Mekong River Basin People Why Ethnicity

The people of the lower Mekong basin make up about one-third of the population of the four countries along the river, and almost all of them are engaged in agriculture, with rice being the main crop. The most densely populated areas are the delta and the Korat Plateau. The population of the few cities has been growing rapidly, mainly through migration to urban areas. The watershed population is not *** homogeneous in terms of ethnicity. Ethnic groups range from Sino-Tibetan in the Upper Mekong, including the Karen and Hmong mountain groups, to Khmer, Cham, Thai, Mon, and Vietnamese lowland groups in the Lower Mekong. The Vietnamese are densely concentrated in the delta, and the Khmers and Thais are most widely distributed in the lower basin.