The total population may be around 280,001, but official statistics are difficult to determine under the conditions of remote areas, reclusive tribal groups and some having little if any outside world contact.

Being coastal dwellers at first, they have moved inland and into the mountains to avoid the influx and influence of foreign settlers such as the Tagalogs, the Spanish and their conquests and religious conversion, and raids by the Moro.

Today, the Mangyans live in relative seclusion along rivers in the highlands but periodically descend lowland to trade.

A certain group of Mangyans living in Southern Mindoro call themselves Hanunó'o, meaning "true", "pure" or "genuine", a term that they use to stress the fact that they are strict in the sense of ancestral preservation of tradition and practices.

However, not much ethnographic research has been made except for the tribal and linguistic differences that may lead to the indication that the tribes can be treated separately.

[7] Hanunuo, Gubatnon, and Ratagnon (Hagura) Mangyan of Occidental Mindoro received a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) in December 2010 from President Benigno Aquino III.

[9] Mangyan are mainly subsistence agriculturalists, planting a variety of sweet potato, upland (dry cultivation) rice, and taro.

Their traditional religious world view is primarily animistic; around 10% have embraced Christianity, both Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism (The New Testaments have been published in six of the Mangyan languages).

The people living in Southern Mindoro during the pre-Hispanic era are exceptional in their weaving, pottery, and system of writing.

Their textiles are dyed in indigo blue, with an embroidery design called pakudos at the back, and can also be found on their woven bags.

The Hanunó'os also practice their own traditional poetry called the ambahan, a rhythmic poetic expression with a meter of seven syllables presented through recitation and chanting or inscribed on bamboo.