Khmer People

The Khmer people (Khmer: ជនជាតិខ្មែរ, Chônchéatĕ Khmêr [cɔnciət kʰmae]) (Khmer: ប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា។, Brachachn Kampouchea) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia. They comprise over 90% of Cambodia’s population of 17 million. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Austroasiatic-language family found in parts of Southeast Asia (including Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia), parts of central, eastern, and northeastern India, parts of Bangladesh in South Asia, in parts of Southern China and numerous islands in the Indian Ocean.

The majority of the Khmers follow Theravada Buddhism. Significant populations of Khmers reside in adjacent areas of Thailand (Northern Khmer) and the Mekong Delta region of neighboring Vietnam (Khmer Krom), while there are over one million Khmers in the Khmer diaspora living mainly in France, the United States, and Australia.