BANGKOK, Dec 31: Myanmar’s military government announced Tuesday that provisional results of a census taken in October put the Southeast Asian nation’s population at about 51.3 million, a slight drop from the last official nationwide count of about 51.5 million taken 10 years ago.
The decrease was not directly explained in a report issued by the Ministry of Immigration and Population. However, it said the recent census was carried out successfully in less than half of the country’s 330 townships due to escalating armed conflict and other major constraints since the military took power in 2021.
State-run MRTV said the reason for the population decrease will be investigated for the main report to be released in 2025.
The ministry had estimated before the latest census was taken in October that Myanmar’s population was 56.2 million.
The report did not say whether the new census took into account the more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims who fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 to escape a violent counterinsurgency campaign carried out by Myanmar security forces.
The acknowledgment of problems in carrying out the census amounted to an admission by the military government that it fails to hold control over more than half of the country’s territory, where it is challenged by ethnic minority armed groups and pro-democracy guerrillas fighting against the military rule.
Counts in some disputed areas were estimates based on remote sensing techniques, the report said.
Myanmar is wracked by violence that began when the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, claiming widespread voter fraud in the 2020 general election, an allegation disputed by independent election observers.
The military’s seizure of power prompted widespread peaceful protests that were quashed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that has now led to a state of civil war. The army is on the defensive in much of Myanmar against ethnic militias as well as hundreds of armed guerrilla groups collectively called the People’s Defense Force, formed to fight to restore democracy.
Conflict was not so widespread during previous censuses taken in 1973, 1983, and 2014.
In addition to security problems, accurate counts are hard to obtain because of the large number of displaced people, estimated by the United Nations to be more than 3 million.
Opponents of the military government urged non-cooperation with census efforts, and in several cases, physically attacked census-takers.
The military government has said the census data will be used to compile voter lists for a general election promised for next year, even though much of the country is engulfed in civil war.
The election, nominally a democratic exercise, is widely seen as an attempt to normalize the military’s seizure of power through the ballot box.
With the country at war and civil liberties tightly restricted, critics see no way for the polls to be free and fair.
In July, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, said the election would be prioritized in areas under the military’s control, but did not specify a date for polling.
Tuesday’s report on the census gave a population count of 51,316,756. It said the census could not be conducted in 58 townships and was only partially completed in 127 townships due to security constraints, while it was successfully carried out in 145 of the total 330 townships.
According to the report’s data, the areas where the census could not be completed included towns controlled by ethnic armed forces and pro-democracy guerrillas in northern Kachin, northeastern Shan, northwestern Chin, eastern Kayah, and western Rakhine states, and Magway, Mandalay, and Sagaing regions in the central part of the country.
It said the data collection period was extended in certain areas from October until the second week of December due to transportation challenges and security concerns.
The report declared that its publication “reflects the Government’s commitment to national, reconciliation and inclusive socio-economic development as part of broader political and socio-economic reforms.” (AP)
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