BURMA AT A GLANCE: FACTS AND FIGURES

Country name:                      Union of Burma (1948), Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (1974), Union of Myanmar (1989)

Government:                          State Peace and Development Council

System of Government:        Military Dictatorship

Area:                                      678,500 sq km

Coastline:                               1,930 km

Population:                             approximately 50 million people

Population growth rate:         0.47% (2004 est.)

Refugees from Burma:         approximately 400,000 in Thailand, 50,000 Chin in India, 120,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh, 10,000 Rohingya in Malaysia, and an unknown number of Kachin in China

Internally displaced people:  approximately 2 million people

Birth rate:                              18.64 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

 

Death rate:                            12.16 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

 

Life expectancy at birth:       male: 54.22 years, female: 57.9 years (2004 est.)

No. of TVs per 1,000 people: 7

No. of doctors per 10,000 people: 2.96

Languages:                            Arakanese, Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Shan, Wa, English and more than 100 minority dialects

Religions:                               Buddhist (89%), Animist (2%), Christian (4%), (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Muslim (4%), Hindu (0.5%), other 2%

Burmese Border Refugees: Karenni camps - 21, 879

(December 2003)                     Karen camps - 113,743

Mon-Resettlement Sites - 151,808

Tham Hin Zone 4 (formerly known as Maneeloy Student Centre) - 72

Inflation rate:                         52.8% (consumer prices) (2003 est.)

GDP spending:                       3.1 % on military (non-SPDC figures: over 50%) 2.2% education, 0.8% health

LDC status:                            since 1987

Natural resources:                tin, plutonium, zinc, copper, cobalt, gold, rubies, jade, teak (80% of world’s reserves), fish (704 metric ton/year), gas, oil, rice, sesame, groundnuts

Agriculture:                            68% of workforce employed in agriculture; 15% of arable land; less than 50% of potentially productive land under cultivation

Opium production:                1,300 tons (1988), 2,800 tons (1997), 1,800 tons (1998), 630 metric tons (2002) (70% of US market)

Administrative areas:           Seven States (Arakan, Chin, Mon, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Shan), Seven Divisions (Irrawaddy, Magwe, Mandalay, Pegu, Rangoon, Sagaing, Tenasserim)

Last election:                         May 27, 1990. NLD won 392 of the 485 seats contested

[There is a caveat on the facts and figures as accurate data is not readily available, even in official publications. Most of the facts and figures contained herein are drawn from SPDC’s publication, Myanmar Facts and Figures 2002, published by the Ministry of Information Union of Myanmar 2002, the CIA World Fact Book which was updated in 2004, the US State Department, and the Burma Border Consortium Six-Month Report (July - December 2003).]


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