Thailand is the most popular destination for Burmese migrants. Between 1.5 and 2 million Burmese nationals live in neighboring
Thailand, the largest destination for Burmese migrants. Some half a million work in
Malaysia. Burmese migrants also make up the largest
expatriate group in China, numbering over 350,000. Significant numbers also reside in
United Kingdom,
Japan followed by
Singapore,
Indonesia,
Australia,
Bangladesh,
India,
Ireland and the
United States. Also included are many
Anglo-Burmese, primarily in Australia, the
UK,
New Zealand,
Canada and the US. The
Rohingya refugees have also formed a large portion of the Burmese refugee diaspora, experiencing ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar for decades. After the 2017
Rohingya genocide, hundreds of thousands have fled to Bangladesh, other countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and the
Philippines.
Australia As of the 2021 Australian Census, there were approximately 62,096 individuals in Australia who identified as having Burmese ancestry, encompassing both first-generation migrants and Australian-born descendants. The Burmese Australian community is ethnically diverse, including Bamar,
Karen,
Chin, Rohingya, and other groups. Geographically, the community is concentrated in
Victoria (36.3%),
Western Australia (23.9%), and
New South Wales (19.8%). Religious affiliations vary, with significant proportions identifying as Baptist (33.1%), Buddhist (25.2%), Catholic (12.3%), and Muslim (9.7%). Many Burmese Australians arrived through humanitarian programs, often after extended periods in refugee camps in countries like Thailand and Malaysia.
Bangladesh Burmese citizens belonging to ethnic groups such as the Bamar, Chin, Kachin, and Shan are generally not part of the diaspora in Bangladesh. The majority of displaced
Rohingya people who are not counted as Burmese people or citizens by the
Myanmar government have sought refuge in the country. There are two officially registered refugee camps located in Ukhiya (sub-district) and Teknaf (sub-district) in
Cox's Bazar District. Violence in Myanmar escalated in 2017, rapidly increasingly the number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. According to the
UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 723,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since 25 August 2017. Bangladesh blamed the refugees for crime and
2012 Ramu violence in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh also follows a policy of making the country unwelcoming for Rohingya refugees. In 2015, the
Bangladesh government proposed a relocation plan for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to the remote island of
Bhasan Char in the
Bay of Bengal. The plan was pushed back following criticism by human rights activists and the
UNHCR. After the
escalation of civil war in Myanmar, then Prime Minister of Bangladesh,
Sheikh Hasina, declared that 35,000 Rohingya were transferred to Bhasan Char to "keep Rohingya youth away from criminal activities." She also emphasized the difficulty of repatriating Rohingya back to Myanmar due to the
civil war, and preventing foreign armed groups from using Bangladesh as a guerrilla sanctuary.
China , Yunnan after the
2009 Kokang incident Burmese people in China mainly live in
Yunnan, which borders
Myanmar. According to the
2020 Chinese census, a total of 351,000 Burmese nationals lived in China, making them the largest group of expatriates in China. The boundary area is inhabited by non-Han and non-Burmese peoples, and has been traditionally kept as a buffer region between the various Chinese and Burmese empires. In addition of legal residents, many Burmese people were smuggled to China and found jobs in sweatshops often located in
East China. Many Burmese nationals live or work in Yunnan, often in border cities like
Ruili. Before the outbreak of
COVID-19, 50,000 Burmese nationals crossed the border every day, including those working in Chinese border cities. In 2022, around a thousand Myanmar migrant workers were being held in Chinese detention centers. The vast majority of the detainees were undocumented illegal border crossers held in Yunnan after overstaying their six-day tourist visas. A hundred other Myanmar nationals were held in
Guangdong province, some arrested during factory raids by Chinese police. Yunnan province sheltered tens of thousands of refugees during periods of intensified clashes between Myanmar's military and
ethnic armed organisations throughout the 2010s. Following the
2015 Kokang offensive in Myanmar, many Burmese nationals fled across the border to China. According to the
United Nations, the conflict drove 70,000 people across the border into China with 27,000 remaining in China until 2016. Renewed clashes in
Kokang in 2017 sent at least 20,000 people to enter border camps set up in China. The refugees received humanitarian assistance from the Chinese government. During the
current phase of intensifying civil war, China no longer allows Myanmar refugees or asylum seekers, many of Myanmar's internally displaced people (IDPs) conduct cross-border trade as border residents. The Chinese government continues to use a localized model of border control to prevent a large influx of refugees through providing cross-border livelihoods for displaced Burmese nationals on the border. Yunnan has also become a "hot spot" for human trafficking since 2008 with instances of transnational marriage, mail-order brides and marriage migration between Myanmar and China have become more prevalent in Yunnan.
India The
2014 Myanmar Census enumerated 17,975
Burmese individuals living in India. Burmese refugees from
Internal conflict in Myanmar who have migrated to India live primarily in two places: the Northeast states of
Mizoram and, to a lesser extent,
Manipur, and the capital city of New Delhi. Since India does not officially recognize Burmese as refugees, it is difficult to get a firm grasp on how many Burmese live in the country. The Burmese refugee population in India is overwhelmingly from the Chin ethnic minority group, with smaller
Kachin,
Rakhine, and
Bamar populations as well.
Japan In December 2024, there were 134,574 Burmese people living in Japan. Prior to
World War II, some Burmese students studied in Japan; these nationalist-oriented students became the core of the
Burmese Independence Army set up by the Japanese prior to
their invasion of Burma. During the
Japanese occupation of Burma, Japan continued to provide scholarships for Burmese students to study in Japan. Since the 1990s, a new wave of Burmese migrants have come to Japan. Many are
residing in the country illegally. Among their numbers are hundreds of activists who had been active in
Burmese democracy movements. Initially, the Japanese government refused to recognise any of them as refugees; however, their policy softened after 1998. By 2006, the government had recognised 116 Burmese in Japan as refugees, and given special stay permission to another 139. These comprised almost all of the official refugees in Japan, with the exception of a few
Afghans and Kurds. In 2010, the Japanese government agreed to accept for resettlement in Japan five families of
Karen refugees from Myanmar. There are a few hundred Rohingyas in
Tatebayashi,
Gunma. The first Burmese political organisation founded in Japan was the Burma Association in Japan, established in 1988, followed by many others. Burmese living in Tokyo organise a
Thingyan celebration, which draws about 5,000 participants annually.
Malaysia Burmese in Malaysia mostly comprise
manual labourers and refugees. The
2014 Myanmar Census enumerated 303,996
Burmese individuals living in Malaysia. As of November 2014, there are around 139,200 Burmese refugees registered under
UNHCR for which 50,620 are
Chins, 40,070 are
Rohingyas, 12,160
Panthays and 7,440 others are
Rakhines/Arakanese. However, the
Malaysian government does not officially recognise all newly arrived refugees as it may encourage more to enter Malaysia as Malaysian officials noted they may become a threat to national security.
New Zealand As of the 2013 New Zealand Census, there were 2,187 individuals identifying as Burmese. They primarily reside in Auckland, Wellington, and Nelson. Many arrived as refugees from camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, with significant numbers from the Karen, Kayah, Chin, and Rakhine ethnic groups. Between 2004 and 2014, Burmese nationals constituted nearly half of all refugees granted residence under New Zealand's quota program, with 1,901 approvals during that period.
Singapore As of 2021, there are an estimated 200,000 Burmese nationals comprising students, healthcare workers, domestic helpers, and skilled professionals in Singapore. The community is centered around the
Burmese Buddhist Temple in Novena, which was established in 1875.
Peninsula Plaza is often referred to as "Little Myanmar" which serves as a cultural hub with Burmese eateries, shops, and services. The community observes their traditional festivals there, such as
Thingyan and Thadingyut.
South Korea Around 27,000 Burmese nationals reside in South Korea, forming one of the country's largest Southeast Asian communities. Many are migrant workers employed in manufacturing and agriculture, around 4,000 under the Employment Permit System (EPS), while others are students, asylum seekers or refugees. The Karen ethnic group constitutes a significant portion of this population, with over 140 Karen refugees resettled through a UNHCR-supported program between 2015 and 2017. In 2025, Yeongyang County announced plans to accept additional Karen families to address local population decline. Bupyeong District in Incheon has emerged as a cultural hub, often referred to as "Myanmartown" since it has a lot of Burmese restaurants, grocery stores, and Buddhist temples. Other large Burmese communities reside in on the border towns of
Mae Sot and
Ranong.
Migrant workers tend to hold low-skilled jobs in the fishing and seafood processing, construction, garment, and domestic service industries.
Macquarie University estimates that the average annual remittances from Thailand to Burma exceed . Burmese migrants contribute 5 to 6.2% of Thailand's
GDP. The movement of Burmese nationals into Thailand began in the 1970s, following the
1962 Burmese coup d'état and resulting economic decline from implementation of the
Burmese Way to Socialism, and ongoing civil conflicts. In 2003, the Thai and Burmese governments signed a memorandum of understanding to formally recognize this labor migration flow and legalize migration through a government program to recruit workers directly from Burma. The largest such camp is
Mae La refugee camp.
United Kingdom Migrants from both the
Bamar and
Karen ethnic groups constitute parts of Burmese communities in the United Kingdom. A large proportion of Burmese people who migrated to the country before 2011 were from the ethnic minority group of Karens, who sought to flee the
military rule in Burma which was formed and led by ethnic Burmans. Between 2005 and 2008, over two hundred Burmese individuals resettled in
Sheffield, England. Arriving via
Heathrow airport in the mid-2000s, most of the first Burmese migrants were women and children who had been living in camps along
Myanmar's border with
Thailand before resettlement in the UK. According to the
Sheffield City Council, asylum seekers from Myanmar have been particularly relocated to the
Yorkshire and the Humber region due to the "State persecution of minority groups and political activists" in the Southeast Asian country.
United States Burmese Americans are
Americans of full or partial
Burmese ancestry, encompassing individuals of all ethnic backgrounds with ancestry in present-day
Myanmar (or Burma), regardless of specific ethnicity. As a subgroup of
Asian Americans, Burmese Americans have largely integrated into the broader
Southeast Asian and
South Asian American communities.
Indiana had both the largest Burmese community and highest percentage of Burmese of any state.
Indianapolis,
Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and
Fort Wayne are home to the largest Burmese American populations. Following the 2010 census, "Burmese" became a distinct ethnic category (previously they were categorized as "other Asians.") From 2010 to 2021, the population more than doubled. Following the 2021 February Coup, waves of Burmese have fled the junta, contributing to a surge in growth. According to the Burmese American Community Institute, as of August 2023, the Burmese American population stands at 322,000. ==Notable people==