Myanmar (Burma) is an ethnically diverse nation with 135 distinct ethnic groups officially recognised by the Burmese government. These are grouped into eight "major national ethnic races": The "major national ethnic races" are grouped primarily according to region rather than linguistic or ethnic affiliation, as for example the Shan Major National Ethnic Race includes 33 ethnic groups speaking languages in at least four widely differing language families. The list has faced criticism for overcounting the number of ethnic groups. Specifically, it represents clans and people withh dialectical differences as distinct ethnic groups, sometimes even repeating the same group under a different name. According to Gamanii, a researcher who scrutinized the claim, only 59 out of the 135 ethnic groups mentioned can be verified as existing entities. Many unrecognised ethnic groups exist, the largest being the Burmese Chinese and Panthay (who together form 3% of the population), Burmese Indians (who form 2% of the population), Rohingya, Anglo-Burmese and Gurkha. There are no official statistics regarding the population of the latter two groups, although unofficial estimates place around 52,000 Anglo-Burmese in Burma with around 1.6 million outside the country.

Officially recognized ethnic groups

Note: The list is very controversial. Many of the names and spelling variants are known only from this list.

Kachin

Kachin comprises 12 different ethnic groups:

Kayah

Nine groups:

Kayin

11 groups:

Chin

53 groups. This list was possibly originally a list of tax rate districts with the highest tax first.

Burman

Nine groups:

Mon

Rakhine

Seven groups:

Shan

33 groups:

Unrecognised ethnic groups

The government of Myanmar does not recognise several ethnic groups as being among the list of 135 officially recognised ethnic groups: Thaungtha is similar with rabain

Books

Yangon: Thein Myint Win Press, 2000.