All events · Cold War Proxies

Rohingya Expulsions from Myanmar

1978–ongoing · East & Southeast Asia

Displacement Mass Killing Sexual Violence Ongoing Killing was the defining act

Displaced

1.4 million

Counted by wave, the documented expulsions to Bangladesh total roughly 1.35 million departures: about 200,000 in 1978 and about 250,000 in 1991-92 (MSF's account of the earlier waves; most were repatriated, about 232,000 of the 1991-92 refugees under UNHCR supervision by 2002), some 750,000 after August 2017, and up to 150,000 more in the 18 months to mid-2025 (UNHCR). Because many of the 1978 and 1991-92 refugees were returned and some fled again later, the total counts departures, not distinct individuals. It is distinct from the refugee population now in Bangladesh, close to one million on UNHCR-Government registration, which is a stock including births in the camps and is recorded in the Cox's Bazar entry.

Share of the population affected

1.2×

of the Rohingya population of northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, before the expulsion of August 2017, 2017

Killed

6,700–13,759

direct killing

As of 2026-06. UNHCR's Bangladesh operation reported close to one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh as of 30 June 2026, with further arrivals since 2024 from continued fighting in Rakhine State.

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What happened

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority concentrated in Myanmar's Rakhine State and denied citizenship under the country's 1982 Citizenship Law, have been driven from Myanmar in several major waves since 1978, each involving military operations that Rohingya and human rights groups describe as ethnic cleansing. The largest exodus followed an August 2017 military crackdown, in which over 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh amid reports of mass killings, sexual violence, and village burnings, and renewed fighting in Rakhine drove up to 150,000 more into Bangladesh in 2024-25; the refugee population in the Cox's Bazar camps stood at close to one million on UNHCR-Government registration in 2026. Earlier waves in 1978 and 1991-92 each displaced a comparable 200,000-250,000 people, some of whom were later repatriated to Myanmar under contested, often coercive conditions. The crisis has left one of the world's largest and most protracted refugee populations, with no safe or agreed path to return.

Parties

Myanmar's military and security forces carried out repeated campaigns against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State, driving mass flight into Bangladesh

Disputed

Myanmar's government has denied conducting a mass expulsion, describing 2017 operations as counterinsurgency against militant attacks; the UN, the US government, and independent investigations have characterized the campaign as ethnic cleansing or genocide, a finding Myanmar rejects; the Rohingya's citizenship status itself is also disputed under Myanmar law.

The denominator

Myanmar's 2014 census excluded people who identified as Rohingya; the government published an estimate of about 1,090,000 non-enumerated residents in Rakhine State, and UN agencies used a figure of roughly 1-1.4 million before 2017. The state disputes the term Rohingya and classifies the population as 'Bengali', which is itself part of the contest over the count.

The affected figure sums departures across 1978, 1991-92, 2017 and 2024-25; most of those who fled in 1978 and 1991-92 were repatriated and some fled again later, so summing the waves counts many individuals more than once.

Where the baseline comes from

Rohingya genocide — Wikipediaopen-edited
Bangladesh — UNHCR Operational Data Portalofficial

On the death toll

Médecins Sans Frontières' retrospective mortality surveys in the Bangladesh camps estimated at least 6,700 Rohingya killed by violence in the single month from 25 August 2017 (69 per cent by gunshot), and extrapolated 9,425-13,759 total deaths across all settlements including non-violent causes — so the upper bound is not all direct killing, and MSF called both figures likely underestimates. Earlier expulsions in 1978 and 1991-92 drove comparable numbers of people out with far less documentation of deaths. Myanmar's authorities reject these figures.

Documented forms of violence

Mass KillingSummary ExecutionSexual ViolenceTortureArbitrary DetentionDestruction of PropertyDenationalization

The UN Fact-Finding Mission, MSF's mortality surveys, Human Rights Watch satellite analysis and Amnesty International documented mass killings and executions in villages such as Tula Toli and Chut Pyin, mass gang rape, torture, the burning of hundreds of villages, and the statelessness imposed by Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law.

Formal findings

UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (2018) — Reports of 18 September 2018 and September 2019 concluding that senior Tatmadaw commanders should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Rohingya, and that remaining Rohingya live under threat of genocide — source
ICJ (2020) — The Gambia v. Myanmar — provisional measures ordered 23 January 2020 requiring Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide; preliminary objections rejected 22 July 2022; merits hearings held January 2026 with judgment pending. Myanmar contests the allegations — source

Movements mapped

Northern Rakhine (Maungdaw) → Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, 2017750,000
Northern Rakhine → Bangladesh, 1978 and 1991-92 waves (largely repatriated)450,000
Rakhine State → Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, 2024-25150,000

Countries touched, on present-day borders

Myanmar, Bangladesh

Related entries

Overlaps with: Rohingya Confined in the Cox's Bazar Camps, Bangladesh
The camp population (close to one million) is made up mostly of people who arrived in 2017 and 2024-25, counted in the expulsion entry's flows, plus earlier residents and children born in the camps. Do not sum the two displacement figures. 900,000 people are counted in both entries.