The Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bengali: পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, romanized: Pārbôtyô Côṭṭôgrām), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, refers to the three hilly districts within the Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering India and Myanmar (Burma) in the east: Khagrachhari, Rangamati, and Bandarban.

Covering 13,295 square kilometres (5,133 sq mi), CHT is a extensively hilly area and home to a variety of tribal peoples in Bangladesh.

[2] The mountainous rugged terrain with deep forests, lakes and falls gives it a different character from the rest of Bangladesh.

Population of ethnic minorities are: Chakma 454,925, Marma 209,783, Tripura 133,372, Mro 51,724, Tanchangya 42,943, Bom 12,311, Khyang 4,176, Khumi 3,341, Chak 2,725, Pankho 1,458 and Lushei 216.

They differ markedly from the Bengali majority of Bangladesh in language, ethnicity and religion.

According to the 2022 Bangladeshi census, Islam is the largest religion in chittagong hill tracts (44.52%).

[9][10] In 1787, the East India Company made the region its tributary after battling Chakma raja and agreeing on peace treaty.

The early colonial history of the Chittagong Hill Tracts is a record of recurring raids by the eastern hill indigenous (Mizo or Lushai) and of the operations undertaken by the British to repress them.

Situated beyond the inland hills, Chittagong proper is a coastal area in the plains where the British were based.

As colonial influence grew, "Chittagong" enlarged as well, expanding eastwards[11] to subsume the Hill Tracts under its revenue-collection territory.

The census of 1872 was, however, very imperfect, and the actual population growth probably did not exceed what might be expected in a sparsely inhabited but fairly healthy tract.

[13] Tobacco cultivation is damaging the ecology of the area, with the loss of indigenous trees such as Chukrasia tabularis (Indian mahogany), and soil fertility.

Most of the farmers of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari have been losing their interest in cultivating their own indigenous crops after defaulting on loans provided by tobacco companies.

[14] Like other mountainous areas in South and Southeast Asia, the Chittagong Hill Tracts are undergoing deforestation and land degradation arising from environmentally unsuitable activities such as tobacco cultivation in sloping land, shifting cultivation and logging.

It is a unique stage in the evolution from hunting and food gathering to sedentary farming.

[16] The present shifting cultivation system with short fallow periods in the Chittagong Hill Tracts has accelerated erosion, land degradation, deforestation, and impoverishment of tribal people in CHT.

It is estimated that on average eight hectares of land is necessary for the sustenance of a family in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Given the sluggish growth of the economy, there is limited scope for generating adequate non-farming employment opportunities in the near future.