(Mizzima) – Burma will undertake its first census in 30 years by 2014, with the help of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), official media reported on Sunday.
An organizational meeting with UN and Burmese officials was held in Naypyitaw to discuss methodology, training, challenges and ways for collecting accurate data, said the New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper.
Myanmar's population grew 2.02 per cent from 1998 to 2006. In October last year, its population stood at 60.38 million, according to government official figures.
According to the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), the population of Rangoon was 6.12 million in 2011, 1.15 million more than the 2010 figure.
Burma conducted its last census in 1983 when it showed that among its total population of 34.12 million, 24.79 percent were urban residents with nearly 40 percent living in Yangon region, the country's largest urban area.
According to the CIA Factbook:
Population
0–14 years: 28.1% (male 6,091,220; female 5,840,968)
15–64 years: 67% (male 14,162,190; female 14,347,751)
65 years and over: 4.9% (male 916,702; female 1,151,706)
Median age
total: 28.2 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate
0.783% (2009 est.)
Urbanization
urban population: 33% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 2.9% of annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Life expectancy
total population: 63.39 years
male: 61.17 years
female: 65.74 years
Literacy
(age 15 and over can read and write, official statistics)
total population: 89.9%
male: 93.9%
female: 86.4% (2008 est.)
According to Wikipedia, at the time of Burma’s last official census in March 1983, the population was 35,442,972. As of July 2003, this was estimated by the CIA World Factbook to have increased to 47,758,180; however, many other estimates the population number much higher, at around 50 to 60 million. Some Britain-based human rights agencies place the population as high as 70 million. China's People Daily reported that Burma had a partial census in 2007, and at the end of 2009 had 59.2 million people, and was growing at 2% annually.
No trustworthy census has occurred since the 1930s. In the 1940s, the detailed census results were destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1942. Census results after that time have been flawed by civil wars and a series of military governments. The last official census in 1983 occurred at a time when parts of the country were controlled by insurgent groups and inaccessible to the government.
The 2006 government Household Income and Expenditure Survey found that the average household size was 4.72 (urban 4.87, rural 4.67).
According to the Burmese government, there are eight major national ethnic races (which comprise 135 "distinct" ethnic groups), which include the Bamar (68%), Shan (9%), Kayin (7%), Rakhine (4%), Mon (2%), Kayah, and Kachin. However, the government classification system groups ethnic groups under ethnic races by geography, rather than by linguistic or genetic similarity (e.g. the Kokang are under the Shan ethnic race, although they are ethnic Chinese). Unrecognised ethnic groups include Burmese Indians and Burmese Chinese, who form 2% and 3% of the population respectively. The remaining 5% of the population belong to small ethnic groups such as the remnants of the Anglo-Burmese and Anglo-Indian communities, as well as the Lisu, Rawang, Naga, Padaung, Moken, and many minorities across Shan State.
Ref:Mizzima
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