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| Burma |
 Click to enlarge |
Home Reference Maps Appendixes
| Background: |
Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years (1824-1886) and incorporated it into its Indian Empire. Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became a separate, self-governing colony; independence outside of the Commonwealth was attained in 1948. Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to 1988, first as military ruler, then as president, and later as political kingmaker. Despite multiparty elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party winning a decisive victory, the ruling military junta refused to hand over power. Key opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI, under house arrest from 1989 to 1995, was again placed under house detention from September 2000 to May 2002 and again in May 2003; her supporters are routinely harassed or jailed. |
| Location: |
Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Bangladesh and Thailand |
| Geographic
coordinates: |
22 00 N, 98 00 E |
| Map
references: |
Southeast Asia |
| Area: |
total: 678,500 sq km land: 657,740 sq km water: 20,760 sq km |
| Area
- comparative: |
slightly smaller than Texas |
| Land
boundaries: |
total: 5,876 km border countries: Bangladesh 193 km, China 2,185 km, India 1,463 km, Laos 235 km, Thailand 1,800 km |
| Coastline: |
1,930 km |
| Maritime
claims: |
contiguous zone: 24 NM territorial sea: 12 NM continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 NM |
| Climate: |
tropical monsoon; cloudy, rainy, hot, humid summers (southwest monsoon, June to September); less cloudy, scant rainfall, mild temperatures, lower humidity during winter (northeast monsoon, December to April) |
| Terrain: |
central lowlands ringed by steep, rugged highlands |
| Elevation
extremes: |
lowest point: Andaman Sea 0 m highest point: Hkakabo Razi 5,881 m |
| Natural
resources: |
petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones, natural gas, hydropower |
| Land
use: |
arable land: 14.53% permanent crops: 0.9% other: 84.57% (1998 est.) |
| Irrigated
land: |
15,920 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Natural
hazards: |
destructive earthquakes and cyclones; flooding and landslides common during rainy season (June to September); periodic droughts |
| Environment
- current issues: |
deforestation; industrial pollution of air, soil, and water; inadequate sanitation and water treatment contribute to disease |
| Environment
- international agreements: |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94 signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography
- note: |
strategic location near major Indian Ocean shipping lanes |
| Population: |
42,510,537 note: estimates for this country take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2003 est.) |
| Age
structure: |
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) (2003 est.) |
| Median
age: |
total: 25.3 years male: 24.8 years female: 25.9 years (2002) |
| Population
growth rate: |
0.52% (2003 est.) |
| Birth
rate: |
19.15 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Death
rate: |
12.17 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Net
migration rate: |
-1.81 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Sex
ratio: |
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
| Infant
mortality rate: |
total: 70.35 deaths/1,000 live births female: 63.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) male: 76.48 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Life
expectancy at birth: |
total population: 55.79 years male: 54.12 years female: 57.56 years (2003 est.) |
| Total
fertility rate: |
2.15 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Burmese (singular and plural) adjective: Burmese |
| Ethnic
groups: |
Burman 68%, Shan 9%, Karen 7%, Rakhine 4%, Chinese 3%, Indian 2%, Mon 2%, other 5% |
| Religions: |
Buddhist 89%, Christian 4% (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Muslim 4%, animist 1%, other 2% |
| Languages: |
Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
| Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 83.1% male: 88.7% female: 77.7% (1995 est.) note: these are official statistics; estimates of functional literacy are likely closer to 30% (1999 est.) |
| Economy
- overview: |
Burma is a resource-rich country that suffers from abject rural poverty. The military regime took steps in the early 1990s to liberalize the economy after decades of failure under the "Burmese Way to Socialism", but those efforts have since stalled. Burma has been unable to achieve monetary or fiscal stability, resulting in an economy that suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including a steep inflation rate and an official exchange rate that overvalues the Burmese kyat by more than 100 times the market rate. In addition, most overseas development assistance ceased after the junta suppressed the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently ignored the results of the 1990 election. Burma is data poor, and official statistics are often dated and inaccurate. Published estimates of Burma's foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and border trade - often estimated to be one to two times the official economy. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $70 billion (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- real growth rate: |
3.3% (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- per capita: |
purchasing power parity - $1,660 (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- composition by sector: |
agriculture: 60% industry: 9% services: 31% (2002 est.) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
25% (2000 est.) |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 2.8% highest 10%: 32.4% (1998) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
53.7% (2002 est.) |
| Labor
force: |
23.7 million (1999 est.) |
| Labor
force - by occupation: |
agriculture 70%, industry 7%, services 23% (2001) |
| Unemployment
rate: |
5.1% (2001 est.) |
| Budget: |
revenues: $7.9 billion expenditures: $12.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $5.7 billion (FY96/97) |
| Industries: |
agricultural processing; knit and woven apparel; wood and wood products; copper, tin, tungsten, iron; construction materials; pharmaceuticals; fertilizer |
| Industrial
production growth rate: |
NA% |
| Electricity
- production: |
6.139 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- production by source: |
fossil fuel: 44.4% hydro: 55.6% other: 0% (2001) nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity
- consumption: |
5.709 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- exports: |
0 kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- imports: |
0 kWh (2001) |
| Oil
- production: |
14,170 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- consumption: |
38,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- exports: |
NA (2001) |
| Oil
- imports: |
NA (2001) |
| Oil
- proved reserves: |
142.5 million bbl (January 2002 est.) |
| Natural
gas - proved reserves: |
314.4 billion cu m (January 2002 est.) |
| Agriculture
- products: |
rice, pulses, beans, sesame, groundnuts, sugarcane; hardwood; fish and fish products |
| Exports: |
$2.7 billion f.o.b. (2002) |
| Exports
- commodities: |
gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, rice |
| Exports
- partners: |
Thailand 31.8%, US 13.2%, India 7.4%, China 5.0%, Japan 3.7% note: official trade statistics do not include trade in illicit goods - such as narcotics, teak, and gems (2002) |
| Imports: |
$2.5 billion f.o.b. (2002) |
| Imports
- commodities: |
machinery, transport equipment, construction materials, crude oil; food products |
| Imports
- partners: |
China 21.8, Singapore 20.1%, Thailand 12.4%, South Korea 9.7%, Malaysia 7.6%, Taiwan 6.5% (2002) |
| Debt
- external: |
$6.1 billion (2002 est.) |
| Economic
aid - recipient: |
$99 million (FY98/99) |
| Currency: |
kyat (MMK) |
| Currency
code: |
MMK |
| Exchange
rates: |
kyats per US dollar - 6.6421 (2002), 6.7489 (2001), 6.5167 (2000), 6.2858 (1999), 6.3432 (1998) |
| Fiscal
year: |
1 April - 31 March |
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