Bru people

Bru-Vân Kiều

Bru
Diorama showing wax figures of Bru people in traditional attire, Khe Sanh museum
Total population
129,559 (1999 estimate)
Regions with significant populations
Vietnam	94,598 (2019)[1]
Laos	69,000
Thailand	25,000
Languages
Eastern Bru, Western Bru, Vietnamese, Lao, Thai
Religion
Traditional religion (ancestor worship), Animism, Theravada Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Katuic peoples

The Bru (also Bruu, Riang or Bru-Vân Kiều; Vietnamese: Người Bru - Vân Kiều; Lao: ບຣູ ; Thai: บรู; which literally means "people living in the woods") are an indigenous ethnic group living in Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. They speak a Katuic language, kaubru unlike the Brao, who speak a Western Bahnaric language.^[2] The Bru are not found in northeastern Cambodia. The Lun, Kreung, Kavet, Amba and Brao Tanap groups in northeastern Cambodia are actually sub-groups of the Brao, not the Bru. The Brao sub-groups in Laos are the Lun, Kavet, Jree, Ka-ying, and the Hamong.^[2]

The Bru are also close ethnically to Pnongam peoples of Southern Vietnam and Eastern Cambodia. Despite kinship with this group, the Bru are different politically and historically from this other ethnic group.^[3]

The Bru speak Bru, a Katuic Mon–Khmer kaubru language, which has several dialects. Their total population is estimated at 129,559 by Ethnologue.

Some people have confused the Bru for the Brao in northeastern Cambodia and Attapeu and Champasak Provinces of southern Laos. In fact, they are different groups, and Bru people are not found in Cambodia.^[2]