The Katuic people (also Co Tu, Ca Tang; ; Katu: ) are an ethnic group of about 102,551 who live in eastern Laos and central Vietnam. Numbered among the Katuic peoples, they speak a Mon-Khmer language. Katuic languages have been developed by Paul Sidwell, but Sidwell's work is not commonly used in Katuic communities due to language barriers.

Laos

The Katu in Laos live in Sekong Province along the upper Sekong River and in the highland basin of the Song Boung river watershed along the border with Vietnam's Quảng Nam Province and

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

city. There were 28,378 of them in Laos in 2015.

Vietnam

The Vietnamese government's official name for the Katu ethnic group is "Co Tu". Within Vietnam, Katu people are indigenous groups recognized by the Vietnamese government and they almost live in the provinces of Thừa Thiên–Huế, Quảng Nam, and Da Nang city. The Katu in Vietnam numbered 50,458 in the 1999 census, 61,588 in the 2009 census, and 74,173 in the 2019 census.Census 2009
, Hanoi, June 2010. Table 5 (POPULATION BY URBAN/RURAL RESIDENCE, SEX, ETHNIC GROUP, SOCIO-ECONOMIC REGION AND PROVINCE/CITY, 1/4/2009), pp. 134. Access Feb 12, 2011. The Katu typically serve rice cooked in bamboo stems such as ''zăr'', ''aví hor'', ''koo dep'', ''koo g'đhoong'', and ''cha chắc'', and drink a beverage called ''tavak''. Their famous dances are ''tung tung'' (performed by males) and ''ya yá'' (performed by females). They play ''h'roa'' in ordinary life. Traditional Katu homes are on stilts and those who live on the Laotian border are known for growing

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and weaving. Some 15,000 Katu in Thừa Thiên–Huế speak Phuong, a Katuic dialect often recognized as a separate language. They are also notorious for the wide variety of Austroasiatic carrying baskets that they have developed. Nowadays, Katu peoples' lives are modernized, and many young Katuic people go to the cities to study and find jobs. Some of them go abroad to advance their education. Dr Tho Alang (Alăng Thớ) is recognized as the first of the Katu people to gain a Doctor of Philosophy (in Management) from the RMIT University (Australia).

References

*Lưu Hùng. 2007. ''A contribution to Katu ethnography''. Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Thế Giới. {{Authority control Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia Ethnic groups in Vietnam Ethnic groups in Laos