The global Rohingya diaspora
A people scattered — but not silent
From the bamboo alleys of Cox's Bazar to apartment blocks in Chicago and Karachi, the Rohingya diaspora is one of the largest stateless populations on earth. This is where they went, why, and how they live now.
Why they left
Displacement was never a choice
The Rohingya diaspora exists because staying became impossible. Decades of legal erasure, military violence, and denial of the most basic rights forced families onto boats, into forests, across rivers, and eventually across oceans.
Stripped of citizenship
The 1982 Citizenship Law erased the Rohingya from Myanmar's list of recognised ethnicities overnight — leaving generations stateless in the only home they had ever known.
Waves of forced displacement
Military operations in 1978, 1991–92, 2012, 2016 and the 2017 genocide pushed hundreds of thousands across the Naf River into Bangladesh and out to sea toward Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Faith, family, and survival routes
Older diasporas in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the UAE grew from Hajj journeys and labour migration in the 1970s–80s. Newer ones followed relatives, smugglers' boats, and UNHCR resettlement to the West.
Historical context
Violence and displacement, in context
This section is educational. It draws on findings from the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and independent historians. The aim is not to assign collective blame to any community, but to explain the documented events that shaped the Rohingya story.
A long, plural history
Arakan (today's Rakhine State) was for centuries a plural coastal society where Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu communities lived, traded, and served at court together — most visibly under the Mrauk-U kingdom (1430–1784). Rohingya identity grew out of this long presence, alongside Rakhine Buddhist neighbours who share the same homeland.
Colonial disruption
British rule (1826–1948) redrew borders, encouraged cross-border labour movement from Bengal, and hardened ethnic categories through the census. These policies later fuelled disputes over who counted as "indigenous" — disputes weaponised by post-independence governments against the Rohingya.
Legal erasure, not just prejudice
The 1982 Citizenship Law is the pivot point. By omitting the Rohingya from Myanmar's 135 recognised "national races," the state made statelessness a matter of law. Movement, marriage, schooling, healthcare, and voting were then restricted through administrative rules — an architecture the UN has described as apartheid-like.
Documented military operations
Operation Nagamin (1978), Operation Pyi Thaya (1991–92), the 2012 Rakhine State violence, and the 2016–2017 "clearance operations" each produced mass displacement. The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (2018) concluded that senior military officials should be investigated for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Ongoing legal accountability
The Gambia's case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (filed 2019) and parallel proceedings at the International Criminal Court are still active. These are formal legal processes — not verdicts of collective guilt — designed to test evidence and establish state and individual responsibility.
Suffering on multiple sides
Rakhine Buddhist civilians have also suffered profoundly — from the 2021 military coup, ongoing conflict with the Arakan Army, and decades of central-government neglect. Acknowledging Rohingya persecution does not erase this. A just future for Arakan has to include both communities.
Sources: UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (A/HRC/39/64, 2018); OHCHR reports on Rakhine State; ICJ case The Gambia v. Myanmar; Human Rights Watch, "Bangladesh Is Not My Country" (2018); Amnesty International, "Caged Without a Roof" (2017); Michael Charney, A History of Modern Burma (Cambridge).
How they live today
Four very different daily lives
'Rohingya diaspora' isn't one experience. It's a camp childhood in Bangladesh, an undocumented night shift in Kuala Lumpur, a first university degree in the American Midwest, and a grandfather in Mecca who has been stateless for fifty years.
In the camps (Bangladesh)
Around 1.5 million people live in the Cox's Bazar mega-camps and on Bhasan Char island — bamboo shelters, monsoon floods, cyclones, cut food rations (down to about US$6/month per person), no legal work, and no recognised refugee status. Camp life is now the childhood of an entire generation.
Undocumented in transit countries
In Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and India, hundreds of thousands live without legal status — working informal jobs in construction, restaurants, and fisheries, at constant risk of raids, arrest, and deportation. UNHCR cards offer partial protection but no right to work.
Resettled families in the West
Communities in the United States (Chicago, Milwaukee, Buffalo), Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia are rebuilding — mosques, Rohingya-language schools, cultural associations — while working through trauma, language barriers, and family separation.
Older Gulf diasporas
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Pakistan host communities that arrived decades ago. Many hold no citizenship anywhere — surviving on expired travel documents, employer sponsorships, and quiet networks of mutual aid across generations.
Country by country
Where Rohingya families live now
Population estimates draw on UNHCR, OHCHR, HRW, Refugees International, Fortify Rights, and diaspora organisations. Figures shift constantly; the underlying story does not.
Origin
Myanmar
~550,000 – 630,000 (decreasing)
Rakhine State — Sittwe, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Rathedaung; IDP camps around Sittwe
Ancestral homeland. Rendered stateless by the 1982 Citizenship Law. Around 140,000 remain confined to IDP camps near Sittwe — HRW still calls them an 'open-air prison' 13 years on. Since the 2021 coup Rohingya men have been forcibly conscripted by the junta, while the Arakan Army seized most of northern Rakhine in 2024, with Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships largely burned in the fighting. Movement, marriage, education, and healthcare are all restricted; a new wave of atrocities in 2024 pushed tens of thousands across the Naf River into Bangladesh.
South Asia
Bangladesh
~1.45 – 1.60 million
Cox's Bazar (34 camps incl. Kutupalong–Balukhali & Nayapara), Bhasan Char, and host communities
Home to the world's largest refugee settlement. UNHCR counted 1.09 million registered Rohingya in Cox's Bazar plus ~36,000 on Bhasan Char at end-2024; renewed violence in Rakhine drove roughly 150,000 new arrivals between late-2024 and mid-2025, pushing the total back toward 1.5 million. Not recognised as refugees under Bangladeshi law. WFP rations were cut, restored, and squeezed again during the 2024–25 funding crisis, sitting near US$12 per person per month; child acute malnutrition tops 15%. Rohingya cannot legally work, leave the camps, or attend Bangladeshi schools, and armed groups (ARSA, RSO) increasingly compete for control inside the camps.
Pakistan
~150,000 – 350,000
Karachi — Burmi Colony, Arakanabad, Machar Colony, Ziaul Haq Colony; smaller communities in Lahore
Descendants of Rohingya who fled the 1948–52 and 1978 expulsions, plus later 1990s arrivals. Most are undocumented — the 2000 Citizenship Act excludes them and CNIC applications are routinely refused. They dominate parts of Karachi's fishing and shrimp-peeling economy, and are periodically caught up in Pakistan's undocumented-foreigner deportation drives (renewed 2023–2025).
India
~40,000 – 50,000 (~22,500 UNHCR-registered)
Jammu, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mewat, Nuh, Haryana, Kolkata, Chennai
India is not party to the Refugee Convention. Since 2017 the government has officially classed Rohingya as illegal migrants; hundreds have been detained in Jammu, Delhi, and Assam, and deportations to Myanmar resumed in 2021 and continued through 2024–25. Living conditions in Jammu and Delhi settlements have deteriorated after fires and demolitions; most children are excluded from state schools.
Nepal
~400 – 700
Kathmandu (Kapan settlement)
Small community that arrived after 2012. UNHCR-registered but with no right to work or access public services. Live in a single informal settlement on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
Southeast Asia
Malaysia
~110,000 UNHCR-registered (up to ~210,000 total)
Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Ampang, Cheras), Penang, Johor Bahru
The largest UNHCR-registered Rohingya population in the world (≈113,000 as of mid-2025). Malaysia is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, so Rohingya have no legal right to work, formal education, or public healthcare; children born in Malaysia are stateless. Immigration raids and detention continue, and boat arrivals across the Andaman Sea persist despite pushbacks.
Thailand
~5,000 – 12,000
Southern Thailand (Ranong, Songkhla, Phang Nga), Bangkok, Mae Sot
Historically a transit country on the smuggling route to Malaysia; the 2015 discovery of mass graves in Songkhla exposed the trafficking network. Rohingya arrivals are routinely held in immigration detention with women and children in shelters. Thailand has no refugee protection framework and is not party to the 1951 Convention.
Indonesia
~2,000 – 3,500
Aceh (Lhokseumawe, Pidie, Bireuen, Sabang), Medan, Makassar, Batam
Boat arrivals surged during the 2023–24 sailing seasons as Andaman Sea crossings rose; Acehnese fishermen rescued hundreds. Growing local backlash in 2024–25 has led to camp relocations and, in some cases, hostile crowds. UNHCR processes cases but Indonesia offers no permanent status — most hope for onward resettlement.
Japan
~300 – 500
Tatebayashi (Gunma), Tokyo, Saitama
Small community concentrated in Tatebayashi since the early 2000s, working in halal butchery, food processing, and used-car export. Japan grants only a tiny number of full refugee statuses; most Rohingya hold 'special permission to stay' or long-term resident visas.
Middle East
Saudi Arabia
~300,000 – 500,000
Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Riyadh, Ta'if
One of the oldest and largest Rohingya diasporas — many arrived on Hajj or Umrah visas from the 1970s onward and remained under successive royal decrees. Most still hold Bangladeshi, Pakistani, or expired Burmese travel documents rather than Saudi nationality; a minority obtained residency (iqama) via the 2010s regularisation drive. The rest live in Mecca's older quarters vulnerable to detention and deportation.
United Arab Emirates
~50,000 – 80,000
Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman
Long-standing community, most working in construction, retail, transport, and small trading. Hold work visas tied to sponsors (kafala); no path to Emirati citizenship. Many carry Bangladeshi or Pakistani passports of convenience obtained decades ago.
Türkiye
~15,000 – 25,000
Istanbul, Kayseri, Ankara
Community grew after 2012, expanded significantly after 2017. Türkiye grants Rohingya conditional refugee status ('humanitarian residence permit'); AFAD and IHH have run resettlement projects in Kayseri. Rohingya organisations here are active advocates for the ICJ case.
Europe
United Kingdom
~800 – 1,500
Bradford, London, Manchester, Birmingham
Small but organised community; home of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), one of the most influential voices behind the ICJ genocide case. Bradford has hosted Rohingya since the early 2000s under the Gateway Protection Programme.
Germany
~800 – 2,000
Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Mix of resettled refugees and asylum seekers who arrived via Türkiye and the Balkan route from 2015 onward. Recognition rates for Rohingya asylum claims are very high given the documented persecution; Germany joined the Netherlands and others in intervening at the ICJ.
Ireland
~150 – 300
Carlow, Dublin
Small resettlement group hosted mainly in Carlow since 2009 under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme. Hold full residency rights; often cited as one of the more successfully integrated Rohingya communities in Europe.
Sweden
~200 – 600
Malmö, Stockholm, Gothenburg
Received Rohingya asylum seekers from 2015 onward via the Balkan and Mediterranean routes. Small but growing community with full protection rights and strong civil-society support.
Netherlands
~150 – 400
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague
Small asylum-seeker community. The Netherlands (with Canada) formally intervened in The Gambia v. Myanmar at the ICJ in 2020 and again backed provisional measures in 2024.
Americas
United States
~25,000 – 35,000 resettled since 2014
Chicago (IL), Milwaukee (WI), Buffalo (NY), Houston & Dallas (TX), Atlanta (GA), Fort Wayne (IN), Kentucky
The largest Western resettlement community, referred by UNHCR mainly from Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Thailand. Green-card and naturalisation pathways are available. The Rohingya Culture Center Chicago, Rohingya American Society, and Burma Task Force USA lead advocacy; refugee admissions have fluctuated sharply with US policy shifts.
Canada
~6,500 – 9,000
Kitchener–Waterloo (ON), Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg
Resettled primarily under the Government-Assisted Refugee programme (2006–present) and private sponsorship. Canada was the first country whose parliament formally recognised the 2017 events as genocide (September 2018 House of Commons vote) and has since imposed Magnitsky sanctions on senior Tatmadaw officers.
Oceania
Australia
~3,500 – 6,000
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane
Includes people resettled from Malaysia and Bangladesh, plus a smaller group who arrived by boat before the 2013 offshore-processing regime. Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation (ABRO) leads advocacy; some remain in limbo on Nauru or Papua New Guinea legacy caseloads.
New Zealand
~250 – 600
Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington
Resettled under NZ's refugee quota programme; Rohingya first arrived under the 2008 quota intake. Small but active community with full residency and citizenship pathways.
Stand with the diaspora
One family, one meal, one school year at a time.
RFund supports Rohingya families across the camps and the diaspora with food, shelter, and education. 100% of every dollar reaches programmes on the ground.