The Western mountain (of Burma) are occupied by the Chin tribes and the related Naga to the north. Both are animists and members of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family and have sizable populations on the India side of the border. The Chin speak some forty-four related languages and call themselves Zo (as the related Mizo people are known in India). They practice swidden agricultural and, at least until the beginning of this century engaged in tribal warfare, including slave raids. The Chin State had a population of 281,000 in 1974, virtually all Chin. In 1931 the Chin, including those resident in the Arakan Hill Tracts and the Irrawaddy Division, totaled 344,000. The Chin today may be undercounted and may actually number between 500,000 and 700,000. The total Chin population in both India and Burma may reach 2 million. A significant portion is Christian….

Dr. David I. Steinberg, Burma, 1982, p.8