Ayeyarwady Region ( , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division) is a
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
of
Myanmar
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
, occupying the delta region of the
Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bordered by the
Rakhine State
Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...
to the northwest, the
Bago Region
Bago Region (, ; formerly Pegu Division and Bago Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative region of Myanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered by Magway Region and Mandalay Region to ...
to the north, Bago Region and
Yangon Region to the east, and the
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region.
Many South Asian and Southe ...
to the south and west.
The region lies between approximately latitude 15° 40' and 18° 30' north and between longitude 94° 15' and 96° 15' east. It has an area of . The estimated 2022 population is more than 6.5 million. According to the 2014 Burmese National Census the population of the Ayeyarwady Region was 6,184,829, making it the second most populous of Burma's states and regions after Yangon Region.
Ayeyarwady Region is flanked by the
Rakhine Yoma (Arakan Mountains) range in the west. Large areas have been cleared for paddy cultivation, leading to its preeminent position as the main rice producer in the country, a position it has retained into the 21st century. It has also a number of lakes. Of the rivers branching out from the mighty
Ayeyarwady,
Ngawun,
Pathein and
Toe are famous.
The capital city of Ayeyarwady Region is
Pathein.
Chaungtha Beach and
Ngwesaung Beach are popular resorts for both foreigners and the Burmese. They are in the west of the Ayeyarwady Region, an hour from
Pathein city and four hours from
Yangon
Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
city by road.
History
Prehistory
The Ayeyarwady delta region was historically part of the
Mon kingdoms like the
Hanthawaddy Kingdom. This area fell under Burmese (and occasional
Arakanese and Mon) rule from the 11th century AD onwards. Its subsequent history mirrors that of the rest of lower Burma.
An ancient overland pre-
Tang trade route from
Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
(modern
Yunnan Province) to
Bengal
Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
passed through Ayeyarwady.
British rule
Prior to
British rule in Burma
British colonial rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the successive three Anglo-Burmese wars through the creation of ''Burma'' as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally i ...
, much of the Ayeyarwady delta was sparsely populated forest, mangrove and plain land with isolated
Mon,
Karen and
Burman settlements; the region saw only limited rice cultivation on lands that were frequently flooded. In the 1750s, the
Konbaung Kingdom defeated the
Mon Kingdom, but their limited technology in the face of an unwelcome natural environment prevented further settlement in the region.
After the
second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852, the British gained control of the Ayeyarwady delta. Over the next few decades, due to British efforts, the delta evolved into a key centre for rice cultivation and was one of the world’s top rice-exporting regions, as Burmese small-scale subsistence farmers became integrated into a capitalist economy. Global events like the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
and the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
led to a drop in rice exports from these regions, contributing to the delta becoming a crucial supplier in the colonial food system.
Initial phase
Adas (1974) describes the Ayeyarwady delta of 1857 to 1907 as being in an initial phase of rapid development.
Inhabitants extensively migrated from northern to southern regions, attracted by opportunities emerging from the expanding agriculture. To support this growth, the British introduced a land taxation system modeled after those in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, such as the
Ryotwari
The ryotwari system was a land revenue system in Company rule in India, British India introduced by Thomas Munro, 1st Baronet, Thomas Munro, which allowed the government to deal directly with the cultivator ('ryot') for revenue collection and gav ...
, which enabled farmers to buy, sell, and transfer land. They also established formal land tenure systems, such as the
Patta system, which granted ownership rights after long-term cultivation and tax payment.
Many migrants from
Upper Burma became landowners and gradually increased their holdings, leading to upward mobility. By 1905-06, only about 18 percent of farmland in the delta was owned by non-farmers. At first, Burmese lenders provided access to credit, which played a crucial role in driving agricultural expansion, but by the end of the late 19th century, Indian
Chettiar
Chettiar (also spelt as Chetti and Chetty) is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning castes in South India, especially in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
Etymology
Chettiar/Chetty is deri ...
moneylenders had become increasingly prominent. The Chettiars migrated from
Bengal
Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
to
Yangon
Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
and the delta, offering larger loans at more favourable rates. By 1901, Indians made up around 7 percent of the delta's population. From 1852 to 1937, roughly 2.6 million Indians migrated to Burma, primarily settling in the delta region and Yangon. A socially diverse society developed, where Europeans controlled the rice export and processing sectors, the Burmese worked as farmers, and the Chettiars provided financial services. The Chettiars used their previous financial expertise and the geographical closeness of
Madras
Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
to their advantage. According to Adas, the subsistence nature of the Burmese economy prior to British rule had limited local participation in credit, creating a space that the Chettiars successfully moved into and dominated.
Transition period and agricultural crisis
Adas describes 1907 to 1930 as a transitional era.
The availability of new land for rice cultivation, which was primarily driving agricultural growth earlier, began to diminish by the late 1920s. Economic pressures increased as land prices surged due to arable land becoming scarce or too costly to develop. For instance, in
Prome, the cost of land increased from 29
rupee
Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of
Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...
s per acre in 1900 to 103 rupees by 1915. Farmers were forced to cultivate in more marginal and risk-prone areas. At the same time, levels of debt among Burmese cultivators rose, and increasing numbers of farmers lost their land through
foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...
s. This lead to a transfer of land ownership from farmers to creditors, majorly comprised by the Chettiars. Over time, the relationships between the British investors, Chettiar moneylenders and Burmese farmers grew increasingly strained.
After
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the decline of the British economy led to reduced demand for Burmese rice. By 1930, Burmese farmers were heavily indebted, and Chettiar lenders, hit by a global credit crisis, intensified debt recovery, leading to many foreclosures. In 1929-30, non-agriculturalists owned 31 percent of delta land; by 1935, this rose to around 50 percent. Between 1931 and the
Japanese invasion of Burma in 1941, the delta experienced mass land dispossession and unemployment. This period saw backlash and violence against the Chettiars, riots in Yangon, and the failed
Saya San-led rebellion. The Japanese invasion prompted the flight of up to 400,000 Indians, leaving the rice economy in turmoil and the region without a strong capitalist class. These colonial-era conditions set the stage for landlessness and land-grabbing following Burmese independence in 1948.
Cyclone Nargis
Ayeyarwady Region was the site of heavy devastation when
Cyclone Nargis made landfall in early May
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
. The
cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...
made landfall on the town of Wagon near Haigyi Island.
Labutta Township was most heavily struck with around 80,000 deaths. The cyclone's path devastated the low-lying
delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet
* D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...
regions going through south-central Ayeyarwady Region and
Bogale before entering neighbouring Yangon Region. Nargis was the most expensive tropical cyclone on record in the North Indian Ocean at the time, costing $12 billion in aid.
Burma's state-controlled news media reported that Nargis left more than 66,000 people dead or missing after it struck the Irrawaddy Delta region May 2, unleashing torrential rains, 120 mph sustained winds and a
storm surge
A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...
. Foreign relief officials and diplomats said the death toll could exceed 100,000, making it the worst
natural disaster
A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...
in the recorded history of Myanmar. The final death toll was at least 146,000 with 90,000 confirmed dead and 56,000 or more missing.
Administrative divisions

Ayeyarwady Region consists of eight districts:
*
Pathein District
*
Kyonpyaw District
*
Hinthada District
*
Labutta District
*
Maubin District
*
Myanaung District
*
Myaungmya District
*
Pyapon District
Labutta District was formed in August 2008, three months after
Cyclone Nargis hit the region. Kyonpyaw District and Myanaung District are the newest districts, formed in 2019 in the lead up to the
2020 Elections.
Pathein is the capital city and capital. The region consists of 26 townships and 29 cities. In the townships there are 219 wards, 1912 village groups and 11651 villages.
Government
Executive
Ayeyarwady Region Government
Legislature
Judiciary
Ayeyarwady Region High Court
Demographics
In 2014, Ayeywarwady Region had a population of 6.18 million.
Burmese is the ''lingua franca''. The majority of the people are
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, with small minorities of
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
,
Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
,
Hindus
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
and
Baháʼís.
Ethnic makeup
The Bamar 4,873,027 (76.98%) make up the majority of the region's population, while the Karen 1,426,973 (22.5%) form a significant minority. A small minority of
Rakhine (0.47%) live in western coastal regions.
After the 2014
Census in Myanmar, the Burmese government indefinitely withheld release of detailed ethnicity data, citing concerns around political and social concerns surrounding the issue of ethnicity in Myanmar.
In 2022, researchers published an analysis of the
General Administration Department
The General Administration Department (, abbreviated GAD) is a civil service body that staffs all regional and state-level governments in Myanmar and provides administration for the country's myriad districts and townships.
It also plays a centra ...
's nationwide 2018-2019 township reports to tabulate the ethnic makeup of the region.
Religion
According to the
2014 Myanmar Census,
Buddhists make up 92.2% of Ayeyawady Region's population, forming the largest religious community there.
Minority religious communities include
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
(6.3%),
Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
(1.4%), and
Hindus
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
(0.1%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Ayeyawady Region's population.
0.1% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.
According to the
State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee's 2016 statistics, 42,494 Buddhist monks were registered in Ayeyawady Region, comprising 7.9% of Myanmar's total
Sangha
Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...
membership, which includes both novice
samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu.
The majority of monks belong to the
Thudhamma Nikaya (80.1%), followed by
Shwegyin Nikaya (8.3%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small
monastic orders.
5,520
thilashin were registered in Ayeyawady Region, comprising 9.1% of Myanmar's total thilashin community.
Economy

Ayeyarwady Region is heavily forested and wood products are an important component of the economy. The principal crop of Ayeyarwady Region is
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
, and the region is called the "granary of Burma". In addition to rice, other crops include
maize
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...
,
sesame,
groundnut,
sunflower
The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pr ...
,
beans
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...
,
pulses, and
jute
Jute ( ) is a long, rough, shiny bast fibre that can be Spinning (textiles), spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', of the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ...
. Fishery is also important; Ayeyarwady Region produces fish,
prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton
An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...
, fish-paste, dry fish, dry prawn, and fish sauce.
Despite the importance of agriculture to the region, landlessness is high in rural households. Most farms are small; nearly half are under 5 acres. Rice paddy agriculture is dominant during the
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
but irrigation is limited, especially in smaller farms, during the dry season. Seeds are sourced from own reserves rather than from specialized traders. Yields from farms average 3.3 tons per hectare, lower than other Asian countries.
Ayeyarwady Region also has considerable tourist potential. The city of
Pathein has numerous historic sights and temples. Outside Pathein are the beach resorts of Chaungtha Beach and the lake resort of Inye Lake. Inye lake is located in
Kyonpyaw
Kyonpyaw () is a town in the Ayeyawady Division of Myanmar. It is the seat of Kyonpyaw Township. As of 2014 the population was 23,966.
Wards
Kyonpyaw consists 4 wards and they are:
*Taza Ward
*Myawady Ward
*Panglong Ward
*Aung San Ward
In popula ...
township, north east of Pathein. Inye lake is also well known for fishery, as the major supplier of fresh water fish. Chaungtha is located in Pathein township. However, hotel and transportation
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...
is still very poorly developed.
Transportation
Air
Ayeyarwady Region is served by
Pathein Airport.
Bridges
*Bo Myat Tun Bridge (Nyaungdon)
*Daydalu Bridge (Pyapon)
*Daka Bridge (Kangyidaunt and Kyaunggon)
*
Dedaye Bridge (
Kungyangon Township in
Yangon Region and
Dedaye Township in
Ayeyawady Region)
*Gonnhindan Bridge
*Kanyin Bridge (Mezaligone)
*Khattiya Bridge (Maubin)
*Kyauk Chaung Gyi Bridge (Pathein)
*
Kyungon Bridge
*Labutta Bridge
*Maubin Bridge (Maubin)
*Maung Bi Wa Bridge (Pathein)
*Mayan Ngu Bridge (Myaungmya)
*Myaungmya Bridge (Myaungmya)
*Natchaung Bridge (Bogalay)
*Nga Wun Bridge (Myokwin)(Ingapu)
*Ngathaingchaung Bridge
*Pinlelay Bridge
*Seikma Bridge (Bogalay)
*Shwelaung Bridge
*Thegon Bridge (Pantanaw)
*Uto Bridge
*Wakema Bridge
Education
Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities of
Yangon
Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
and
Mandalay. According to official statistics, less than 10% of primary school students in the division reach high school.
Pathein University is the main university in the state, and until recently the only four-year university in the state. In recent years, the
military government, which closed down universities and colleges in the 1990s to quell student unrest, has "upgraded" former colleges and two-year institutes. The government now requires that students attend their local universities and colleges, such as
Hinthada University
Hinthada (; formerly Henzada) is a town located on the Irrawaddy River in Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. It is the principal town of Hinthada Township and Hinthada District. The trade of locally grown rice and cereal, grain goes through the port of Hi ...
and
Maubin University.
Health care
The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world.
Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor. For example, in 2003, Ayeyarwady Region had less than a quarter of hospital beds than Yangon Region although Ayeyarwady Region had a slightly greater population.
References
External links
{{Authority control
Regions of Myanmar