With the population over 48 million, Myanmar's population can be divided into four main ethnological groups – Tibeto-Burman, Mon-Khmer, Austro-Thai and Karennic. Tibeto-Burman speakers encompass 78% of the population and include the majority Bamar plus over 30 smaller tribal groups including the Rakkhaing, Chin, Kachin, Lisu and Akha. Most of the Mon-Khmer are Mon living in the Gulf of Martaban area, along with smaller groups in the north such as the Intha, Wa and Palaung. Most of the Austro-Thais are Shan living in the north; 'Shan' in fact comes from the same Austro-Thai root as "Siam', both meaning 'free'. The Karennic groups include the numerous Kayin (Karen) and Kayah (known to the British as the Karenni) tribes living along or near the central Thai-Burmese border.

Although ethnologists have identified 111 different entholiguistic groups in Myanmar, the government recognizes 67, officially clustered by language origin into just eight 'national races': Bamar, Shan, Mon, Kayin, Kayah, Chin, Kachin and Rakkhaing. Obviously the Burmese are not a homogeneous people, a fact which has caused the country many problems over the years. For centuries, Myanmar was torn by the struggle for supremacy between the Bamar and the Mon, which eventually ended with the Bamar in control, only to be overwhelmed by the British. The British gave a certain amount of autonomy to the Shan and Kay states, later guaranteed in the Burmese constitution but disregarded by subsequent regimes.

Under the British, many other nationalities also came into Myanmar – particularly Indians and Chinese. Prior to independence, Yangon was much more an Indian city than a Burmese one, as Indians were generally preferred by British employers. A large proportion of the Indian population has been expelled since independence, although there are still many people of Indian descent in Myanmar. The Chinese have got equally short shrift from time to time – particularly during the Cultural Revolution in China, when many Chinese found themselves very unpopular in Myanmar. During the wholesale nationalism of the economy in the 1960s and 1970s, many Indian and Chinese business owners fled overseas.

Today, the 87% of Burmese are Buddhists in Myanmar and they belong to the Theravada sect. Those who profess Mahayana Buddhism comprise fewer than 1%, virtually all of whom are of Chinese descent.

The rest embrace Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or Animism and mostly live in large towns and cities.

Today there are two major schools of Buddhism. The Theravada (doctrine of the elders) school holds that to achieve nibbana (nirvana - the eventual aim of every Buddhist), you must 'work out your own salvation with delegence'. In other words it is up to each individual to work out his or her own fate.

The Mahayana (large vehicle) school holds that individuals should forego the experience of nibbana until all humankind is ready for salvation. The goal is to become a Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be), rather than a fully enlightened Buddha. From this perspective, no one can enter nibbana without the intervention of a Bodhisattva.

The Mahayana school has not rejected the other school, but claim they have extended it. Hence Mahayanists often refer to Theravada as Hinayana (small vehicle) Buddhism. The Theravadins, on the other hand, see Mahayana as a misinterpretation of the Buddha's original teachings. To those who would choose, Mahayana offers the 'soft option' (have faith and all will be well), while the Theravada is more austere and ascetic, and, some might say, harder to practice.

In the Buddhist world today, Theravada Buddhism is followed in countries such as Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. Mahayana Buddhism is practiced in Vietnam, Japan, China, Taiwan and Singapore. There is also a variety of more esoteric divisions of Buddhism such as the Hindu-influenced Tantric Buddhism of Tibet and Nepal, and the Zen Buddhism of Japan, all of which are forms of Mahayana in general principle, since they adhere to the Bodhisattva ideal.

Buddha taught that the world is primarily characterized by dukkha (unsatisfactoriness, infelicity), anicca (impermanence) and anatta (insubstantiality), and that even our happiest moments are only temporary, empty and unsatisfactory. The ultrapragmatic Buddhist perception of cause and effect – kamma in Pali, karma in Sanskrit, kan in Burmese – holds that birth inevitably leads to sickness, old age and death, hence every life is insecure and subject to dukkha. Through rebirth, the cycle of thanthaya (Pali: samsara) repeats itself endlessly as long as ignorance and craving – the remote and proximate causes of birth – remain. Only by reaching a state of complete wisdom and nondesire can one attain true happiness. To achieve wisdom and eliminate craving one must turn inward and master one's own mind through meditation, most commonly known to the Burmese as bhavan or kammahtan.