Myanmar population at 51.5m
The population of Myanmar has been recorded at 51.5 million people, according the census conducted in 2014, which was the country's first census in 30 years.
The number does not include over 1.09 million people in Rakhine State who self-identify as Rohingya. However, it does include 1.2 million people estimated to live in unincorporated areas in Rakhine, Kachin and Kayin states.
President U Thein Sein opened an event to celebrate the release of the census data today in Nay Pyi Taw. Over 1,000 guests attended, including chief ministers from all of Myanmar’s 15 states and regions, ethnic and religious leaders, international donors and representatives of UN agencies, international NGOs, civil society organisations and the private sector.
Vijay Nambiar, the UN Special Adviser for Myanmar, hailed the census as a "monumental achievement" that will benefit both the country's development and its democratic process, despite challenges that still need to be addressed.
According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which helped conduct the census, the results reported in today's launch show both progress since the last census in 1983 and ongoing challenges, including regional disparities and social indicators that lag behind Myanmar's neighbours.
Highlights from the census report include:
- Population growth, currently at 0.89 per cent per year, is lower than half the 1970s rate and is slowing.
- There are only 93 males for every 100 females, reflecting significantly lower male life expectancy and higher migration by men.
- Half the population is under age 27, but the proportion of children has begun to fall.
- The average number of children per woman has declined to 2.3 from 4.7 in 1983.
- Life expectancy at birth, 66.8 years, has improved but is still one of the lowest in Southeast Asia. Life expectancy is six years longer for females than males.
- Infant and under-5 mortality rates are high nationwide (62 and 72 per 100,000 live births, respectively), and nearly twice as high in some states as in others.
- Almost 90 per cent of adults are literate, but in Shan state only 63 per cent are.
- 85 per cent of adult males and 50 per cent of females are in the workforce; unemployment is 4 per cent, and nearly twice as high for people aged 15-29.
- Only a third of households have electric lights, and a third have mobile phones, but half have televisions.
- Over 70 per cent of homes have improved water and sanitation, but far fewer do in some states.
Additional results that require more time for analysis and consultation, including data on ethnicity, religion, occupation and maternal mortality, are scheduled for release next year.
