buddha’s teachings, followed by the Licchavis and Newar people. Buddhism is Nepal's second-largest religion, with 8.2% of the country's population, or approximately 2.4 million people, identifying as adherents of Buddhism in a 2021 census.
The Rohingya people are a stateless ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. Described by journalists and news outlets as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. There are also restrictions on their freedom of movement, access to state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared to apartheid by some academics, analysts and political figures, including Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid activist. The most recent mass displacement of Rohingya in 2017 led the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity, and the International Court of Justice to investigate genocide.
Bandarban is a district in South-Eastern Bangladesh, and a part of the Chittagong Division. It is one of the three hill districts of Bangladesh and a part of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the others being Rangamati District and Khagrachhari District. Bandarban district (4,479 km2) is not only the most remote district of the country, but also the least populous. There is an army contingent at Bandarban Cantonment.
Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian origin who live in Myanmar (Burma). The term 'Burmese Indian' refers to a broad range of people from South Asia, most notably from present-day countries such as India and Bangladesh. While Indians have lived in Burma for many centuries, most of the ancestors of the current Burmese Indian community emigrated to Burma from the start of British rule in the mid-19th century to the separation of British Burma from British India in 1937. During colonial times, ethnic Indians formed the backbone of the government and economy serving as soldiers, civil servants, merchants, moneylenders, mobile laborers and dock workers. A series of anti-Indian riots in the 1930s and mass emigration at the onset of the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942 were followed in the 1960s by the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Indians, exacerbated by internal conflict in Myanmar.
The Rakhine People or Arakanese are a Southeast Asian ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) forming the majority along the coastal region of present-day Rakhine State, although Rakhine communities also exist throughout the country, particularly in the Ayeyarwady and Yangon Regions. They constitute approximately 4.61% or more of Myanmar's total population. Rakhine communities exist in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts and in India, where they are known as the Marma and Mog peoples respectively.
Islam is a minority religion in Myanmar, practised by about 2.1% of the population, according to the 2014 Myanmar official statistics.
There is a history of persecution of Muslims in Myanmar that continues to the present day. Myanmar is a Buddhist majority country, with significant Christian and Muslim minorities. While Muslims served in the government of Prime Minister U Nu (1948–63), the situation changed with the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. While a few continued to serve, most Christians and Muslims were excluded from positions in the government and army. In 1982, the government introduced regulations that denied citizenship to anyone who could not prove Burmese ancestry from before 1823. This disenfranchised many Muslims in Myanmar, even though they had lived in Myanmar for several generations.
Myanmar (Burma) is a Buddhist majority country with a significant minority of Christians and other groups residing in the country.
Myanmar has been under the rule of repressive authoritarian military regimes since 1962. After the 1974 Socialist constitution was suspended in 1988, constitutional protection of religious freedom has not existed, after the bloody suppression of the 8888 Uprising. The authorities generally permitted most adherents of registered religious groups to worship as they choose; however, the government imposed restrictions on certain religious activities and is accused of abusing the right to freedom of religion.
Bangladeshis are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
The Burmese community in India consists of refugees, immigrants and expatriates from Burma as well as Indian citizens of Burmese ancestry. The 2014 Myanmar Census enumerated 17,975 Burmese individuals living in India.
The Myanmar census 2014 was a nationwide census between 30 March and 10 April 2014 in Myanmar (Burma). 100,000 school teachers counted the population at midnight 29 March. The theme of the census campaign was A nationwide census – Let us all Participate.
The architecture of Myanmar, in Southeast Asia, includes architectural styles which reflect the influence of neighboring and Western nations and modernization. The country's most prominent buildings include Buddhist pagodas, stupas and temples, British colonial buildings, and modern renovations and structures. Myanmar's traditional architecture is primarily used for worship, pilgrimage, storage of Buddhist relics, political activism and tourism.
The history of the Bengali Hindus in Myanmar dates back to the Middle Ages, when the Arakanese kings brought Brahmins from Bengal as astrologers and Doms as cleaners of the pagoda compounds in Arakan. After the annexation of Burmese kingdom by the British, the Bengali Hindus arrived in British Burma in various capacities. A large section came as white collared executives in the administration, while a smaller proportion came as labourers in various projects. By the 1920s, the Bengali Hindus constituted a thriving community in the urban centres like Rangoon, Mandalay, Mawlamyine, Bassein and Sittwe. Starting with the anti-Indian movements in the late 1930s, the Bengali Hindus began to leave British Burma in hundreds. After the independence and especially the 1962 coup, large numbers of Bengali Hindus left for India.
On 25 August 2017, Hindu villages in a cluster known as Kha Maung Seik in the northern Maungdaw District of Rakhine State in Myanmar were attacked and 99 Bengali Hindu villagers were massacred by Muslim insurgents from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). A month later, the Myanmar Army discovered mass graves containing the corpses of 45 Hindus, most of whom were women and children.
The Meitei people, also known as the Manipuri people, are a minority ethnic group in Myanmar. They are better known as the Kate, Cassay, or Ponna in Myanmar. They number around 25,000 and reside mainly in the eastern states of Kachin and Shan, Yangon division, Sagaing division, Ayeyarwaddy division, etc.
