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The Indigenous People of the CHT

​The Jumma people are composed of 13 main nationalities. According to the 1981 census, the total Jumma population was 590,000, the 350,000 Chakmas formed the largest of these and they occupy the central and northern parts of the district, including its capital, Rangamati. The Marmas numbered about 140,000, live in the southern and north-eastern parts of the CHT and, like the Chakmas, are Buddhists. The 60,000 or so Tripuras practice a form of Hinduism, live mostly in the north and are related to similar peoples in the neighboring Tripura state of India. Together these three nationalities make up about 87 per cent of the hill peoples and, in contrast to the rest of the hill men, live mainly in the valleys.

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The other nationalities, numbering together about 40,000, live mostly in the south, occupying the forested hill ridges. They include the Tanchangya, Ryang, Murung, Chak, Khumi, Mro, Khyang, Bonjugi, Pankhu and Lushai peoples. The latter two nationalities speak a language belonging to the Tibeto-Burmese group. They are of Sino-Tibetan descent belonging to the Mongolian groups. They closely resemble the people of the North-East India, Myanmar and Thailand rather than the Bengali population of Bangladesh who are a "mixed race comprising Australoid, Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Dravidian strains".

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According to the 1981 census the religious orientation and the numbers of the Jummas were as following.

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POPULATION AND RELIGION OF THE JUMMA PEOPLE

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Nationality

Religion

Population

Chakmas

Buddhist

350,000

Marmas

Buddhist

140,000

Tripuras

Hindus

60,000

Mros

Animists

5,000

Tanchangyas

Buddhists

Ryangs

Animists

Khumis

Animists/Buddhists

Chaks

Buddhists

Khyangs

Buddhists/Christians

Bawms

Christians

Pankhos

Christians

Lushais

Christians

Total

590,000

In 1981, the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts numbered about 590,000 out of a total population of 815,000. The population of the tracts has increased rapidly since the turn of the century. In 1901 it numbered 125,000; in 1931 it had increased to just over 210,000 and by 1974 it had reached 508,000. However, despite the increase, the population density is one-tenth of the rest of Bangladesh. The hill people still live in widely scattered settlements and there are only four population centres officially classified as urban: Rangamati, with a population of 2O,500; Bandarban, with a population of 13,500 and Chandraghona and Kaptai, the main industrial centres, with populations of 9,600 and 8,300 respectively.

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According to the 1991 census, the total population of the CHT is 974,465. Of them 501,145 (i.e. 51%) are Jumma people and the rest 473,300 (i.e. 49%) are Bangladeshi people. It's notable that 70,000 Jumma refugees who were in Tripura state of India in 1986-1998 were not included in this census. There was sharp increase of the number of the Bangladeshis between since 1971 due the government's sponsored migration program, while the Jumma population remained standstill due to persecution and lack of security of their lives

Sources:

  1. The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Militarization, Oppression and Hill Tribes, Anti Slavery International, 1984

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