There is a small Buru community in the Netherlands formed by the descendants of the soldiers of Republic of South Moluccas (Indonesian: Republik Maluku Selatan) who moved there after the accession of this self-proclaimed state in Indonesia in 1950.

[3] In the initial period of the Dutch colonization of the island in the middle of the 17th century, much of the tribal nobility of Buru was moved to the eastern part and later became one of the components in the ethnogenesis of ethnic Kayeli people.

[1][2] Religiously, Buru people are divided into comparable fractions of Sunni Muslims, who mostly live in the north of the island, and Christians-Protestants in the south.

Remnants of traditional local beliefs persist almost everywhere, and in the central areas of the island many openly profess the cult of the supreme deity Opo Hebe Snulat and his messenger Nabiat.

[7][8] Most Buru people are engaged in farming rice, millet, sago, sweet potato and various spice, such as allspice, nutmeg and Eucalyptus tree, which is used for aromatic oil.

[10] Buru people, along with the Muslim or Christian names, also use traditional ones, the most common being Lesnussa, Latbual, Nurlatu, Lehalima, Wael and Sigmarlatu.