The diocese was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Southwestern Burma by Pope Pius IX on November 27, 1866, and renamed as the Southern Burma on July 19, 1870 and later as the Apostolic Vicariate of Rangoon on May 7, 1953. It was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Pius XII on January 1, 1955, with the suffragan sees of Mawlamyine, Pathein, Pyay and Hpa-an which was newly erected on 24 January 2009. Pope John Paul II renamed it as the Archdiocese of Yangon on October 8, 1991.
