ANKARA
Rohingya have been living in western Myanmar and in some parts of southeastern Bangladesh for thousands of years. The available data shows that the total population of Rohingya living in the Rakhine state of Myanmar was around 3.6 million in the early 70s.
But then they faced several brutal crackdowns -- sometimes by local ethnic groups, Buddhist nationalists and mainly by military forces -- forcing them to leave their homeland and take refuge in other places.
Since the first military action against the Muslim community in 1977 more than 2.5 million Rohingya have fled Myanmar.
Rohingya faced the latest military crackdown on Aug. 25, 2017 -- which is called the textbook example of genocide by the UN -- forcing around 750,000 people to flee Bangladesh.
It is very difficult to get the exact number of Rohingya living in and outside Myanmar as they are not officially recognized citizens of the country.
According to data sent by the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), a global network of Rohingya community, to Anadolu Agency on Thursday, around 700,000 Rohingya are currently living in Myanmar, with 150,000 more internally displaced people (IDPs) in the northwestern Rakhine state.
The Rakhine-based organization compiled the data through their own survey in different countries, as their figures include both registered and unregistered Rohingya, N.R. Abdur Rashid, secretary-general of the group told Anadolu Agency.
"This data is collected by us [RSO] based on our surveys in those countries. These include all Rohingya in the country, including both who are registered by official authorities and who are not registered," N.R. Abdur Rashid said.
The RSO data also shows that Bangladesh topped the list with a total of around 1.6 million Rohingya (1.4 million registered and 200,000 unregistered refugees).
Here is a list of top Rohingya-hosting countries across the world, according to the RSO data:
1. Myanmar: 850,000 approximately (around 700,000 are living across country, 150,000 IDPs in Rakhine state)
2. Bangladesh: 1.6 million (around 1.4 million registered and 200,000 unregistered)
3. Saudi Arabia: 470,000 (around 270,000 registered and 200,000 unregistered)
4. Pakistan: 450,000
5. Malaysia: 200,000 (around 100,000 registered and 100,000 unregistered)
6. India: 50,000
7. UAE: 50,000
8. Thailand: 5,000
9. Australia: 5,000
10. US: 5,000
11. EU: 3,000
11. Jordan: 1,300
12. Indonesia: 1,200
13. Canada: 1,100
14. Nepal: 800
15. Sri Lanka: 650
16. Japan: 560
