Page last modified 19 August 2023

Myanmar (formerly Burma)

Community

Area 676,578 square kilometres (land area 653,508 square kilometres)

Population,

3,000,000 (1850)

7,722,053 (1891)

10,490,624 (1901)*

14,667,146 (1930)

16,800,000 (1940) +14.5%

19,487,700 (1950) +16.0%

21,700,000 (1960) +11.3%

27,300,000 (1970) +25.8%

34,200,000 (1980) +25.3%

41,300,000 (1990) +20.8%

46,700,000 (2000) +13.1%

50,600,000 (2010) +8.4%

54,410,000 (2020) +7.5%

*Part of this increase due to the� inclusion, in 1901 census, of the Shan States and Chin Hills. The increase in population for the 1891 census area alone, to 1901, was 1,530,822.

Ethnicity, %

	Bamar	Karen	Mon	Rakhine	Shan
1901*	70.3	7.8			8.5
1970	71.3	10.5	1.9		7.0
2010	68.0	7.0	2.0	4.0	9.0

*For 1901 census but excluding the Shan States and Chin Hills, i.e. the 1891 census area.

Religion, %

	Animist	Buddhist	Christian	Hindu	Muslim
1900	5.0		2.2	2.7	3.2
1931	5.2	84.3	2.3	3.9	4.0
1970	2.1		4.8	1.0	3.6
1980	2.2	85.0	3.0	0.5	4.0
2000	1.0	89.5	4.0	0.5	4.0
2014	0.8	87.9	6.2	0.5	4.3

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1901							9.4
1931							10.4
1952		42.0 (+18.0)	183.0	24.0	37.8	3.2	12.9
1962	6.1	41.0 (+20.5)		20.5	41.7	3.5	19.9
1972	5.8	38.0 (+23.2)	115.2	14.8	42.0	3.8	23.6
1980	4.9	33.0 (+20.3)	97.8	12.7	40.9	4.0	24.0
1990	3.5	27.0 (+16.7)	81.8	10.3	37.6	4.4	24.6
2000	2.9	24.5 (+15.6)	65.6	9.1	32.1	4.8	27.0
2010	2.4	19.9 (+11.6)	49.0	8.3	30.0	4.9	28.9
2015	2.2	18.0 (+9.9)	40.6	8.1	27.8	5.3	29.9
2017	2.2	17.7 (+9.5)	38.0	8.2
2018			36.8		26.4	5.8	30.6

Life expectancy,

40.0 (1952); 39.0 (M), 41.0 (F)

42.7 (1960); 39.9 (M), 45.7 (F)

51.0 (1970); 48.5 (M), 53.6 (F)

54.9 (1980); 52.6 (M), 57.4 (F)

58.7 (1990); 56.5 (M), 61.0 (F)

62.1 (2000); 60.1 (M), 64.2 (F)

65.1 (2010); 63.0 (M), 67.3 (F)

67.2 (2020); 64.1 (M), 70.2 (F)�

Population of principal cities, 1,000s

	Pathein (Bassein)	Mandalay	NAYPYIDAW^1	Yangon (Rangoon)
1824				10
1852				25
1872				90
1881				134
1891		189		181*
1900	32	184		235
1931	46	148		400
1941		165		501
1950		181		696
1960		200		884
1970	102	360		1,758
1983	144	533		2,459
2000		810
2003				3,874
2005			97
2010		1,010	992	4,100
2014	287	1,319		5,361

^INaypyidaw replaced Yangon as the capital in 2006

*45.0% Buddhist, 35.0% Hindu

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1946	705	0.32	40	2.62
1956	900	0.25
1964	1,362	0.24
1966			60	1.45
1970	1,940	0.19	72	1.37
1975	3,660	0.22	121	1.55
1980	6,260	0.22	186	1.48
1985	7,330	0.17	198	1.08
1990	2,790	0.05	68	0.28
1995	5,490	0.07	123	0.41
2000	7,340	0.07	200	0.55
2005	11,987	0.09	250	0.56
2010	49,540	0.33	990	2.05
2015	62,600	0.35	1,195	2.13
2016	64,370	0.35	1,275	2.22

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1970		59.0
1980	48.0	67.0	9.3	10.0		23.0
1988	48.6	66.0	9.0	10.0	13.8	20.0
2010	43.0	70.0	20.5	7.0	36.6	23.0
2016	25.6		34.7		39.6

Communications

Language Official; Burmese.� English also spoken.

Burmese, 75.7% (1901); 80.0% (1980, 1990)

Literacy

1891, 10.4%(M), 0.5%(F)*

56.0% (1953)

60.0% (1960)

65.9% (1980); 75.9% (M), 56.3% (F)

80.6% (1990)

83.1% (1995); 88.7% (M), 77.7% (F)

85.0% (2000); 89.1% (M), 81.0% (F)

89.9% (2010); 93.9% (M), 86.4% (F)

*These figures exclude the Shan States and Chin Hills, which were included in the 1901 Census. Inclusion of these areas would bring down the literacy %, as almost all residents of these Districts were illiterate in 1901.

Physical communications � roads

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1905		2,441
1940	16,000
1950	20,100			5,100	24,000
1955			30,600	15,200
1961				19,500
1965			47,900
1975	21,956
1978	22,000
1986	23,067		70,000
1996		3,440		27,000	42,000
2002	35,892	4,300
2005				194,411	54,482
2017			640,000		99,000

Railways; �First railway opened 1877

Length, kilometres

2,177 (1880)

2,177 (1890)

2,177 (1900)

2,479 (1910)

2,619 (1920)

3,294 (1930)

3,315 (1940)

2,861 (1950)

2,990 (1960)

3,317 (1980)

3,250 (1985)

3,955 (1995)

4,809 (2005)

5,031 (2010)

Electronic communications, Radio broadcasts began 1936. TV broadcasts began 1979 (trial in Yangon area); regular broadcasts nationwide from 1981.

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1939			3,790
1941	3,854		10,000
1950			11,000
1958	10,786
1960			115,000
1962	17,400
1968	22,000
1976			665,000
1980	29,000
1982			805,000	8,000
1988				35,000
1990	70,100		3,400,000	101,000
1993		643
1995		2,760		230,000
1999					50,000
2000	271,350	13,400		330,000	100,000
2002						25,000
2005		183,400	4,000,000	373,000	400,000	30,000
2010	604,700	594,000				110,000
2014						2,000,000
2016	514,385	48,730,000				14,260,000*

*Most of these Internet connections were through smartphones, not computers

Tourism: Visitors to Myanmar,

16,400 (1973)

23,845 (1980)

21,000 (1990)

194,000 (1995)

416,000 (2000)

660,000 (2005)

792,000 (2010)

4,681,000 (2015)