The Hmong are an indigenous people in Asia, constituting a subgroup of the Miao ethnicity of China. The Hmong originated in the Yellow River region of China, and the Hmong began a gradual southward migration in China in the 18th century due to political unrest and to escape Chinese threats. Significant Hmong communities developed in Southeast Asia, notably in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, and many Hmong emigrated to the United States as the result of the Vietnam War and Laotian Civil War. In 2017, the Hmong world population was 15,000,000 people, with 2.7 million living in China, 1,068,169 in Vietnam, 595,028 in Laos, 260,073 in the USA, 250,070 in Thailand, 2,190 in Australia, 2,000 in French Guiana, and 830 in Canada. Most of them adhered to animism.