About Myanmar/Burma – Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar

Myanmar (Burma) is the largest country by area in mainland Southeast Asia. Stretching from the Andaman Sea, past the Bay of Bengal and up to the Himalayan Mountain range in the north, the country shares land borders with Bangladesh, India, China, Laos, and Thailand. Burma is hugely diverse with many different ethnicities found across the country, especially in the highland areas around the borders that surround the central lowland areas.

Accurate statistics and demographics are incredibly difficult to obtain in Myanmar as large parts of the country have not been consistently controlled by the central government or military. These statistics are from the Myanmar 2014 national census and UNFPA reports and must be taken only as an approximation. At the time of the 2014 census large parts of Northern Rakhine state, Kachin state, parts of Karen state were not able to be included.

Official Language: Burmese
Total Population: 51.4 million +
Rural Population 70%
Literacy rate 89.5%

Religion:
Theravada Buddhism 87.9%
Christianity 6.2%
Islam 4.3%
Other 1.6%

There are 135 ethnic groups officially recognized by the government. There are other groups not included in the official list of ethnic groups or, Tain Yin Tha, and so are not included in census results. Rough estimates of the demographics put Bamar as the majority ethnic group, followed by Shan, Karen, Burmese Chinese, Mon, Kayah, Rakhine, and Kachin, respectively.