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)

Area:

678,500 sq km

Coastline:

1,930 km

Population:

approximately 50 million people

Population growth rate:

0.42% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:

18.11 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:

12.15 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 67.24 deaths/1,000 live births (male: 73.11 deaths/1,000 live births, female: 61.03 deaths/1,000 live births) (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

 male: 54.31 years, female: 58.24 years (2005 est.)

Languages:

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

Religions:

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

Last election:

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

Government: 

State Peace and Development Council

System of Government:

Military Dictatorship

Administrative areas:

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

LDC status:

since 1987

GDP:   

purchasing power parity - $74.3 billlion (2004 est.)

GDP real growth rate:

1.3% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:

purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2004 est.)

Inflation rate:

17.2 (consumer prices) (2004 est.)

Natural resources:

petroleum, tin, antimony, zinc, tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones, natural gas, hydropower.

Agriculture products: 

rice, pulses, beans, sesame, goundnuts, sugarcane; hardwood, fist and fish products

Opium production:

292 metric tons; remains the worlds second largest producer of illicit opium (2005est.)

Refugees from Burma:

approximately 453,500 in Thailand, 150,000 refugees in Bangladesh, 60,000 refugees in India, 25,000 refugees in Malaysia, and an unknown number of refugees in China.

Internally displaced persons:

approximately 1 million persons

 


 

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 the CIA World Fact Book which was updated in 2005, the U.S. State Department, and the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium Six-Month Report. (July - December 2004).

 

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