Myanmar expat census due in March
A census of Myanmar citizens living abroad would be released on March 3, said Myint Kyaing, director-general of Population Department under the Ministry of Immigration and Population.
“We have finished the census in the country. And now a study of those living abroad is being conducted. The ministry could then take a census in the skipped areas in Kachin, Rakhine and Kayin states,” he added.
Khin Yi, union minister for immigration and population, said in August last year that initial results pointed to a population exceeding 51.4 million.
Analysts asked why Myanmar had 9 million fewer residents than at the time of the referendum for the 2008 Constitution.
They called for the early release of the exact figure, as it was crucial for the elections scheduled for November this year.
Myanmar took its first nationwide census under the Burma Socialist Programme Party in 1973. A 1983 census found that Myanmar had a population of over 35.3 million.
The latest census data will be released in May 2015.
The initial results showed that Myanmar had 51,419,420 people – as of midnight on March 29 – including government employees of Myanmar embassies overseas, according to the census commission.
The Immigration and Population Ministry estimated that there are about 4 million migrant workers overseas. Some Myanmar students are also studying abroad.
