: 530,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 48,000 (1999 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: age 15 and over can read and write total population:
statistics; estimates of functional literacy are likely closer to 30%
(1999 est.)

Government Burma

Country name: conventional long form: Union of Burma conventional
short form: Burma local short form: Myanma Naingngandaw local long
form: Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw (translated by the US Government
as Union of Myanma and by the Burmese as Union of Myanmar) former:
Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma note: since 1989 the military
authorities in Burma have promoted the name Myanmar as a conventional
name for their state; this decision was not approved by any sitting
legislature in Burma, and the US Government did not adopt the name,
which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw

Government type: military regime

Capital: Rangoon (regime refers to the capital as Yangon)

Administrative divisions: 7 divisions* (yin-mya, singular - yin) and
7 states (pyine-mya, singular - pyine); Chin State, Ayeyarwady*, Bago*,
Kachin State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Magway*, Mandalay*, Mon State,
Rakhine State, Sagaing*, Shan State, Tanintharyi*, Yangon*

Independence: 4 January 1948 (from UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, 4 January (1948)

Constitution: 3 January 1974 (suspended since 18 September 1988);
national convention started on 9 January 1993 to draft a new constitution;
progress has since been stalled

Legal system: has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: Prime Minister and Chairman of
the State Peace and Development Council Sr. Gen. THAN SHWE (since 23
April 1992); note - the prime minister is both the chief of state and
head of government head of government: Prime Minister and Chairman of
the State Peace and Development Council Sr. Gen. THAN SHWE (since 23
April 1992); note - the prime minister is both the chief of state and
head of government cabinet: State Peace and Development Council (SPDC);
military junta, so n