Contemporary yao has reached more than 410 population, for the sixty-second surname, accounts for about 0.33% of the population.Since the song dynasty 1000 years yao population increase rate for Sunday afternoon in shape.In national distribution mainly focused on anhui, guangdong and jiangsu provinces, accounts for roughly 25% of yao population, second distributed in zhejiang, henan, sichuan, hebei, hubei, hunan, the six provinces and concentrated 33% of the yao people.Anhui for contemporary yao first big province, for yao 8.6% of the total population.The country formed a anhui su zhejiang, guangdong xiang centered two yao high concentrated areas.Since the Ming dynasty in 600, during the yao population flow from the southeast to the property is very strong, in the west of the central China, north China, is greater than the migration from north to south.

Yao distribution is very wide, but unevenly.In northern anhui most of su zhejiang, Shanghai, jiangxi, hubei, western hunan and the northeast, northwest and eastern guangdong most, GuiGui southern, eastern yunnan, southwestern province of sichuan, chongqing, southern fujian, shaanxi, henan in central west south eastern, southern ningxia, gansu, shanxi, heilongjiang east and west, yao of the local population, generally over 0.44%, the central region can reach more than 0.8%, above the cover accounted for about 19.4% of the total land area, living around 50% of the yao people.In qinghai lake and other parts of the east of hengduan mountains of yunnan, yao accounted for the proportion of the population in Q. O. between 44% and 22% more than cover accounted for about 45.3% of the total land area, living around 49% of the yao people.