water; inadequate sanitation and water treatment
contribute to disease

Environment--international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, 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

People

Population: 48,081,302 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 36% (male 8,883,099; female 8,542,087)
15-64 years: 60% (male 14,343,888; female 14,293,233)
65 years and over: 4% (male 906,517; female 1,112,478) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.61% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 28.48 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 12.39 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 76.25 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 54.74 years
male: 53.24 years
female: 56.32 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.63 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Burmese (singular and plural)
adjective: Burmese

Ethnic groups: Burman 68%, Shan 9%, Karen 7%, Rakhine 4%, Chinese
3%, Mon 2%, Indian 2%, other 5%

Religions: Buddhist 89%, Christian 4% (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic
1%), Muslim 4%, animist beliefs 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.)

Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Union of Burma
conventional short form: Burma
local long form: Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw (translated by the
US Government as Union of Myanma and by the Burmese as Union of
Myanmar)
local short form: Myanma Naingngandaw
former: Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma

Data code: BM

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*,