Ethnic Groups in Cambodia: Context for the Khmer Rouge Era

Cambodia's ethnic composition (pre-1975 estimates):

• Khmer – ~90%+ (dominant majority)
• Vietnamese – ~5% (largest minority)
• Chinese – ~1–3% (historically influential in commerce)
• Cham Muslims – ~1–2% (descendants of Champa kingdom)
• Indigenous highland groups (Montagnards): Bunong, Jarai, Kuy, Kreung, Tampuan, etc. – collectively ~1–2%

During the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979): All groups suffered catastrophically. The Khmer Rouge targeted:

• Ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese – expelled, killed, or forced to flee.
• Cham Muslims – subjected to forced assimilation, massacre (estimates: 50–90% perished).
• Highland groups – displaced, culturally suppressed.
• Urban Khmer – "new people" deported to labor camps; "base people" (rural) marginally favored but still brutalized.

The genocide was primarily political and class-based (targeting "enemies of the revolution"), but ethnic minorities faced disproportionate, identity-specific persecution. ~1.7–2.2 million died (21–25% of population).