Myanmar's Census Sparks Controversy, Fears of Ethnic Unrest

The last time Myanmar conducted a census was in 1983. Large areas of the country—once called Burma in the West—were embroiled in civil war and unreachable. The last comprehensive count was the 1931 imperial survey under the British Raj. Myanmar may have about 60 million people, but even the government isn’t sure. “We must know the population to plan for development, health, and education,” says Ye Htut, deputy minister for information.

In the commercial center and former capital of Yangon, the red, gold, and green logo of the census is ubiquitous: Public-service messages about it appear on roadside billboards, posters taped to metal warehouse doors, and leaflets distributed at the Victorian edifice of Yangon General Hospital and the newly reopened campus of Yangon University.