The Yao people are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China, and one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognised by Vietnam (where they are called Dao), but they also live, in small numbers, in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. In the last census in 2000, they numbered more tahn 2,600,000 in China and roughly 470,000 in Vietnam. In China they reside in the mountainous terrain of the southwest and south. Long ago, there were about 20 Yao subgroups (and many of them still exist as separate ethnic groupings). Each of these groups had different customs and lifestyles.
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