2014 census
Websites/Multiple Documents
Source/publisher:
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Date of entry/update:
2016-07-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Source/publisher:
Department of Population Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population MYANMAR
Date of entry/update:
2016-07-22
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Description:
Numerous publications on the 2014 census, Myanmar?s population etc.
Source/publisher:
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Date of entry/update:
2016-04-11
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Individual Documents
Description:
"...This report shows that Buddhism is the faith professed by the great majority of people in Myanmar,
followed by Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Animism, and all other faiths, which are equally entitled to
freely profess and practice their religion without discrimination. Hence I would invite you to welcome
the release of census data on religion as an insight into the diverse array of faiths that characterize our
country..."
Source/publisher:
Department of Population Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population MYANMAR
Date of publication:
2016-07-21
Date of entry/update:
2016-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
645.68 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The long-awaited figures on religious affiliation from Myanmar?s 2014 census were released earlier today, after a delay attributed to the contentious nature of the withheld data, particularly in regard to the size of Myanmar?s Muslim population.
According to the figures released, Buddhists compromise 87.9 percent of Myanmar?s population, a decrease of 1.5pc over the past 30 years. The release also reported 6.2pc of the population as Christian, 4.3pc Muslim and 0.5pc of Hindu out of a total estimated population of 51.4 million. The census also identified 1.2 million people not enumerated, including over 1 million in Rakhine State alone.
Myanmar?s previous census in 1983 demarcated 4.9pc of the country?s population as Christian and 3.9pc as Muslim, meaning there has been a slight slight increase in major non-Buddhist populations in the past 30 years. The Hindu population was also reported at 0.5pc in 1983..."
Ye Mon, Pyae Thet Phyo
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times"
Date of publication:
2016-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2016-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
more
Description:
"For the first time in more than three decades, Burma released data on the populations of the country?s different religious groups, based on the results of the 2014 census.
The information was publicly launched by the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population, on Thursday in the capital Naypyidaw.
The ministry said that the size of the non-enumerated populations—groups that were not counted in the census—in Karen and Kachin states were not large enough to change the proportion of religious groups at the Union or state levels. However, the non-enumerated population in western Burma—an estimated 1.09 million people who identify as Rohingya—is significant enough to have an impact on the proportion of religious groups at both the state and Union level.
According to the figures, Buddhists constitute 87.9 percent of the country, Christians make up 6.2 percent, Muslims comprise 4.3 percent, animists are counted at 0.8 percent and Hindus are listed at 0.5 percent. People who identify with other religions constitute 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent identified as following no religion. These percentages represent the composition of Burma?s total population of 51.4 million, including a non-enumerated population of approximately 1.2 million.
In comparison to the 1983 and 1973 censuses carried out by ex-dictator Ne Win?s military regime, the 2014 figures revealed a slight decrease in the percentage of Buddhist population and a small increase in the percentage of Christian and Muslim populations.
The 1983 census reported that the Buddhist population was 89.4 percent, the Christian population was 4.9 percent, and the Muslim population was 3.9 percent—a figure believed by some to be a low estimation..."
San Yamin Aung
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2016-07-21
Date of entry/update:
2016-07-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
more
Description:
"YANGON, Myanmar — Data on religion from the 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census has been made publicly available by the Government of Myanmar. UNFPA welcomes this release, which provides an opportunity for Myanmar to embrace its long history of cultural diversity and to promote the benefits of a truly inclusive society.
?It is time to replace speculation with fact. The peoples of Myanmar form a vibrant socio-cultural fabric with the power to forge hope of sustainable peace and respectful co-existence”, says Janet E. Jackson, UNFPA Representative for Myanmar.
The census gives a comprehensive picture of Myanmar?s people ? who they are, how many, and where they are ? and their social and economic living conditions. The results are an essential tool for effective policy development, planning, decision making, and improvement to public services. They have proven hugely useful to Government, civil society and the private sector across a range of areas that benefit the population. For example, census data were instrumental to the coordination of relief efforts during the 2015 floods. New parliamentarians also use the data to better understand the social and economic needs in their constituencies.
However, an estimated 1.09 million people who wished to self-identify as Rohingya were not enumerated in the census. Most face severe restrictions to freedom of movement, depriving them of access to health services, education and employment. Many remain displaced from their homes. UNFPA recognizes their non-enumeration as a serious shortcoming of the census and a grave human rights concern, and regards it as critical that this and all rights are restored as soon as possible.
Notwithstanding this omission, it is clear from the report that people who identify as Buddhist make up the majority in all states/regions except in Chin, where there is a Christian majority. Also represented in the data are people who affiliate with Islam, Hinduism, Animism, ?other religion” and ?no religion”..."
- See more at: http://myanmar.unfpa.org/news/unfpa-welcomes-release-myanmar-census-data-religion#sthash.doZ4VtYO.dpuf
Source/publisher:
United Nations Popuulation Fund (UNFPA)
Date of publication:
2016-07-21
Date of entry/update:
2016-07-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
more
Description:
"လူဝင်မှုကြီးကြပ်ရေးနှင့်ပြည်သူ့အင်အားဝန်ကြီးဌာန၊ ပြည်သူ့အင်အားဦးစီးဌာနသည် ၂၀၁၄ ခုနှစ် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံလူဦးရေနှင့်အိမ်အကြောင်းအရာသန်းခေါင်စာရင်းကို ၂၀၁၄ ခုနှစ်၊ မတ်လတွင် ကောက်ယူခဲ့ပါသည်။ သန်းခေါင်စာရင်းကောက်ယူရေးလုပ်ငန်းစဉ်ကြီးတွင် ကုလသမဂ္ဂလူဦးရေရံပုံငွေအဖွဲ့နှင့် ဖွံ့ဖြိုးမှုမိတ်ဖက်နိုင်ငံများဖြစ်ကြသော သြစတြေးလျ၊ ဖင်လန်၊ ဂျာမဏီ၊ အီတလီ၊ နော်ဝေ၊ ဆွီဒင်၊ ဆွစ်ဇာလန်၊ ဗြိတိန်နှင့် အမေရိကန်ပြည်ထောင်စုတို့ ပါဝင်ကူညီပေးခဲ့ကြပါသည်။ ၂၀၁၄ ခုနှစ် လူဦးရေနှင့် အိမ်အကြောင်းအရာသန်းခေါင်စာရင်းသည် နှစ်ပေါင်း (၃၀) ကျော်ကြာပြီးနောက် ပထမဆုံးပြန်လည်ကောက်ယူခဲ့သော သန်းခေါင်စာရင်းဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ယခင်သန်းခေါင်စာရင်းများကို ၁၉၇၃ ခုနှစ်တွင် တစ်ကြိမ်၊ ၁၉၈၃ ခုနှစ်တွင် တစ်ကြိမ်ကောက်ယူခဲ့ပါသည်။ သန်းခေါင်စာရင်းကောက်ယူခြင်းလုပ်ငန်းကို ၂၀၁၃ ခုနှစ် ဇူလိုင်လတွင် ပြဌာန်းခဲ့သည့် လူဦးရေနှင့်အိမ်အကြောင်းအရာ သန်းခေါင်စာရင်းဥပဒေနှင့်အညီ ဆောင်ရွက်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ သန်းခေါင်စာရင်းမှရရှိသော အချက်အလက်များသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက်ရေးစီမံကိန်းများ ချမှတ်ရန်အတွက် မရှိမဖြစ်လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ သန်းခေါင်စာရင်းအချက်အလက်များသည် နိုင်ငံတော်၏ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲရေးလုပ်ငန်းစဉ်များ၊ မူဝါဒများချမှတ်ရေးနှင့် ဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက်ရေးစီမံကိန်းများအတွက် အထောက်အပံ့ဖြစ်စေပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Immigration and Population
Date of publication:
2016-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2016-04-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
23.5 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census was conducted in March 2014 by the Ministry of Immigration and Population (MOIP). It was supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and development partners, namely Australia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. This is the first census in over three decades; the last censuses being in 1983 and 1973. This census was undertaken within the provisions of the Population and Housing Census Law enacted in July 2013. Its results are vital to the planning and development of Myanmar. The results will inform on-going reforms, policy making and planning for development at all levels.
The results of the 2014 Census have been published so far in three volumes. The first was the Preliminary Results (Census Volume 1), which was released in August 2014. The Census Main Results were launched in May 2015 by H.E. U Thein Sein, the President of the Union of the Republic of Myanmar. These included The Union Report (Census Report Volume 2), Highlights of the Main Results (Census Report Volume 2-A), and the reports of each of the 15 States and Regions (Census Report Volume 3-(1 to 15)).
Dissemination of census data is now taking place across the whole country, so that existing and potential users understand how to interpret, use and apply the data in prioritizing needs for planning and services improvement at all administrative levels. These events have involved participation from government, parliamentarians, civil society organizations, political parties, media and leaders of religious, ethnic and communities, among others.
The report on Occupation and Industry is now being released as part of the Main Results (Census Report Volume 2-B). In the case of this report, coding of open-ended responses on questions related to occupation and industry was still underway at the time when the main results were published.
The Government of Myanmar extends its sincere gratitude and thanks to development partners for providing technical, financial and administrative support throughout the census process. Thanks also go to the MOIP Permanent Secretary and his team, who have authored this report. Last but not least, the people of Myanmar deserve special praise for their participation in the census. It is their answers that form the basis for the data in these reports. The Government as a whole hope that the data contained in the census reports will contribute to improving the welfare of all people in Myanmar...."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Immigration and Population
Date of publication:
2016-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2016-04-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
pdf (5.4MB)
Format :
pdf
Size:
5.4 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Abstract:
"Partially rooted in British colonial ethnology and administration, the ethnic categories of the 2014 Myanmar census have attracted controversy, particularly from representatives of non-Burman political organizations. The categories themselves, as well as the bureaucratic exercise of the census, have a complex genealogy which offers considerable insight into understanding the contemporary situation. Drawing from Hirschman?s theory that the study of measurements of ethnicity is a unique resource for understanding the meaning of ethnicity in a society, this article discusses the controversy surrounding the 2014 census, and how some census-related issues have been crucially framed by bureaucratic structures that came before...."
Keywords:
Myanmar - Burma - census - ethnicity - colonialism - bureaucracy
Jane M. Ferguson
Source/publisher:
Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney
Date of publication:
2015-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2015-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
348.2 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"On Sunday Myanmar started its first census in 30 years.
And while the national survey poses many challenges and risks, including sectarian violence, it also presents some opportunities, says New Mandala co-founder Nicholas Farrelly.
Speaking to the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific from Myanmar?s capital Naypyitaw, Farrelly said the census highlights a ?huge conundrum”.
?We don?t know what we don?t know,” he said.
?Across the gamut of Myanmar society the information available to decision-makers is incomplete and inconsistent. For example, are all 135 national races recognised by the country viable categories?..."
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2014-04-01
Date of entry/update:
2014-07-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Teaching, although not always highly regarded, does afford a valuable perspective on aspects of a country and in this case ? ethnicity. Last year I was fortunate enough to teach on an academic development course which enrolled students from across the country; Wa Chin, Karen- even a young Rohingya man were among our particularly diverse cohort. So when I thought about the upcoming census and the heated question of ethnicity, I considered it in terms of that school and of those students. And I realised there was particular problem when asking someone their ethnicity ? it is subjective. It is likely to shift depending on who they spoke to. They were often unreliable narrators of their own identity..."
Matthew Gibbons
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2014-05-04
Date of entry/update:
2014-07-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
Overview:
"Myanmar?s first census in over 30 years, an ambitious project conducted in April
2014 with technical advice from the UN and significant funding from bilateral donors,
has proved to be highly controversial and deeply divisive. A process that was largely
blind to the political and conflict risks has inflamed ethnic and religious tensions in
this diverse country. The release of the inevitably controversial results in the coming
months will have to be handled with great sensitivity if further dangers are to be
minimised.
The census will provide information vital for Myanmar?s government, development
partners and investors in planning their activities. But it has also created political
tensions and sparked conflict at a crucial moment in the country?s transition
and peace process. Some controversies are inevitable in any census. However, the way
that the process has been designed and prepared, insufficiently sensitive to the country?s
evolving realities and the major risks that they present, has greatly exacerbated
its negative impact.
Such problems were not inevitable, nor were they unforeseen. They largely stem
from the way data on ethnicity, religion and citizenship status are being collected
and classified, and the lack of consultation with key constituencies in the design of
the process. The serious risks involved were anticipated and clearly laid out in the
political risk assessment that the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) ? the lead technical
agency involved ? commissioned at the beginning of the process, and they were
subsequently repeated and amplified by many other stakeholders and observers,
including Crisis Group. However, UNFPA rejected such concerns, consistently presented
a panglossian perspective on the census and failed to acknowledge specific
political or conflict risks.
Key census donors failed to recommend fundamental revisions to the process,
even when a census pilot had to be cancelled in Rakhine State due to fears of violence
and when key ethnic armed groups called for the enumeration to be postponed. Only
at the last minute, when a Rakhine census boycott morphed into violent attacks on
international aid agencies that sparked a humanitarian crisis, did most push for such
changes.
The impact of these problems has been far-reaching, exacerbating inter-ethnic
and inter-religious tensions. The census has been interrupted in parts of Rakhine State,
following a last-minute government decision to prevent the Rohingya population from
self-identifying its ethnicity ? a move intended to placate Rakhine radicals, who were
committed to a boycott and could have unleashed deadly violence. Amid a massive
and intimidatory security operation in Rohingya communities, those households who
insisted on identifying as such ? the great majority in many areas ? were left out of
the census entirely. In Kachin State, no census has been allowed to take place in areas
controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation armed group, due in part to
concerns about how ethnicity data are being collected. The Myanmar military has
been used to secure contested areas in Kachin and northern Shan States in order to
allow access to census enumerators. In the process, serious clashes have broken out
between the two sides, and hundreds of civilians have had to flee. This has put further
strain on the peace process at a critical time.
Without doubt, the government has been found wanting in its approach to addressing
the communal tensions that have proved so threatening to Myanmar?s Muslim
community and particularly its Rohingya population. These problems pre-date talk
of a census. The authorities, through their public statements, the behaviour of law
enforcement personnel and in the laws enacted have to do a lot more to demonstrate
that the state?s concern is for the welfare of all. Equally, a census that was more sensitive
to political realities, or one conducted at a less volatile time, could have limited
or avoided some of the problems now being stoked. Further risks exist in the timing
and manner in which census data are released. These will not be easy to mitigate at
this point, and UNFPA and the donors will have much less influence now that the
most technically demanding and costly aspects of the process have been completed.
Rather than accept their share of responsibility for designing and pushing ahead
with a flawed process in the face of clear warnings from multiple quarters, UNFPA
and key census donors have sought to shift the blame wholly onto the government.
They have criticised its last-minute decision to deny Rohingya the right to selfidentify,
while failing to acknowledge that by pushing it not to amend or postpone
the process earlier on, they left the government in a difficult position with few good
options to avoid violence. The narrative that is thereby being presented ? that the
process was going well until the government?s last-minute volte-face ? is inaccurate
and in the circumstances unhelpful."
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group (Asia Briefing 144)
Date of publication:
2014-05-15
Date of entry/update:
2014-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census, 2014 census
Language:
English
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
314.01 KB 2.55 MB
more
Description:
Conclusions and Recommendations:
"The 2014 Population and Housing Census is
likely to undertake the most significant ethnic
and political boundary making in the country
since the last British census in 1931. However,
by using flawed designations that date from
the colonial era and ignoring the considerable
complexity of the present political situation in
Myanmar, the census is likely to raise ethnic
tensions at precisely the moment that peace
negotiations are focused on building trust.
Ethnic politics, democratic reform and conflict
resolution are at a critical juncture. If carried
out in an inclusive, transparent and ethically
implemented fashion, a census could support
national reconciliation and momentum towards
reform. Instead, many ethnic groups fear that
its timing, format and methodology, with an
unwarranted array of questions and overseen by
law enforcement officers, will further diminish
and marginalise the political status of non-
Bamar groups. Citizenship rights for some
people could even be under threat, based on
census results. The timing of the census in the year before a
key general election raises additional concerns.
Statistical reports that result from it could have
confusing and negative impact on political
debate and ethnic representation in the
legislatures, as defined by the 2008 constitution.
There are many communities and internallydisplaced
persons in the conflict zones of the
ethnic borderlands who will not be properly
included as well as others with marginal legal
status who would prefer to disappear in an
official counting exercise.
Through inclusive dialogue, planning and
timing, many of these controversies could have
been addressed. The UNFPA and Western
government donors, with a projected US$74
million budget, have a special responsibility
to ensure accurate research, definitions, data
collection and inclusion in any process of this
magnitude. Difficulties have been treated purely
as technical problems with simple, ?one-sizefits-
all” solutions, rather than as fundamentally
political and ethnic challenges that need
resolution. Instead of creating the opportunity
to improve inter-ethnic understanding
and citizenship rights, the census promises
to compound old grievances with a new
generation of complexities"
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI), Burma Centrum Nederland
Date of publication:
2014-02-24
Date of entry/update:
2014-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
"At the end of March, Burma is due to hold its
first official census for almost thirty years. The
census is being carried out by the government
of Burma in conjunction with the United
Nations and with significant other international
technical and financial support, including more
than sixteen million dollars from the British
government.
On the face of it, holding a census is an
obvious and important step to take. The
information it provides will be important in
making future economic plans, developing
infrastructure, allocating resources for public
services, and prioritising international aid.
Furthermore, some ethnic and religious
minorities who have been suffering repression
and discrimination see the census as an
opportunity to be officially recognised, seeing
this as a step towards asserting their status
and rights.
However, in the current Burma context, the
census could also lead to violent attacks
against religious minorities, increase ethnic
tensions, and provide inaccurate data. On
balance, the potential risks appear to outweigh
the potential benefits. As a result, Burma
Campaign UK believes the census should be
postponed to avoid these very real risks, which
could include conflict and loss of life..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Campaign UK (Burma Briefing No. 32)
Date of publication:
2014-02-19
Date of entry/update:
2014-02-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The nationwide census planned for 30 March to 10 April 2014 risks inflaming tensions at a critical moment in Myanmar?s peace process and democratic transition. The census process should be urgently amended to focus only on key demographic questions, postponing those which are needlessly antagonistic and divisive ? on ethnicity, religion, citizenship status ? to a more appropriate moment. By doing so, the government, United Nations and donors can demonstrate that they are sensitive to the serious risks presented by the census as currently conceived, and that they are willing to respond to the deep reservations expressed by many important groups in the country..."
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group (ICG)
Date of publication:
2014-02-12
Date of entry/update:
2014-02-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Burma?s census disregards the complex ethnic identities of its people. Could this breathe new life into sectarian conflict? .... Next year, Burma will embark on its first census-taking process in more than three decades. It?s an opportunity, but it?s also a significant risk. One the one hand, the census could compel the state to finally recognize long-excluded people and foster a better collective understanding of the daily struggles that most Burmese face. But on the other, the census is set up to obscure Burma?s incredible diversity by requiring that Burmese people choose just one ethnic identity, even if they identify with many ethnicities. This comes at a dangerous point in Burma?s simmering ethnic conflict, especially since nationalists are now using conceptions of exclusive and timeless ethnicity to justify violence against populations suddenly deemed irrevocably "foreign."..."
Elliott Prasse-Freeman
Source/publisher:
"Foreign Policy" - Democracy Lab
Date of publication:
2013-12-19
Date of entry/update:
2013-12-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2014 census
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Date of publication:
2013-07-29
Date of entry/update:
2013-12-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw: Laws and bylaws/rules/regulations proposed (bills) and/or adopted in 2013, Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to population (texts), 2014 census, Burma/Myanmar laws, decrees and regulations (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw), 2013
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
46.47 KB
Local URL:
more