View source for Myanmar

{{Short description|Country in Southeast Asia}}
{{Redirect|Burma|other uses|Burma (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Republic of the Union of Myanmar
| common_name            = Myanmar
| native_name            = {{ubl|{{native name|my|ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်|italics=off<wbr/>}}|{{small|{{translit|my|Pyidaungzu thămăda myama naingngandaw}}}}}}
| image_flag             = Flag of Myanmar.svg
| image_coat             = State Seal of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.svg
| coa_size               = 100
| symbol_type            = [[State Seal of Myanmar|State Seal]]
| national_anthem        = {{lang|my|ကမ္ဘာမကျေ}}<br />{{transliteration|my|[[Kaba Ma Kyei]]}}<br />"Till the End of the World"{{parabr}}{{centre|[[File:U.S. Navy Band - Kaba Ma Kyei.oga]]}}
| image_map              = {{Switcher|[[File:Myanmar (orthographic projection).svg|frameless]]|Show globe|[[File:Location Burma (Myanmar) ASEAN.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Show ASEAN|default=1}}
| map_caption            = {{map caption |location_color= green |region= [[Southeast Asia]] |region_color= none}}
| capital                = [[Naypyidaw]]{{Efn|Officially spelled "Nay Pyi Taw"}}
| coordinates            = {{Coord|21|00|N|96|00|E|type:city}}
| largest_city           = [[Yangon]]{{Efn|Formerly known as "Rangoon"}}
| languages_type         = Official language
| languages              = [[Burmese language|Burmese]]
| languages2_type        = {{nobold|Recognised regional languages}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/MM/ |title=Myanmar &#124; Ethnologue Free |work=Ethnologue (Free All) |access-date=20 July 2023 |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309065715/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/MM/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
| languages2             = {{hlist| [[Chin language|Chin]] | [[Kachin language|Kachin]] | [[Karen language|Karen]] | [[Kayah language|Kayah]] | [[Mon language|Mon]] | [[Rakhine language|Rakhine]] | [[Shan language|Shan]]}}
| ethnic_groups          = {{unbulleted list
| 68.78% [[Bamar]]
| 6.69% [[Karen people|Karen]]
| 4.61% [[Rakhine people|Rakhine]]
| 4.51% [[Shan people|Shan]]
| 2.19% [[Mon people|Mon]]
| 2.09% [[Chin people|Chin]]
| 1.50% [[Kachin people|Kachin]]
| 0.39% [[Karenni people|Karenni]]
| 9.24% [[List of ethnic groups in Myanmar|other]]
}}
| ethnic_groups_year     = 2019<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/chapters/deciphering-myanmars-ethnic-landscape/deciphering-myanmars-ethnic-landscape-CH2.pdf |title=Overview of Myanmar's diversity |access-date=25 May 2024 |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521163711/https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/chapters/deciphering-myanmars-ethnic-landscape/deciphering-myanmars-ethnic-landscape-CH2.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ispmyanmar.com/event/party-mergers-falling-short-of-expectation-ymg-season-2-episode-2/ |title=ISP Myanmar talk shows |date=15 December 2020 |access-date=25 May 2024 |archive-date=10 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240510125921/https://ispmyanmar.com/event/party-mergers-falling-short-of-expectation-ymg-season-2-episode-2/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ponyate.org/ethnic-population-dashboard-740399e |title=PonYate ethnic population dashboard |access-date=25 May 2024 |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521163715/https://www.ponyate.org/ethnic-population-dashboard-740399e |url-status=live}}</ref>
| religion               = {{#invoke:list|unbulleted|item_style=white-space:nowrap;
| 87.9% [[Buddhism in Myanmar|Buddhism]] (official)<ref>{{cite web |title=Myanmar's Constitution of 2008 |url=https://constituteproject.org/constitution/Myanmar_2008.pdf?lang=en |website=constituteproject.org |access-date=29 October 2017 |archive-date=20 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920113951/https://constituteproject.org/constitution/Myanmar_2008.pdf?lang=en |url-status=live}}</ref>
|
{{Tree list}}
*6.2% [[Christianity in Myanmar|Christianity]] 
**4.91% [[Protestantism in Myanmar|Protestantism]]
**1.29% [[Catholic Church in Myanmar|Catholicism]]
{{Tree list/end}}
| 4.3% [[Islam in Myanmar|Islam]]
| 0.8% folk religion{{efn|Cited as [[animism]] in data.}}
| 0.5% [[Hinduism in Myanmar|Hinduism]]
| 0.1% no religion 
| 0.2% [[Religion in Myanmar|other]]
}}
| religion_ref           = 
| religion_year          = [[2014 Myanmar census|2014]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Department of Population |title=The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census |date=July 2016 |publisher=[[Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population]] |location=Myammar |chapter=The Union Report: Religion |chapter-url=https://myanmar.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/UNION_2C_Religion_EN.pdf}}</ref>{{efn|
* Based on the estimated overall population, including both the enumerated (50,279,900) and non-enumerated population (51,486,253), and on the assumption that the non-enumerated population in [[Rakhine State]] affiliate with the Islamic faith.
* As of December 2019, Muslims probably make up less than 3% of Myanmar's total population due to the large [[Rohingya genocide#Refugee crisis|outmigration of the Rohingya population]] since 2017.<ref name="World Factbook">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ |work=The World Factbook |title=Burma |date=8 August 2023 |publisher=U.S. Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=23 January 2021 |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210200835/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| demonym                = {{hlist|[[Burmese people|Burmese]]|Myanmar<ref>{{Cite book |date=2020 |title=Teacher's Guide ENGLISH GRADE 10 |url=https://www.learnbig.net/books/myanmar-grade-10-english-language-teacher-guide/ |language=English |location=Myanmar |publisher=[[Ministry of Education (Myanmar)|Ministry of Education, the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar]] |pages=8, 62 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250421000000/https://www.learnbig.net/books/myanmar-grade-10-english-language-teacher-guide/ |archive-date=21 Apr 2025 |access-date=21 Apr 2025}} [https://archive.org/details/grade-10-tg-english_202504 Alt URL]</ref> |Myanma}}
| government_type        = Unitary [[assembly-independent republic]] under a [[military junta]]
| leader_title1          = [[President of Myanmar|President]]
| leader_name1           = ''Vacant'' ([[Min Aung Hlaing]] serving Pro Tem On Duty)
| leader_title2          =  [[State Security and Peace Commission|SSPC]] Chairman
| leader_name2           = Min Aung Hlaing
| leader_title3          = SSPC Vice Chairman
| leader_name3           = [[Soe Win (general)|Soe Win]]
| leader_title4          = [[Prime Minister of Myanmar|Prime Minister]]
| leader_name4           = [[Nyo Saw]]
| legislature            = [[Pyidaungsu Hluttaw]] (dissolved){{efn|The [[National Defence and Security Council]] serves as the temporary legislative body while the Hluttaw is dissolved.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Peck |first1=Grant |title=Myanmar ends state of emergency and its military leader switches roles to prepare for the vote |url=https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-politics-election-government-min-aung-hlaing-cf6e7ff92cc92a134c9592ad39e62770 |access-date=15 September 2025 |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |date=31 July 2025 |quote=Existing administrative bodies formed after the army takeover, including the State Administration Council, have been now dissolved and all government functions have been handed to the National Defense and Security Council, the spokesperson said.}}</ref>}}
| sovereignty_type       = [[History of Myanmar|Formation]]
| established_event1     = [[Pagan Kingdom|Pagan era]]
| established_date1      = 23 December 849
| established_event3     = [[Toungoo dynasty|Taungoo era]]
| established_date3      = 16 October 1510
| established_event4     = [[Konbaung era]]
| established_date4      = 29 February 1752
| established_event5     = [[British rule in Burma|Colonial era]]
| established_date5      = 1 January 1886
| established_event6     = [[Independence Day (Myanmar)|Independence]] from the [[United Kingdom]]
| established_date6      = 4 January 1948
| established_event7     = [[1962 Burmese coup d'état|1962 coup d'état]]
| established_date7      = 2 March 1962
| established_event8     = [[8888 uprising#SLORC coup and crackdown|1988 coup d'état]]
| established_date8      = 18 September 1988
| established_event9     = [[Constitution of Myanmar|Current constitution]]
| established_date9      = 29 May 2008
| established_event10    = [[2021 Myanmar coup d'état|2021 coup d'état]]
| established_date10     = 1 February 2021
| area_rank              = 39th <!--should be same as listed on [[List of countries and dependencies by area]]-->
| area_km2               = 676,579
| area_sq_mi             = 261,227 <!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| percent_water          = 3.06
| population_estimate    = 55,770,232<ref>{{cite web |url=https://myanmar.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/4F_Population%20Projections.pdf |title=The 2014 Myanmar Populations and Housing Census |access-date=29 May 2024 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924221152/https://myanmar.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/4F_Population%20Projections.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
| population_estimate_year = 2022
| population_estimate_rank = 26th
| population_density_km2 = <!--auto calculate--><!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| population_density_sq_mi = 217
| population_density_rank = 127th
| GDP_PPP                = {{decrease}} $273.200 billion<ref>{{cite web |title=World Economic Outlook Database , October 2025: Edition (Myanmar) |url=https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2025/10/14/world-economic-outlook-october-2025 |publisher=October, 14 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_year           = 2025
| GDP_PPP_rank           = 64th
| GDP_PPP_per_capita     = {{decrease}} $4,950<ref>{{cite web |title=World Economic Outlook Database , October 2025: Edition (Myanmar) |url=https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2025/10/14/world-economic-outlook-october-2025 |publisher=October, 14 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 146th
| GDP_nominal            = {{decrease}} $60.560 billion<ref>{{cite web |title=World Economic Outlook Database , October 2025: Edition (Myanmar) |url=https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2025/10/14/world-economic-outlook-october-2025 |publisher=October, 14 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
| GDP_nominal_year       = 2025
| GDP_nominal_rank       = 87th
| GDP_nominal_per_capita = {{decrease}} $1,110<ref>{{cite web |title=World Economic Outlook Database , October 2025: Edition (Myanmar) |url=https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2025/10/14/world-economic-outlook-october-2025 |publisher=October, 14 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 164th
| Gini                   = 30.7
| Gini_year              = 2017
| Gini_change            = decrease<!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| Gini_ref               = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?locations=MM |title=GINI index (World Bank estimate) |publisher=[[World Bank]] |website=data.worldbank.org |access-date=13 July 2021 |archive-date=6 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306111516/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?locations=MM |url-status=live}}</ref>
| Gini_rank              = 
| HDI                    = 0.609<!--number only-->
| HDI_year               = 2023<!--Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year-->
| HDI_change             = increase<!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| HDI_ref                = <ref name="UNHDR">{{Cite web |date=6 May 2025 |title=Human Development Report 2025 |url=https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2025reporten.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250506051232/https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2025reporten.pdf |archive-date=6 May 2025 |access-date=6 May 2025 |publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]] |language=en}}</ref>
| HDI_rank               = 150th
| currency               = [[Kyat]] (K)
| currency_code          = MMK
| time_zone              = [[Myanmar Standard Time|MMT]]
| utc_offset             = +06:30
| drives_on              = right
| calling_code           = [[+95]]
| iso3166code            = {{ISO 3166-1|MM}}
| cctld                  = [[.mm]]
| today                  = 
| time_zone_DST          = 
| established_event13    = 
| flag_type_article      = Flag of Myanmar
}}
{{Contains special characters|Burmese}}

'''Myanmar''',{{efn|{{Lang-my-name-MLCTS|MLCTS=Mranma|MY=မြန်မာ}}, {{IPA|my|mjəmà|pron}}}} officially the '''Republic of the Union of Myanmar'''{{efn|{{lang-my-name-MLCTS|MLCTS=Pranyhtaungcu. Sa.ma.ta. Mranma Nuingngamtau|MY=ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်}}; {{IPA|my|pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀|pron}}}} and also referred to as '''Burma''' (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest [[Southeast Asia]]. It is the largest country by area in [[Mainland Southeast Asia]] and has a population of about 55 million. It is bordered by [[India]] and [[Bangladesh]] to the northwest, [[China]] to the northeast, [[Laos]] and [[Thailand]] to the east and southeast, and the [[Andaman Sea]] and the [[Bay of Bengal]] to the south and southwest. The country's capital city is [[Naypyidaw]], while its [[List of cities and largest towns in Myanmar|largest city]] is [[Yangon]] (formerly Rangoon).<ref name="World Factbook" />

Early civilisations in the area included the [[Tibeto-Burman]]-speaking [[Pyu city-states]] in [[Upper Myanmar]] and the [[Mon kingdoms]] in [[Lower Myanmar]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Early civilizations of Southeast Asia |publisher=Altamira Press |author=O'Reilly, Dougald JW |year=2007 |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-7591-0279-8}}</ref> In the 9th century, the [[Bamar people]] entered the upper [[Irrawaddy River|Irrawaddy]] valley, and following the establishment of the [[Pagan Kingdom]] in the 1050s, the [[Burmese language]] and [[Culture of Myanmar|culture]] and [[Buddhism in Myanmar|Theravada Buddhism]] slowly became dominant in the country. The [[Pagan Kingdom]] fell to [[First Mongol invasion of Burma|Mongol invasions]], and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the [[Taungoo dynasty]], the country became the largest empire in the [[history of Southeast Asia]] for a short period.<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], p. 152</ref> The early 19th-century [[Konbaung dynasty]] ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled [[Ahom kingdom|Assam]], the [[Mizo Chieftainship|Lushai Hills]], and [[Manipur Kingdom|Manipur]] as well. The British [[East India Company]] seized control of the administration of Myanmar after three [[Anglo-Burmese Wars]] in the 19th century, and the country became a [[British rule in Burma|British colony]]. After a brief [[Japanese occupation of Burma|Japanese occupation]], Myanmar was reconquered by the Allies. On 4 January 1948, Myanmar declared [[Independence Day (Myanmar)|independence]] under the terms of the [[Burma Independence Act 1947]].

Myanmar's post-independence history has been checkered by continuous unrest and conflict. A [[1962 Burmese coup d'état|coup d'état in 1962]] resulted in a [[military dictatorship]] under the [[Burma Socialist Programme Party]]. On 8 August 1988, the [[8888 Uprising]] resulted in a transition to a [[multi-party system]] two years later, but the country's [[State Peace and Development Council|post-uprising military junta]], led by members of the [[Tatmadaw]], refused to cede power and continued to rule the country directly until 2011, when the junta was officially dissolved following the [[2010 Myanmar general election|2010 general election]]. A nominally [[Civil authority|civilian government]] was installed and longtime political prisoners like [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] were released, but the military retained power over key government operations. The [[2015 Myanmar general election]] led to improved [[Foreign relations of Myanmar|foreign relations]] and eased [[economic sanctions]],<ref name=Easing>{{cite news |last=Madhani |first=Aamer |title=Obama administration eases Burma sanctions before visit |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2012/11/16/obama-lifts-sanctions-burma-visit/1710253/ |newspaper=USA Today |date=16 November 2012 |access-date=22 August 2017 |archive-date=13 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113090007/http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2012/11/16/obama-lifts-sanctions-burma-visit/1710253/ |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |last1=Fuller |first1=Thomas |last2=Geitner |first2=Paul |title=European Union Suspends Most Myanmar Sanctions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/world/asia/eu-suspends-sanctions-on-myanmar.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424015447/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/world/asia/eu-suspends-sanctions-on-myanmar.html |archive-date=24 April 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=23 April 2012}}</ref> although the country's treatment of its [[List of ethnic groups in Myanmar|ethnic minorities]], particularly the [[Rohingya genocide]], continued to be a source of international tension and consternation.<ref name=MinorityTreatment>{{cite web |author=Greenwood, Faine |url=http://www.undispatch.com/the-8-stages-of-genocide-against-burmas-rohingya |title=The 8 Stages of Genocide Against Burma's Rohingya {{pipe}} UN DispatchUN Dispatch |publisher=Undispatch.com |date=27 May 2013 |access-date=13 April 2014 |archive-date=18 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618062450/http://www.undispatch.com/the-8-stages-of-genocide-against-burmas-rohingya |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |title=EU welcomes "measured" Myanmar response to rioting |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-violence-idUSBRE85A01C20120611 |publisher=Reuters |date=11 June 2012 |access-date=1 July 2017 |archive-date=6 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806072509/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/11/us-myanmar-violence-idUSBRE85A01C20120611 |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18395788 |title=Q&A: Communal violence in Burma |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=14 October 2013 |archive-date=16 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416191015/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18395788 |url-status=live}}</ref> 

Following the [[2020 Myanmar general election]], in which [[National League for Democracy|Aung San Suu Kyi's party]] won a clear majority in both houses, the Tatmadaw again seized power in a [[2021 Myanmar coup d'état|2021 coup d'état]], which led to the rule of the [[National Defence and Security Council]] (NDSC) and its new military junta, the [[State Administration Council]] (SAC).<ref name=":3">{{cite news |date=1 February 2021 |title=Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military seizes control |language=en-GB |publisher=[[BBC New]]s |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55882489 |access-date=1 February 2021 |archive-date=31 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131232954/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55882489 |url-status=live}}</ref> The coup, which was widely condemned by the [[international community]], led to [[2021–2022 Myanmar protests|continuous ongoing widespread protests in Myanmar]] and has been marked by violent [[political repression]] by the military, as well as the outbreak of a [[Myanmar civil war (2021–present)|civil war]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Fatalities Reported After Military Truck Rams Protesters in Myanmar |first=Sui-Lee |last=Wee |newspaper=The New York Times |date=5 December 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/world/asia/myanmar-car-protesters-killed.html |access-date=7 December 2021 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207224710/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/world/asia/myanmar-car-protesters-killed.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The military again arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in order to remove her from public life, and charged her with crimes ranging from [[Corruption in Myanmar|corruption]] to violation of [[COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar|COVID-19]] protocols; all of the charges against her are "politically motivated" according to independent observers.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Myanmar's junta condemned over guilty verdicts in Aung San Suu Kyi trial |first=Rebecca |last=Ratcliffe |newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 December 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/06/aung-san-suu-kyi-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison-for-incitement |access-date=7 December 2021 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207123547/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/06/aung-san-suu-kyi-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison-for-incitement |url-status=live}}</ref> The SAC imposed a state of emergency from 2021 to 2025, after which it transferred power back to the NDSC.

Myanmar is a member of the [[East Asia Summit]], [[Non-Aligned Movement]], [[ASEAN]], and [[BIMSTEC]], but it is not a member of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] despite once being part of the [[British Empire]]. Myanmar is a Dialogue Partner of the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organization]]. The country is very rich in [[natural resource]]s, such as [[jade]], [[gems]], [[petroleum|oil]], [[natural gas]], [[Teak in Myanmar|teak]] and other [[mineral]]s, as well as endowed with [[renewable energy]], having the highest [[solar power]] potential compared to other countries of the Great [[Mekong]] Subregion.<ref>Vakulchuk, Roman; Kyaw Kyaw Hlaing; Edward Ziwa Naing; Indra Overland; Beni Suryadi and Sanjayan Velautham (2017). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317954536 ''Myanmar's Attractiveness for Investment in the Energy Sector. A Comparative International Perspective''.] Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies (MISIS) Report. p. 8.</ref> However, Myanmar has long suffered from [[instability]], factional violence, [[Corruption in Myanmar|corruption]], poor infrastructure, as well as a long history of [[colonial exploitation]] with little regard to [[Human Development Index|human development]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25773443 |title=Why Has Myanmar not Developed Like East Asia? |last=Wong |first=John |journal=ASEAN Economic Bulletin |volume=13 |number=3 |date=March 1997 |pages=344–358 |jstor=25773443 |access-date=8 May 2023 |archive-date=8 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508191403/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25773443 |url-status=live |issn=0217-4472}}</ref> In 2013, its GDP (nominal) stood at US$56.7 billion and its GDP ([[Purchasing power parity|PPP]]) at US$221.5 billion.<ref name="imf2">{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2017/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2017&ey=2019&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&pr1.x=64&pr1.y=6&c=518&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC&grp=0&a= |title=Burma (Myanmar) |work=World Economic Outlook Database |publisher=International Monetary Fund |access-date=19 May 2017 |archive-date=29 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329175838/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2017/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2017&ey=2019&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&pr1.x=64&pr1.y=6&c=518&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC&grp=0&a= |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Economic inequality|income gap]] in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the [[Economy of Myanmar|economy]] is controlled by [[Cronyism|cronies]] of the [[State Administration Council|military junta]].<ref name="IncomeGap">{{cite news |url=http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Income-gap-worlds-widest-30214106.html |title=Income Gap 'world's widest' |work=The Nation |access-date=15 September 2014 |author=Eleven Media |date=4 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915230853/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Income-gap-worlds-widest-30214106.html |archive-date=15 September 2014}}<br />{{cite news |url=https://www.dvb.no/analysis/income-inequality-in-burma/33726 |title=Income inequality in Burma |publisher=Democratic Voice of Burma |access-date=15 September 2014 |last=McCornac |first=Dennis |date=22 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915230920/https://www.dvb.no/analysis/income-inequality-in-burma/33726 |archive-date=15 September 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Myanmar is one of the [[least developed countries]] in the world.<ref name="UNHDR" /> 

The country remains riven by ethnic strife among its [[List of ethnic groups in Myanmar|myriad ethnic groups]] and has one of the world's [[Myanmar conflict|longest-running ongoing civil wars]]. The [[United Nations]] and several other organisations have reported consistent and systemic [[Human rights in Myanmar|human rights]] violations in the country.<ref name="UNHR">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/burma |title=Burma |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=6 July 2013 |archive-date=1 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201235346/https://www.hrw.org/burma |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/myanmar |title=Myanmar Human Rights |publisher=Amnesty International USA |access-date=6 July 2013 |archive-date=29 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529055701/http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/myanmar |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-burma |title=World Report 2012: Burma |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=6 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630121229/http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-burma |archive-date=30 June 2013 |date=22 January 2012}}</ref> Since 2021, more than 600,000 people have been displaced across Myanmar due to the [[Myanmar civil war (2021–present)|civil war]] post-coup, with more than three million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/issue-brief-dire-consequences-addressing-humanitarian-fallout-myanmar-s-coup |title=Issue Brief: Dire Consequences: Addressing the Humanitarian Fallout from Myanmar's Coup – Myanmar |work=ReliefWeb |date=21 October 2021 |access-date=9 August 2022 |archive-date=2 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202220333/https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/issue-brief-dire-consequences-addressing-humanitarian-fallout-myanmar-s-coup |url-status=live}}</ref> According to the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]] (UNHCR), there are over 1.3 million people counted as refugees and asylum seekers, and 3.5 million people displaced internally as of December 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 December 2024 |title=Myanmar Situation |url=https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar |access-date=21 January 2025 |website=data.unhcr.org}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
{{main|Names of Myanmar}}

The name of the country has been a matter of dispute and disagreement, particularly in the early 21st century, focusing mainly on the political legitimacy of those using ''Myanmar'' versus ''Burma''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usip.org/blog/2018/06/whats-name-burma-or-myanmar |title=What's in a Name: Burma or Myanmar? |website=United States Institute of Peace |language=en |access-date=27 April 2020 |archive-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719221651/https://www.usip.org/blog/2018/06/whats-name-burma-or-myanmar |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7013943.stm |title=Should it be Burma or Myanmar? |date=26 September 2007 |access-date=27 April 2020 |language=en-GB |archive-date=18 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518145013/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7013943.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> Both names derive from the earlier [[Burmese language|Burmese]] ''Mranma'' or ''Mramma'', an [[ethnonym]] for the majority [[Bamar people|Burman]] ethnic group, of uncertain etymology.<ref name=dgeh>{{cite book |title=Burma |last=Hall |first=DGE |chapter=Pre-Pagan Burma |year=1960 |edition=3 |page=13}}</ref> The terms are also popularly thought to derive from [[Sanskrit]] ''Brahma Desha'', 'land of [[Brahma]]'.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{GBurl |id=bV3shLzx0B4C |p=352}} |title=Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy |last=Houtman |first=Gustaaf |date=1999 |publisher=ILCAA |isbn=9784872977486 |page=352}}</ref>

In 1989, the [[military government]] [[List of renamed places in Myanmar|officially changed]] the English names of places, dating back to [[British rule in Burma|Burma's colonial period]] or earlier, to romanized versions of their official Burmese names, including that of the country itself: ''Burma'' became ''Myanmar''. The renaming remains a contested issue.<ref name="Houtman1999">{{cite book |url={{GBurl |id=bV3shLzx0B4C |p=45}} |title=Mental culture in Burmese crisis politics |last=Houtman |first=Gustaaf |year=1999 |series=ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa Monograph Series No. 33 |publisher=Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa |pages=43–54 |isbn=978-4-87297-748-6}}</ref> Many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use ''Burma'' because they do not recognise the legitimacy or authority of the military government.<ref name="steinberg">{{cite book |last=Steinberg |first=David I. |date=2002 |title=Burma: The State of Myanmar |url={{GBurl |id=CSTuWZ0BMmMC}} |publisher=Georgetown University Press |page=xi |isbn=978-1-58901-285-1}}</ref>

The country's official full name is "Republic of the Union of Myanmar" ({{langx|my|ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်}}, ''{{transliteration|my|Pyihtaungsu Thamada Myanma Naingngantaw}}'', {{IPA|my|pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀|pron}}). Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form "Union of Burma" instead.{{r|World Factbook}}<ref name="NCGUB">{{cite web |url=http://www.ncgub.net/ |title=NCGUB |publisher=National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma |access-date=3 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909080518/http://ncgub.net/ |archive-date=9 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In English, the country is popularly known as either ''Burma'' or ''Myanmar''. In Burmese, the pronunciation depends on the [[Register (sociolinguistics)|register]] used and is either ''{{transliteration|my|Bama}}'' ({{IPA|my|bəmà|pron}}) or ''{{transliteration|my|Myamah}}'' ({{IPA|my|mjəmà|pron}}).<ref name="Houtman1999" />

Official [[United States foreign policy]] retains ''Burma'' as the country's name although the [[State Department]]'s website lists the country as ''Burma (Myanmar)''.<ref name="USNaming">{{cite news |title=Burma or Myanmar? Obama calls it both on visit |url=http://asiancorrespondent.com/92211/burma-or-myanmar-obama-calls-it-both-on-visit// |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[Asian Correspondent]] |publisher=Hybrid News Limited |location=Bristol, England |date=19 November 2012 |access-date=19 November 2012 |quote=Yangon, Burma (AP)&nbsp;– Officially at least, America still calls this Southeast Asian nation Burma, the favoured appellation of dissidents and pro-democracy activists who opposed the former military junta's move to summarily change its name 23 years ago. |archive-date=21 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121120002/http://asiancorrespondent.com/92211/burma-or-myanmar-obama-calls-it-both-on-visit/ |url-status=dead}}<br />{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/19/burma-myanmar-obama-name-visit |date=19 November 2012 |newspaper=The Guardian |title=Burma v Myanmar – what's in a name? Obama plays it safe during historic visit |author=Jason Burke}}<br />{{cite web |url=https://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1077.html |title=Burma (Myanmar) |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |access-date=13 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020073109/http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1077.html |archive-date=20 October 2013}}</ref> The [[United Nations]] uses ''Myanmar'', as does the [[ASEAN]] and as do [[Australia]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Countries, economies and regions – Myanmar |url=http://dfat.gov.au/geo/myanmar/Pages/myanmar.aspx |publisher=Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government |access-date=14 September 2016 |archive-date=20 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920180542/http://dfat.gov.au/geo/myanmar/Pages/myanmar.aspx |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Russia]], [[Germany]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Burma vs. Myanmar: What's in a Name |url=http://www.dw.de/burma-vs-myanmar-whats-in-a-name/a-2804762 |access-date=2 August 2013 |newspaper=DW |date=1 September 2007 |archive-date=22 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322193443/http://www.dw.de/burma-vs-myanmar-whats-in-a-name/a-2804762 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[China]], [[India]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Norway]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Mudditt |first=Jessica |date=19 November 2012 |title=Burma or Myanmar: Will the US make the switch? |url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/special-features/153-sanctions-to-sucess/3187-burma-or-myanmar-will-the-us-make-the-switch.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130321003449/http://mmtimes.com/index.php/special-features/153-sanctions-to-sucess/3187-burma-or-myanmar-will-the-us-make-the-switch.html |archive-date=21 March 2013 |access-date=2 August 2013}}</ref> [[Japan]],<ref name="Dittmer">{{cite book |title=Burma Or Myanmar? The Struggle for National Identity |last=Dittmer |first=Lowell |year=2010 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoHP2Q2I1p4C&q=9789814313643&pg=PA2 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=9789814313643 |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810233429/https://books.google.com/books?id=aoHP2Q2I1p4C&pg=PA2&q=9789814313643 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Switzerland]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Representations and travel advice – Myanmar |url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/laender-reise-information/myanmar.html |publisher=Federal Department of Foreign Affairs |access-date=14 September 2016 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010114231/https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/laender-reise-information/myanmar.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Canada]]<ref>{{cite web |website=Government of Canada – Global Affairs Canada |access-date=15 November 2018 |title=Canada and Myanmar relations |url=http://international.gc.ca/world-monde/myanmar/relations.aspx?lang=eng |archive-date=20 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120040924/http://international.gc.ca/world-monde/myanmar/relations.aspx?lang=eng |url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Ukraine]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Кабінет Міністрів України – МЗС: Відбувся перший в історії українсько-м'янманських відносин офіційний візит до Республіки Союз М'янма |url=https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/249653997 |access-date=27 October 2024 |publisher=[[Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine]] |language=uk}}</ref> Most English-speaking international news media refer to the country by the name ''Myanmar'', including the [[BBC]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12990563 |publisher=BBC News |title=Myanmar profile |date=16 July 2013 |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-date=26 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626082954/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12990563 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[CNN]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/30/world/asia/myanmar-fast-facts |publisher=CNN |title=Myanmar Fast Facts |date=30 July 2013 |access-date=17 March 2014 |archive-date=29 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170529211524/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/30/world/asia/myanmar-fast-facts |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Al Jazeera]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/07/201372271935496428.html |title=Myanmar blast hits anti-Muslim monk's event&nbsp;– Asia-Pacific |work=[[Al Jazeera]] |date=22 July 2013 |access-date=17 March 2014 |archive-date=20 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920015012/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/07/201372271935496428.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Reuters]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/places/myanmar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027012001/http://uk.reuters.com/places/myanmar |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 October 2012 |title=Myanmar |publisher=[[Reuters]] |date=9 February 2009}}</ref> and the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] ([[ABC News (Australia)|ABC]])/[[Radio Australia]].<ref name="ABCRA">{{cite news |last1=Woodley |first1=Naomi |title=Carr apprehensive about Rohingyas' future in Myanmar |url=http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3801497.htm |access-date=14 September 2016 |work=AM |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=12 July 2013 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010115947/http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3801497.htm |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |title=Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Thailand for official visit |url=http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2016-06-23/aung-san-suu-kyi-arrives-in-thailand-for-official-visit/1593108 |access-date=14 September 2016 |publisher=Radio Australia |date=23 June 2016 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010114241/http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2016-06-23/aung-san-suu-kyi-arrives-in-thailand-for-official-visit/1593108 |url-status=live}}</ref> Myanmar is known by a name deriving from ''Burma'' in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], and [[Greek language|Greek]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ambafrance-mm.org/Birmanie-ou-Myanmar-Le-vrai-faux |title='Birmanie ou Myanmar ? Le vrai faux débat francophone' – La France en Birmanie |publisher=Ambafrance-mm.org |access-date=13 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408202934/http://www.ambafrance-mm.org/Birmanie-ou-Myanmar-Le-vrai-faux |archive-date=8 April 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> French-language media consistently use ''Birmanie''.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/topnews/20170904.AFP9687/birmanie-87-000-rohingyas-refugies-au-bangladesh-en-dix-jours-selon-l-onu.html |title=Birmanie: 87.000 Rohingyas réfugiés au Bangladesh en dix jours, selon l'ONU |magazine=L'Obs |date=4 September 2017 |access-date=9 September 2017 |archive-date=9 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909131747/http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/topnews/20170904.AFP9687/birmanie-87-000-rohingyas-refugies-au-bangladesh-en-dix-jours-selon-l-onu.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/tag/birmanie |title=L'actualité sur Birmanie par L'Obs |website=L'Obs |access-date=5 September 2017 |archive-date=12 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212170716/http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/tag/birmanie |url-status=live}}</ref>

There are at least nine different pronunciations of the English name ''Myanmar'', and no single one is standard. Pronunciations with two syllables are found most often in major British and American dictionaries.<ref group=pronunciations>examples of two-syllable pronunciations: {{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|j|æ|n|ˈ|m|ɑːr}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|j|æ|n|m|ɑːr}}, {{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Myanmar.ogg|ˌ|m|j|ɑː|n|ˈ|m|ɑːr}}, or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|j|ɑː|n|m|ɑːr}}</ref> Dictionaries—such as [[Collins English Dictionary|Collins]]—and other sources also report pronunciations with three syllables.<ref group=pronunciations>examples of three-syllable pronunciations: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|iː|ə|n|m|ɑːr}}, {{IPAc-en|m|i|ˈ|æ|n|m|ɑːr}}, {{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|aɪ|ə|n|ˈ|m|ɑːr}}, {{IPAc-en|m|aɪ|ˈ|ɑː|n|m|ɑːr}}, or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aɪ|æ|n|m|ɑːr}}</ref><ref name="Myanmar">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2007/09/how_to_say_myanmar.shtml |title=How to say Myanmar |work=Magazine Monitor |series=An occasional guide to the words and names in the news from Martha Figueroa-Clark of the [[BBC Pronunciation Unit]] |publisher=BBC |date=26 September 2007 |author=Martha Figueroa-Clark |access-date=23 December 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710185740/https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2007/09/how_to_say_myanmar.shtml |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/myanmar |title=Definition of MYANMAR by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com (British & World English) |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries |access-date=29 April 2021 |archive-date=29 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429132905/https://www.lexico.com/definition/myanmar |url-status=dead}}<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Myanmar |title=Myanmar |publisher=American Heritage Dictionary |access-date=29 April 2021 |archive-date=29 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429132314/https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Myanmar |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite encyclopedia |author=Thackrah, J. R. |url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/myanmar |title=Definition of Myanmar |dictionary=Collins English Dictionary |access-date=1 September 2012 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226082844/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/myanmar |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myanmar?show=0&t=1345589109 |title=Myanmar&nbsp;– Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-webster.com |access-date=1 September 2012 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226082847/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Myanmar |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite book |title=Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society |last=Ammon |first=Ulrich |year=2004 |edition=2nd |volume=3/3 |isbn=978-3-11-018418-1 |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |url={{GBurl |id=LMZm0w0k1c4C |p=2012}} |page=2012}}</ref>

As [[John C. Wells|John Wells]] explains,<ref>{{cite web |last=Wells |first=John |date=11 October 2007 |title=Myanmar, shar peis and sarnies |url=http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog0710a.htm |website=John Wells's Phonetic Blog |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022031125/http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog0710a.htm |archive-date=22 October 2007 |access-date=5 December 2025}}</ref> the English spellings of both Myanmar and Burma assume a [[Rhoticity in English|non-rhotic variety of English]], in which the letter r before a consonant or finally serves merely to indicate a long vowel: {{IPA|[ˈmjænmɑː, ˈbɜːmə]}}. So the pronunciation of the last syllable of Myanmar as {{IPA|[mɑːr]}} by some speakers in the UK and most speakers in North America is in fact a [[spelling pronunciation]] based on a misunderstanding of non-rhotic spelling conventions. However, ''Burma'' is pronounced {{IPA|[ˈbɜːrmə]}} by rhotic speakers of English due to a [[phonotactic]] constraint, as {{IPA|/ɜː/}} occurs only before {{IPA|/r/}} in those accents.

== History ==
{{main|History of Myanmar}}

{{More citations needed section|date=August 2022}}

=== Prehistory ===
{{main|Prehistory of Myanmar|Migration period of ancient Burma}}

[[File:Pyu city-states map.svg|thumb|[[Pyu city-states]], {{circa|8th century}}]]

Archaeological evidence shows that ''[[Homo erectus]]'' lived in the region now known as Myanmar as early as 750,000 years ago, with no more ''erectus'' finds after 75,000 years ago.<ref name="BLibConfOBMS2015">{{cite web |author1=Win Naing Tun |title=Prehistory to Protohistory of Myanmar: A Perspective of Historical Geography |url=http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs21/History/Win-Naing-Tun-2015-Prehistory_to_Protohistory_of_Myanmar_A_Perspective_of_Historical_Geography-en.pdf |publisher=Myanmar Environment Institute |access-date=22 November 2016 |page=1 |date=24 July 2015 |quote=Homo erectus had lived in Myanmar 750,000 years ago |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026014002/https://www.burmalibrary.org/docs21/History/Win-Naing-Tun-2015-Prehistory_to_Protohistory_of_Myanmar_A_Perspective_of_Historical_Geography-en.pdf |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite book |last=Bowman |first=John Stewart Bowman |title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture |year=2013 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50004-3 |page=476 |url={{GBurl |id=cYoHOqC7Yx4C}}}}</ref> The first evidence of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' is dated to about 25,000 BP with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schaarschmidt |first1=Maria |last2=Fu |first2=Xiao |last3=Li |first3=Bo |last4=Marwick |first4=Ben |last5=Khaing |first5=Kyaw |last6=Douka |first6=Katerina |last7=Roberts |first7=Richard G. |title=pIRIR and IR-RF dating of archaeological deposits at Badahlin and Gu Myaung Caves – First luminescence ages for Myanmar |journal=Quaternary Geochronology |volume=49 |pages=262–270 |date=January 2018 |doi=10.1016/j.quageo.2018.01.001 |s2cid=133664286 |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/425 |access-date=21 January 2020 |archive-date=25 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625002707/https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/425/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Evidence of [[Neolithic]] age domestication of plants and animals and the use of polished stone tools dating to sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE has been discovered in the form of [[cave painting]]s in [[Padah-Lin Caves]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Cooler |first=Richard M. |title=The Art and Culture of Burma (Chapter 1) |year=2002 |url=http://www.seasite.niu.edu/burmese/cooler/BurmaArt_TOC.htm |publisher=Northern Illinois University |location=DeKalb |access-date=22 March 2012 |archive-date=26 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226041623/http://www.seasite.niu.edu/burmese/cooler/BurmaArt_TOC.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Bronze Age]] arrived {{circa|1500 BCE}} when people in the region were turning copper into bronze, growing rice and domesticating poultry and pigs; they were among the first people in the world to do so.<ref>[[#Myint-U|Myint-U]], p. 37</ref> Human remains and artefacts from this era were discovered in [[Monywa District]] in the [[Sagaing Region]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-travel/myanmar-mandalay/monywa.htm |title=Skeletal Remains of Nyaunggan, Budalin Township, Monywa District, Sagaing Division |author=Yee Yee Aung |publisher=Perspective July 2002 |access-date=7 October 2008 |archive-date=28 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228204723/http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-travel/myanmar-mandalay/monywa.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Iron Age]] began around 500 BCE with the emergence of iron-working settlements in an area south of present-day [[Mandalay]].<ref>[[#Myint-U|Myint-U]], p. 45</ref> Evidence also shows the presence of rice-growing settlements of large villages and small towns that traded with their surroundings as far as China between 500 BCE and 200 CE.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hudson |first=Bob |title=A Pyu Homeland in the Samon Valley: a new theory of the origins of Myanmar's early urban system |url=http://acl.arts.usyd.edu.au/~hudson/BH2005Jan.pdf |journal=Myanmar Historical Commission Golden Jubilee International Conference |date=March 2005 |page=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126021929/http://acl.arts.usyd.edu.au/~hudson/BH2005Jan.pdf |archive-date=26 November 2013}}</ref> Iron Age Burmese cultures also had influences from outside sources such as [[India]] and [[Thailand]], as seen in their funerary practices concerning child burials. This indicates some form of communication between groups in Myanmar and other places, possibly through trade.<ref>Coupey, A. S. (2008). Infant and child burials in the Samon valley, Myanmar. In Archaeology in Southeast Asia, from Homo Erectus to the living traditions: choice of papers from the 11th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, 25–29 September 2006, Bougon, France</ref>

=== Early city-states ===
{{main|Pyu city-states|Mon kingdoms}}

Around the second century BCE the first-known [[city-state]]s emerged in central Myanmar. The city-states were founded as part of the southward migration by the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu people, the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant, from present-day [[Yunnan]].<ref name=EarlyYunnan>{{cite book |last=Hall |first=D.G.E. |title=Burma |edition=3rd |year=1960 |publisher=Hutchinson University Library |isbn=978-1-4067-3503-1 |pages=8–10}}<br />{{cite book |last=Moore |first=Elizabeth H. |title=Early Landscapes of Myanmar |year=2007 |publisher=River Books |location=Bangkok |isbn=978-974-9863-31-2 |page=236}}</ref> The Pyu culture was heavily influenced by trade with India, importing Buddhism as well as other cultural, architectural and political concepts, which would have an enduring influence on later Burmese culture and political organisation.<ref>[[#Myint-U|Myint-U]], pp. 51–52</ref>

By the 9th century, several city-states had sprouted across the land: the Pyu in the central dry zone, Mon along the southern coastline and Arakanese along the western littoral. The balance was upset when the Pyu came under repeated attacks from [[Nanzhao]] between the 750s and the 830s. In the mid-to-late 9th century the [[Bamar people]] founded a small settlement at [[Bagan]]. It was one of several competing city-states until the late 10th century, when it grew in authority and grandeur.<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], pp. 90–91</ref>

=== Pagan Kingdom ===
{{main|Pagan Kingdom|Toungoo dynasty|Konbaung dynasty}}

{{see also|Kingdom of Ava|Hanthawaddy Kingdom|Kingdom of Mrauk U|Shan States}}

[[File:Bagan, Burma.jpg|thumb|[[Pagoda]]s and [[kyaung]]s in present-day [[Bagan]], the capital of the [[Pagan Kingdom]]]]
[[Pagan Kingdom|Pagan]] gradually grew to absorb its surrounding states until the 1050s–1060s when [[Anawrahta]] founded the Pagan Kingdom, the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Pagan Empire and the [[Khmer Empire]] were two main powers in mainland Southeast Asia.<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], p. 24</ref> The [[Burmese language]] and culture gradually became dominant in the upper Irrawaddy valley, eclipsing the [[Pyu language (Burma)|Pyu]], [[Mon language|Mon]] and [[Pali]] norms{{clarify|date=January 2023}} by the late 12th century.<ref name=mha-63-65>{{cite book |last=Htin Aung |first=Maung |title=A History of Burma |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofburma00htin |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=New York / London |year=1967 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofburma00htin/page/63 63–65]}}</ref> Theravada [[Buddhism]] slowly began to spread to the village level, although [[Vajrayana|Tantric]], [[Mahayana]], [[Hinduism]], and [[Burmese folk religion|folk religion]] remained heavily entrenched. Pagan's rulers and wealthy built over 10,000 [[Buddhist]] temples in the Pagan capital zone alone. Repeated Mongol invasions in the late 13th century toppled the four-century-old kingdom in 1287.<ref name="mha-63-65" />

[[File:MysticalMraukU.jpg|thumb|Temples at [[Mrauk U]]]]
Pagan's collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century. Like the Burmans four centuries earlier, [[Shan people|Shan]] migrants who arrived with the Mongol invasions stayed behind. Several competing [[Shan States]] came to dominate the entire northwestern to eastern arc surrounding the Irrawaddy valley. The valley too was beset with petty states until the late 14th century when two sizeable powers, [[Ava Kingdom]] and [[Hanthawaddy kingdom]], emerged. In the west, a politically fragmented Arakan was under competing influences of its stronger neighbours until the [[Kingdom of Mrauk U]] unified the Arakan coastline for the first time in 1437. The kingdom was a protectorate of the [[Bengal Sultanate]] at different time periods.<ref name=kh-2-25>Maung Maung Tin, Vol. 2, p. 25</ref>

In the 14th and 15th centuries, Ava fought [[Forty Years' War|wars of unification]] but could never quite reassemble the lost empire. Having held off Ava, the [[Mon people|Mon]]-speaking Hanthawaddy entered its golden age, and Arakan went on to become a power in its own right for the next 350 years. In contrast, constant warfare left Ava greatly weakened, and it slowly disintegrated from 1481 onward. In 1527, the Confederation of Shan States conquered Ava and ruled Upper Myanmar until 1555.

Like the Pagan Empire, Ava, [[Hanthawaddy]] and the Shan states were all [[multi-ethnic]] polities. Despite the wars, cultural synchronisation continued. This period is considered a golden age for [[Burmese culture]]. [[Burmese literature]] "grew more confident, popular, and stylistically diverse", and the second generation of Burmese law codes as well as the earliest [[Burmese chronicles|pan-Burma chronicles]] emerged.<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], p. 134</ref> Hanthawaddy monarchs introduced religious reforms that later spread to the rest of the country.<ref>[[#Myint-U|Myint-U]], pp. 64–65</ref>

=== Taungoo and Konbaung ===
{{Main|Burmese–Portuguese conflicts}}

[[File:Elefante Portugues.jpg|thumb|Portuguese ruler mounting an Elephant and his soldiers. Philips, Jan Caspar (draughtsman and engraver)]]
[[File:Map of Taungoo Empire (1580).png|thumb|[[First Toungoo Empire|Toungoo Empire]] under [[Bayinnaung]] in 1580]]
Political unification returned in the mid-16th century, through the efforts of [[Toungoo dynasty|Taungoo]], a former vassal state of Ava. Taungoo's young, ambitious King [[Tabinshwehti]] defeated the more powerful Hanthawaddy in the [[Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War]]. His successor [[Bayinnaung]] went on to conquer a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia including the Shan states, [[Lan Na]], Manipur, [[Mong Mao]], the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]], [[Lan Xang]] and southern Arakan. However, the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia unravelled soon after Bayinnaung's death in 1581, completely collapsing by 1599. Ayutthaya seized Tenasserim and Lan Na, and Portuguese mercenaries established [[Portuguese rule]] at [[Thanlyin]] (Syriam).

The dynasty regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and Siam in 1614. It restored a smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing [[Lower Myanmar]], [[Upper Myanmar]], [[Shan states]], [[Lan Na]] and upper [[Tenasserim Division|Tenasserim]]. The restored Toungoo kings created a legal and political framework whose basic features continued well into the 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built a prosperous economy for more than 80 years. From the 1720s onward, the kingdom was beset with repeated [[Meitei people|Meithei]] raids into Upper Myanmar and a nagging rebellion in Lan Na. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Myanmar founded the [[Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom]]. Hanthawaddy forces sacked Ava in 1752, ending the 266-year-old Toungoo Dynasty.[[File:Shwedagon pagoda.jpg|thumb|A British 1825 lithograph of [[Shwedagon Pagoda]] shows British occupation during the [[First Anglo-Burmese War]].]]
After the fall of Ava, the [[Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War]] involved one resistance group under [[Alaungpaya]] defeating the Restored Hanthawaddy, and by 1759 he had reunited all of Myanmar and Manipur and driven out the French and the British, who had provided arms to Hanthawaddy. By 1770, Alaungpaya's heirs had subdued much of Laos and fought and won the [[Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767)|Burmese–Siamese War]] against [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Ayutthaya]] and the [[Sino-Burmese War]] against [[Qing China]].<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], pp. 184–187</ref>

With Burma preoccupied by the Chinese threat, Ayutthaya recovered its territories by 1770 and went on to capture Lan Na by 1776. Burma and Siam went to war until 1855, but all resulted in a stalemate, exchanging [[Tenasserim Island|Tenasserim]] (to Burma) and Lan Na (to Ayutthaya). Faced with a powerful China and a resurgent Ayutthaya in the east, King [[Bodawpaya]] turned west, acquiring Arakan (1785), Manipur (1814) and Assam (1817). It was the second-largest empire in Burmese history but also one with a long ill-defined border with [[British India]].<ref>[[#Myint-U|Myint-U]], p. 109</ref>

In 1826, Burma lost Arakan, [[Manipur]], Assam and Tenasserim to the British in the [[First Anglo-Burmese War]]. In 1852, the British easily seized Lower Burma in the [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]]. King [[Mindon Min]] tried to modernise the kingdom and in 1875 narrowly avoided annexation by ceding the [[Karenni States]]. The British, alarmed by the consolidation of [[French Indochina]], annexed the remainder of the country in the [[Third Anglo-Burmese War]] in 1885.

Konbaung kings extended Restored Toungoo's administrative reforms and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion. For the first time in history, the Burmese language and culture came to predominate the entire Irrawaddy valley. The evolution and growth of Burmese literature and theatre continued, aided by an extremely high adult male literacy rate for the era (half of all males and 5% of females).<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], pp. 202–206</ref> Nonetheless, the extent and pace of reforms were uneven and ultimately proved insufficient to stem the advance of British colonialism.

=== British Burma (1885–1948) ===
{{main|British rule in Burma|Burma campaign}}

[[File:British forces arrival mandalay1885.jpg|thumb|The landing of British forces in Mandalay after the last of the [[Anglo-Burmese War]]s, which resulted in the abdication of the last Burmese monarch, King [[Thibaw Min]]]]
[[File:British 3-inch mortars supporting the 19th Indian Division's advance along the Mawchi Road, east of Toungoo in Burma, 1944. IND4723.jpg|thumb|British troops firing a [[mortar (weapon)|mortar]] on the [[Mawchi]] road, July 1944]]

In the 19th century, Burmese rulers sought to maintain their traditional influence in the western areas of Assam, Manipur and Arakan. Pressing them, however, was the [[British East India]] Company, which was expanding its interests eastwards over the same territory. Over the next 60 years, diplomacy, raids, treaties and compromises, known collectively as the [[Anglo-Burmese Wars]], continued until Britain proclaimed control over most of Burma.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baten |first=Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2016 |page=287 |isbn=978-1-107-50718-0}}</ref> With the fall of Mandalay, all of Burma came under British rule, being [[Third Anglo-Burmese War#Annexation and resistance|annexed]] on 1 January 1886.

Throughout the colonial era, many Indians arrived as soldiers, civil servants, construction workers and traders and, along with the [[Anglo-Burmese]] community, dominated commercial and civil life in Burma. [[Rangoon]] became the capital of British Burma and an important port between [[Calcutta]] and [[Singapore]]. Burmese resentment was strong, and was vented in violent riots that periodically paralysed Rangoon until the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Collis |first=Maurice |title=Trials in Burma |year=1945}}</ref> Some of the discontent was caused by a disrespect for Burmese culture and traditions. [[Buddhist monks]] became the vanguards of the independence movement. [[U Wisara]], an activist monk, died in prison after a 166-day hunger strike.<ref>{{cite book |first=Heinz |last=Bechert |author-link=Heinz Bechert |title=The World of Buddhism-Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Society and Culture |url=https://archive.org/details/worldofbuddhismb00bech |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York City |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-87196-982-8}}</ref>

On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Britain, and [[Ba Maw]] became the first Prime Minister and Premier of Burma. Ba Maw was an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule, and he opposed the participation of Britain, and by extension Burma, in [[World War II]]. He resigned from the Legislative Assembly and was arrested for sedition. In 1940, before [[Japan during World War II|Japan formally entered the war]], [[Aung San]] formed the [[Burma Independence Army]] in Japan.

As a major battleground, Burma was devastated during World War II by the [[Japanese invasion of Burma|Japanese invasion]]. Within months after they entered the war, Japanese troops had advanced on Rangoon, and the British administration had collapsed. A [[Japanese occupation of Burma|Burmese Executive Administration]] headed by Ba Maw was established by the Japanese in August 1942. [[Orde Wingate|Wingate]]'s British [[Chindits]] were formed into [[long-range penetration]] groups trained to operate deep behind Japanese lines.<ref>{{cite news |author=Bennett, Will |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/chindits-remember-their-fallen-comrades-1597019.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/chindits-remember-their-fallen-comrades-1597019.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Chindits remember their fallen comrades |work=The Independent |date=20 August 1995 |access-date=20 November 2012 |location=London}}</ref> A similar American unit, [[Merrill's Marauders]], followed the Chindits into the Burmese jungle in 1943.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/cbi-marauders.html |title=China-Burma-India: Merrill's Marauders. Veterans History Project, Library of Congress |publisher=Loc.gov |date=14 November 2012 |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=28 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328063322/http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/cbi-marauders.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Beginning in late 1944, allied troops launched a [[Burma campaign 1944|series of offensives]] that led to the [[Burma campaign 1944–45|end of Japanese rule]] in July 1945. The battles were intense with much of Burma laid waste by the fighting. Overall, the Japanese lost some 150,000 men in Burma with 1,700 prisoners taken.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Towle, Philip |author-link1=Philip Towle |author2=Kosuge, Margaret |author3=Kibata, Yōichi |year=2000 |url={{GBurl |id=ktCv32ysz0AC |p=48}} |title=Japanese prisoners of war |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |page=48 |isbn=978-1-85285-192-7}}</ref> Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese as part of the Burma Independence Army, many Burmese, mostly from the ethnic minorities, served in the British Burma Army.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Fellowes-Gordon |year=1971 |title=The Battle For Naw Seng's Kingdom: General Stilwel}}</ref> The [[Burma National Army]] and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942 to 1944 but switched allegiance to the Allied side in 1945. Overall, 170,000 to 250,000 Burmese civilians died during World War II.<ref>Micheal Clodfelter. Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500–2000. 2nd Ed. 2002 {{ISBN|0-7864-1204-6}}. p. 556<br />Werner Gruhl, Imperial Japan's World War Two, 1931–1945 Transaction 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-7658-0352-8}} (Werner Gruhl is former chief of NASA's Cost and Economic Analysis Branch with a lifetime interest in the study of the First and Second World Wars.)</ref>

Following World War II, [[Aung San]] negotiated the [[Panglong Agreement]] with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Burma as a unified state. [[Aung Zan Wai]], Pe Khin, [[Bo Hmu Aung]], Sir Maung Gyi, Sein Mya Maung, [[Myoma U Than Kywe]] were among the negotiators of the historic [[Panglong Conference]] negotiated with Bamar leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947. In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Burma, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/interview/author-discusses-martyrs-day-assassination-of-aung-san.html |title=Author Discusses Martyrs' Day Assassination of Aung San |work=The Irrawaddy |author=Moe, Kyaw Zwa |date=August 1977 |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-date=7 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107153638/http://www.irrawaddy.org/interview/author-discusses-martyrs-day-assassination-of-aung-san.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Burmese Martyrs' Day|assassinated Aung San]] and several cabinet members.<ref>{{cite book |first=Gustaaf |last=Houtman |year=1999 |title=Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy |isbn=978-4-87297-748-6 |publisher=Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa |location=Tokyo}}</ref>

=== Independence (1948–1962) ===
{{main|Post-independence Burma (1948–1962)}}
{{See also|Independence Day (Myanmar)}}
On 4 January 1948, the nation became an independent republic, under the terms of the [[Burma Independence Act 1947]]. The new country was named the ''Union of Burma'', with [[Sao Shwe Thaik]] as its first president and [[U Nu]] as its first prime minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, Burma did not become a member of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]. A [[bicameral]] parliament was formed, consisting of a [[Chamber of Deputies (Burma)|Chamber of Deputies]] and a [[Chamber of Nationalities]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.dvb.no/e_docs/511947_con.htm |title=The Constitution of the Union of Burma |access-date=7 July 2006 |year=1947 |publisher=DVB |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615072018/http://english.dvb.no/e_docs/511947_con.htm |archive-date=15 June 2006}}</ref> and [[multi-party]] elections were held in [[1951–52 Burmese general election|1951–1952]], [[1956 Burmese general election|1956]] and [[1960 Burmese general election|1960]].

The geographical area Burma encompasses today can be traced to the [[Panglong Agreement]], which combined Burma Proper, which consisted of Lower Burma and Upper Burma, and the Frontier Areas, which had been administered separately by the British.<ref>{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Smith |year=1991 |title=Burma -Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity |publisher=Zed Books |location=London and New Jersey |pages=42–43}}</ref>

In 1961, [[U Thant]], the Union of Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former secretary to the prime minister, was elected [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]], a position he held for ten years.<ref>{{cite journal |volume=14 |issue=9 |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7610 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314141301/http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7610 |archive-date=14 March 2012 |author=Zaw, Aung |title=Can Another Asian Fill U Thant's Shoes? |journal=The Irrawaddy |date=September 2006}}</ref>

When the non-Burman ethnic groups pushed for autonomy or federalism, alongside having a weak civilian government at the centre, the military leadership staged a coup d'état in 1962. Though incorporated in the 1947 Constitution, successive military governments construed the use of the term '[[federalism]]' as being anti-national, anti-unity and pro-disintegration.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-united-states-of-myanmar/article18525853.ece |title=The united states of Myanmar? |newspaper=The Hindu |date=23 May 2017 |access-date=9 September 2017 |last1=Kipgen |first1=Nehginpao |archive-date=13 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613230526/https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-united-states-of-myanmar/article18525853.ece |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Military rule (1962–2011) ===
On 2 March 1962, the military led by General [[Ne Win]] [[1962 Burmese coup d'état|took control of Burma through a coup d'état]], and the government had been under direct or indirect control by the military since then. Between 1962 and 1974, Myanmar was ruled by a [[Union Revolutionary Council|revolutionary council]] headed by the general. Almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were [[nationalised]] or brought under government control under the [[Burmese Way to Socialism]],<ref name="thantmyintu">[[#Myint-U|Myint-U]]</ref> which combined Soviet-style nationalisation and [[Economic planning|central planning]].

A [[Constitution of Myanmar|new constitution]] of the [[Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma]] was adopted in 1974. Until 1988, the country was ruled as a [[one-party system]], with the general and other military officers resigning and ruling through the [[Burma Socialist Programme Party]] (BSPP).<ref name="christinafink">{{cite book |first=Christina |last=Fink |year=2001 |title=Living Silence: Burma under Military Rule |isbn=978-1-85649-926-2 |publisher=White Lotus |location=Bangkok |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/livingsilence00chri}}</ref> During this period, Myanmar became one of the world's most impoverished countries.<ref name="ruin">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/28/burma.uk |title=The Burma road to ruin |work=The Guardian |location=London |first=Mark |last=Tallentire |date=28 September 2007 |access-date=12 December 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081122/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/28/burma.uk |url-status=live}}</ref> There were sporadic protests against military rule during the Ne Win years, and these were almost always violently suppressed. On 7 July 1962, the government broke up [[1962 Rangoon University protests|demonstrations at Rangoon University]], killing 15 students.<ref name="thantmyintu" /> In 1974, the military violently suppressed [[U Thant funeral crisis|anti-government protests]] at the funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976, and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force.<ref name="christinafink" />

In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the [[8888 Uprising]]. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General [[Saw Maung]] staged a coup d'état and formed the [[State Law and Order Restoration Council]] (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests. The military government finalised plans for People's Assembly elections on 31 May 1989.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/pyithu_hluttaw_election_law.htm |title=Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law |access-date=11 July 2006 |date=31 May 1989 |work=State Law and Order Restoration Council |publisher=iBiblio.org |archive-date=16 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916133423/http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/pyithu_hluttaw_election_law.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> SLORC changed the country's official English name from the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" on 18 June 1989 by enacting the adaptation of the expression law.

In May 1990, the government held free multiparty elections for the first time in almost 30 years, and the [[National League for Democracy]] (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won<ref name="burmese_vote_1990_05_29_nytimes_com">Erlanger, Steven:
[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/29/world/burmese-vote-rejects-army-rule-with-big-victory-for-opposition.html "Burmese Vote Rejects Army Rule With Big Victory for Opposition,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215085252/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/29/world/burmese-vote-rejects-army-rule-with-big-victory-for-opposition.html |date=15 February 2021 }}, 29 May 1990, ''The New York Times'', retrieved 1 March 2021</ref> [[1990 Myanmar general election|earning 392 out of a total 492 seats]] (i.e., 80% of the seats). However, the military junta refused to cede power<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/Elections-02.htm |title=1990 Multi-party Democracy General Elections |author=Han, Khin Kyaw |date=1 February 2003 |work=National League for Democracy |publisher=iBiblio.org |access-date=12 July 2006 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010114240/http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/Elections-02.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> and continued to rule the nation, first as SLORC and, from 1997, as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) until its dissolution in March 2011. General [[Than Shwe]] took over the Chairmanship – effectively the position of Myanmar's top ruler – from General Saw Maung in 1992 and held it until 2011.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Horn |first=Robert |date=11 April 2011 |title=Is Burma's Strongman Really Retiring? |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2064470,00.html |access-date=1 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901055649/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C2064470%2C00.html |archive-date=1 September 2011}}</ref>

On 23 June 1997, Myanmar was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On 27 March 2006, the military junta, which had moved the national capital from Yangon to a site near [[Pyinmana]] in November 2005, officially named the new capital [[Naypyidaw]], meaning "city of the kings".<ref>{{cite news |title=Burma's new capital stages parade |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4848408.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=27 March 2006 |access-date=24 June 2006 |archive-date=3 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203065423/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4848408.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:2007 Myanmar protests 7.jpg|thumb|Protesters in [[Yangon]] during the [[2007 Saffron Revolution]] with a banner that reads ''non-violence: national movement'' in [[Burmese language|Burmese]]. In the background is [[Shwedagon Pagoda]].]]

[[File:Cyclone Nargis -Myanmar-3May2008.jpg|thumb|[[Cyclone Nargis]] in southern Myanmar, May 2008]]
In August 2007, an increase in the price of fuel led to the [[Saffron Revolution]] led by Buddhist monks that were dealt with harshly by the government.<ref name=PetrolSaffronRevolution>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6947251.stm |title=Burma leaders double fuel prices |publisher=BBC News |date=15 August 2007 |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=30 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530110116/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6947251.stm |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2521951.ece |title=Military junta threatens monks in Burma |location=London |work=The Times |date=24 September 2007 |access-date=27 April 2010 |first1=Jenny |last1=Booth |archive-date=10 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010194752/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2521951.ece |url-status=dead}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=85644 |title=100,000 Protestors Flood Streets of Rangoon in "Saffron Revolution" |access-date=15 February 2009 |archive-date=17 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017022614/https://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=85644 |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite book |author=Fink, Christina |chapter=The Moment of the Monks: Burma, 2007 |editor-link=Adam Roberts (scholar) |editor=Adam Roberts |editor2=Timothy Garton Ash |title=Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-955201-6 |pages=354–70 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxOQKrCe7UUC&q=Civil+resistance+and+power+politics |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=20 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820072155/https://books.google.com/books?id=BxOQKrCe7UUC&q=Civil+resistance+and+power+politics |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4081D23F-F1A4-46AF-BA50-D47FA2B7A4AE.htm |title=UN envoy warns of Myanmar crisis |publisher=English.aljazeera.net |access-date=20 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228090420/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4081D23F-F1A4-46AF-BA50-D47FA2B7A4AE.htm |archive-date=28 February 2008}}</ref> The government cracked down on them on 26 September 2007, with reports of barricades at the [[Shwedagon Pagoda]] and monks killed. There were also rumours of disagreement within the Burmese armed forces, but none was confirmed. The military crackdown against unarmed [[protest]]ers was widely condemned as part of the [[international reactions to the Saffron Revolution]] and led to an increase in economic sanctions against the [[Politics of Myanmar|Burmese Government]].

In May 2008, [[Cyclone Nargis]] caused extensive damage in the densely populated rice-farming delta of the [[Irrawaddy Division]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Fountain |first=Henry |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/06/asia/AS-GEN-Myanmar-Cyclone.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011025523/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/06/asia/AS-GEN-Myanmar-Cyclone.php |archive-date=11 October 2008 |title=Aid arrives in Myanmar as death toll passes 22,000, but worst-hit area still cut off&nbsp;– |work=International Herald Tribune |date=6 May 2008}}</ref> It was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history with reports of an estimated 200,000 people dead or missing, damages totalled to 10&nbsp;billion US dollars, and as many as 1 million were left homeless.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695277601/Official-UN-planes-land-in-Myanmar-with-aid-after-cyclone.html?pg=all |title=Official: UN plane lands in Myanmar with aid after cyclone |agency=Associated Press |access-date=6 August 2015 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906080826/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695277601/Official-UN-planes-land-in-Myanmar-with-aid-after-cyclone.html?pg=all |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the critical days following this disaster, Myanmar's [[isolationist]] government was accused of hindering United Nations recovery efforts.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Stevenson, Rachel |author2=Borger, Julian |author3=MacKinnon, Ian |name-list-style=amp |title=Burma snubs foreign aid workers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/09/cyclonenargis.burma4 |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=9 May 2008 |access-date=12 December 2016 |archive-date=2 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902085545/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/09/cyclonenargis.burma4 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Humanitarian aid]] was requested, but concerns about foreign military or intelligence presence in the country delayed the entry of United States military planes delivering medicine, food, and other supplies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Burma: imperialists exploit natural disaster to promote regime change |url=http://www.cpgb-ml.org/index.php?art=410&secName=proletarian&subName=display |publisher=Proletarian Online |date=June 2008 |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113132830/http://www.cpgb-ml.org/index.php?art=410&secName=proletarian&subName=display |url-status=live}}</ref>

In early August 2009, [[2009 Kokang incident|a conflict broke out]] in Shan State in northern Myanmar. For several weeks, junta troops fought against ethnic minorities including the [[Kokang Chinese|Han Chinese]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32596296 |title=Fighting forces up to 30,000 to flee Myanmar |work=NBC News |date=28 August 2009 |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923230219/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32596296 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Wa people|Wa]], and [[Jingpo people|Kachin]].<ref name="BangkokPost">{{cite news |date=27 August 2009 |title=More fighting feared as thousands flee Burma |work=[[Mail & Guardian]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2009-08-27-more-fighting-feared-as-thousands-flee-burma |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-date=3 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303122522/https://mg.co.za/article/2009-08-27-more-fighting-feared-as-thousands-flee-burma |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NYTrefugees">{{cite news |work=The New York Times |last=Fuller |first=Thomas |date=28 August 2009 |access-date=28 August 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/asia/29myanmar.html |title=Refugees Flee to China as Fighting Breaks Out in Myanmar |archive-date=13 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213153527/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/asia/29myanmar.html |url-status=live}}</ref> During 8–12 August, the first days of the conflict, as many as 10,000 Burmese civilians fled to Yunnan in neighbouring China.<ref name="BangkokPost" /><ref name="NYTrefugees" /><ref>{{cite news |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8223430.stm |title=Thousands Flee Burma Violence |date=26 August 2009 |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-date=29 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829215715/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8223430.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Civil wars ===
{{main|Internal conflict in Myanmar}}

[[Civil war]]s have been a constant feature of Myanmar's socio-political landscape since the attainment of independence in 1948. These wars are predominantly struggles for ethnic and sub-national autonomy, with the areas surrounding the ethnically Bamar central districts of the country serving as the primary geographical setting of conflict. Foreign journalists and visitors require a special travel permit to visit the areas in which Myanmar's civil wars continue.<ref>{{cite web |title=Restricted Areas in Burma |url=http://www.tourismburma.com/restricted-areas-in-burma/ |publisher=Tourism Burma |access-date=27 March 2013 |year=2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102230338/http://www.tourismburma.com/restricted-areas-in-burma/ |archive-date=2 January 2013}}</ref>

In October 2012, the ongoing conflicts in Myanmar included the [[Kachin conflict]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Ethnic Rifts Strain Myanmar as It Moves Toward Democracy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/world/asia/ethnic-rifts-strain-myanmar-as-it-moves-toward-democracy.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 April 2013 |author=Fuller, Thomas |access-date=25 February 2017 |archive-date=22 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722151744/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/world/asia/ethnic-rifts-strain-myanmar-as-it-moves-toward-democracy.html |url-status=live}}</ref> between the Pro-Christian [[Kachin Independence Army]] and the government;<ref name=ChristianVsGovt>{{cite news |title=Displaced by fighting, villagers take shelter in Hpakant |url=http://www.dvb.no/news/displaced-by-fighting-villagers-take-shelter-in-hpakant/23955 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127023044/http://www.dvb.no/news/displaced-by-fighting-villagers-take-shelter-in-hpakant/23955 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 November 2012 |access-date=27 March 2013 |newspaper=Democratic Voice of Burma |date=25 September 2012 |author=Nadi, Nang Mya}}<br />{{cite news |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/10/20121031172469210.html |title=Blood and Gold: Inside Burma's Hidden War |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=4 October 2012 |access-date=5 January 2013 |archive-date=1 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101175348/https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/10/20121031172469210.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> a civil war between the [[Rohingya]] Muslims,<ref name="lan">{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Andrew |title=Language and National Identity in Asia |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-922648-1 |location=United Kingdom |page=267}}</ref> and the government and non-government groups in [[Rakhine State]];<ref>{{cite news |title=About 75,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar camps: Refugee International |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/about-75000-rohingyas-in-myanmar-camps-refugee-international/article3948606.ece |access-date=27 March 2013 |newspaper=The Hindu |date=29 September 2012 |location=Chennai, India |archive-date=8 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208141327/http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/about-75000-rohingyas-in-myanmar-camps-refugee-international/article3948606.ece |url-status=live}}</ref> and a conflict between the [[Shan people|Shan]],<ref name=ShanVsGovt>{{cite web |title=Supporting Human Rights in Burma |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/11/09/supporting-human-rights-burma |access-date=27 March 2013 |author=Power, Samantha |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |date=9 November 2012 |archive-date=22 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122060757/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/11/09/supporting-human-rights-burma |url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/201210285232434409.html |title=Myanmar Shan refugees struggle at Thai border |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=2 October 2012 |access-date=5 January 2013 |archive-date=22 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422154430/https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/201210285232434409.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Lahu people|Lahu]], and [[Karen people|Karen]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Karen fighters and Burma Army soldiers killed over ceasefire breach |url=http://karennews.org/2012/03/karen-fighters-and-burma-army-soldiers-killed-over-ceasefire-breech.html/ |access-date=27 March 2013 |newspaper=Karen News |date=16 March 2012 |author=Saw Khar Su Nyar (KIC) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615153917/http://karennews.org/2012/03/karen-fighters-and-burma-army-soldiers-killed-over-ceasefire-breech.html/ |archive-date=15 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.irinnews.org/report/95008/MYANMAR-Karen-groups-cautious-on-peace-initiative |title=Myanmar: Karen groups cautious on peace initiative |agency=[[The New Humanitarian|IRIN]] |date=5 March 2012 |access-date=5 January 2013 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101072043/http://www.irinnews.org/report/95008/myanmar-karen-groups-cautious-on-peace-initiative |url-status=live}}</ref> minority groups, and the government in the eastern half of the country. In addition, [[al-Qaeda]] signalled an intention to become involved in Myanmar.<ref>{{cite news |title=Concern in India as Al Qaeda announces new India front |url=http://www.myanmarnews.net/index.php/sid/225407619 |date=4 September 2014 |access-date=6 September 2014 |publisher=Myanmar News.Net |archive-date=6 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406002614/http://www.myanmarnews.net/index.php/sid/225407619 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Armed conflict between [[Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army|ethnic Chinese rebels]] and the [[Myanmar Armed Forces]] resulted in the [[2015 Kokang offensive|Kokang offensive]] in February 2015. The conflict had forced 40,000 to 50,000 civilians to flee their homes and seek shelter on the Chinese side of the border.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 February 2015 |title=Tens of thousands flee war, airstrikes in Kokang region |url=http://www.dvb.no/news/tens-thousands-flee-war-airstrikes-kokang-region/48271 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328223618/http://www.dvb.no/news/tens-thousands-flee-war-airstrikes-kokang-region/48271 |archive-date=28 March 2015 |access-date=31 March 2015 |work=[[Democratic Voice of Burma]]}}</ref> During the incident, the government of China was accused of giving military assistance to the [[Kokang Chinese|ethnic Chinese]] rebels.<ref>"[http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/kokang-02132015185129.html Myanmar Kokang Rebels Deny Receiving Chinese Weapons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511065757/http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/kokang-02132015185129.html |date=11 May 2019 }}". [[Radio Free Asia]].</ref> Clashes between Burmese troops and local insurgent groups have continued, fuelling tensions between China and Myanmar.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lintner |first=Bertil |author-link=Bertil Lintner |date=5 April 2017 |title=A Chinese war in Myanmar |url=https://asiatimes.com/2017/04/chinese-war-myanmar/ |access-date=5 July 2022 |website=Asia Times |language=en-US |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621214332/https://asiatimes.com/2017/04/chinese-war-myanmar/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Period of liberalisation, 2011–2021 ===
{{See also|2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms}}
The military-backed Government had promulgated a [[Roadmap to democracy|"Roadmap to Discipline-flourishing Democracy"]] in 1993, but the process appeared to stall several times, until 2008 when the Government published a new draft national constitution, and organised a (flawed) national referendum which adopted it. The new constitution provided for election of a national assembly with powers to appoint a president, while practically ensuring army control at all levels.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Steinberg |first=David I. |title=Burma/Myanmar : what everyone needs to know |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-539067-4 |location=Oxford |pages=142–147 |oclc=318409825}}</ref>
[[File:Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at home of Aung San Suu Kyi.jpg|thumb|U.S. President [[Barack Obama]] and Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] with [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] and her staff at her home in Yangon, 2012]]

A [[2010 Myanmar general election|general election in 2010]] – the first for twenty years – was boycotted by the [[National League for Democracy|NLD]]. The military-backed [[Union Solidarity and Development Party]] declared victory, stating that it had been favoured by 80 per cent of the votes; fraud, however, was alleged.<ref name="tni.org">{{cite web |date=14 December 2010 |title=A Changing Ethnic Landscape: Analysis of Burma's 2010 Polls |url=http://www.tni.org/briefing/changing-ethnic-landscape-analysis-burmas-2010-polls |access-date=27 March 2013 |work=Transnational Institute&nbsp;– Burma Project |publisher=TNI |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402140616/http://www.tni.org/briefing/changing-ethnic-landscape-analysis-burmas-2010-polls |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="nyt-un-doubt-fairness-of-election">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/asia/22nations.html |date=22 October 2010 |work=The New York Times |first=Neil |last=MacFarquhar |title=U.N. Doubts Fairness of Election in Myanmar |access-date=25 February 2017 |archive-date=15 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715200353/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/asia/22nations.html |url-status=live}}</ref> A nominally civilian government was then formed, with retired general [[Thein Sein]] as president.<ref>{{cite web |date=3 September 2018 |title=Myanmar profile – Timeline |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12992883 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326180520/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12992883 |archive-date=26 March 2021 |access-date=25 September 2021 |website=BBC News}}</ref>

A series of liberalising political and economic actions – or reforms – then took place. By the end of 2011 these included the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the establishment of the [[Myanmar National Human Rights Commission|National Human Rights Commission]], the granting of general amnesties for more than 200 political prisoners, new labour laws that permitted labour unions and strikes, a relaxation of press censorship, and the regulation of currency practices.<ref>{{cite news |author=Loyn, David |date=19 November 2011 |title=Obstacles lie ahead in Burma's bid for reform |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15303968 |access-date=20 November 2011 |archive-date=18 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118122129/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15303968 |url-status=live}}</ref> In response, [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Hillary Clinton]] visited Myanmar in December 2011 – the first visit by a US Secretary of State in more than fifty years<ref>{{cite news |author=Hepler, Lauren |author2=Voorhees, Josh |date=1 December 2011 |title=Budding Friendship on Display as Clinton, Burma's Suu Kyi Meet Again |newspaper=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/11/18/hillary_clinton_to_visit_myanmar_burma_first_trip_by_secretary_of_state_in_more_than_50_years.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617073614/http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/11/18/hillary_clinton_to_visit_myanmar_burma_first_trip_by_secretary_of_state_in_more_than_50_years.html |archive-date=17 June 2013 |quote=Wrapping up a historic three-day visit to Myanmar [Burma], the first by a secretary of state to the Southeast Asian nation in more than 50 years}}</ref> – meeting both President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.<ref name="Clinton">{{cite news |author=Myers, Steven Lee |date=2 December 2011 |title=Clinton Says U.S. Will Relax Some Restrictions on Myanmar |page=A6 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/world/asia/us-will-relax-curbs-on-aid-to-myanmar.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201172242/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/world/asia/us-will-relax-curbs-on-aid-to-myanmar.html |archive-date=1 December 2011 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=15 May 2013}}</ref>

[[Aung San Suu Kyi]]'s [[National League for Democracy|NLD]] party participated in the 2012 by-elections, facilitated by the government's abolition of the laws that previously barred it.<ref>{{cite news |date=18 November 2011 |title=US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit Burma |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15787052 |access-date=25 November 2011 |archive-date=20 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120053747/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15787052 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the April 2012 [[2012 Myanmar by-elections|by-elections]], the NLD won 43 of the 45 available seats. The 2012 by-elections were also the first time that international representatives were allowed to monitor the voting process in Myanmar.<ref>{{cite news |last=Golluoglu |first=Esmer |date=4 February 2012 |title=Aung San Suu Kyi hails 'new era' for Burma after landslide victory |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/02/aung-san-suu-kyi-new-era-burma?newsfeed=true}}</ref>

Myanmar's improved international reputation was indicated by [[ASEAN]]'s approval of Myanmar's bid for the position of ASEAN chair in 2014.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cabellero-Anthony |first1=Mely |date=March 2014 |title="Myanmar's Chairmanship of ASEAN: Challenges and Opportunities", Myanmar's Growing Regional Role |url=http://www.nbr.org/publications/element.aspx?id=741 |journal=NBR Special Report |access-date=4 August 2014 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010114243/http://www.nbr.org/publications/element.aspx?id=741 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Burma en.png|thumb|upright=0.8|Map of Myanmar and its divisions]]

==== 2015 general elections ====
General elections [[2015 Myanmar general election|were held on 8 November 2015]]. These were the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since the 1990 general election (which was annulled<ref name="landmark_elections_2015_12_03_bbc">[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33547036 "Myanmar's 2015 landmark elections explained,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321181407/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33547036 |date=21 March 2021 }} 3 December 2015, BBC News, retrieved 1 March 2021</ref>). The results gave the NLD an [[Supermajority|absolute majority]] of seats in both chambers of the [[national parliament]], enough to ensure that its candidate would become president, while NLD leader [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] is constitutionally barred from the presidency.<ref name="landmark_elections_2015_12_03_bbc" /><ref name="national_league_wins_2015_11_13_bbc">{{cite news |title=Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Wins Majority in Myanmar |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34805806 |access-date=13 November 2015 |publisher=BBC News |date=13 November 2015 |archive-date=13 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113070516/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34805806 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The new parliament convened on 1 February 2016,<ref>{{cite web |title=Suu Kyi's novice MPs learn ropes in outgoing Myanmar parliament |url=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/suu-kyi-s-novice-mps/2464054.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127170900/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/suu-kyi-s-novice-mps/2464054.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 January 2016 |publisher=Channel NewsAsia |access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> and on 15 March 2016, [[Htin Kyaw]] was elected as the first non-military president since the military coup of 1962.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moe |first1=Wae |last2=Ramzy |first2=Austin |title=Myanmar Lawmakers Name Htin Kyaw President, Affirming Civilian Rule |date=15 March 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/world/asia/myanmar-president-htin-kyaw-elected.html?smid=pl-share}}</ref> On 6 April 2016, [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] assumed the newly created role of [[State Counsellor of Myanmar|state counsellor]], a role akin to a [[Prime Minister of Myanmar|prime minister]].<ref>Daniel Combs, ''Until the World Shatters: Truth, Lies, and the Looting of Myanmar'' (2021).</ref>

=== Coup d'état and civil war ===
{{main|2021 Myanmar coup d'état|Myanmar civil war (2021–present)}}

{{See also|Myanmar protests (2021–present)}}

In Myanmar's 2020 parliamentary election, the ostensibly ruling [[National League for Democracy|National League for Democracy (NLD)]], the party of State Counsellor [[Aung San Suu Kyi]], competed with various other smaller parties &ndash; particularly the military-affiliated [[Union Solidarity and Development Party|Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP)]].<ref name="myanmar_election_2020_11_11_nytimes_com">[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/world/asia/myanmar-election-aung-san-suu-kyi-results.html "Myanmar Election Delivers Another Decisive Win for Aung San Suu Kyi,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301062240/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/world/asia/myanmar-election-aung-san-suu-kyi-results.html |date=1 March 2021 }} 11 November 2020, ''The New York Times'', retrieved 18 December 2020</ref> Suu Kyi's NLD won the [[2020 Myanmar general election]] on 8 November in a landslide.<ref name="myanmar_election_2020_11_11_nytimes_com" /><ref name="suu_kyis_party_wins_2020_11_13_bbc">[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54899170 "Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins majority in election,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329220822/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54899170 |date=29 March 2023 }} 11 November 2020, BBC News, retrieved 18 December 2020</ref><ref name="commission_rejects_2021_01_29_apnews_com">[https://apnews.com/article/aung-san-suu-kyi-elections-myanmar-cc1b225b806c27dda748d3ab51d0e47f "Myanmar election commission rejects military's fraud claims,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203131321/https://apnews.com/article/aung-san-suu-kyi-elections-myanmar-cc1b225b806c27dda748d3ab51d0e47f |date=3 February 2021 }} 29 January 2021, [[Associated Press]], retrieved 28 February 2021</ref> The USDP, regarded as a proxy for the military, suffered a "humiliating" defeat<ref name="crisis_in_myanmar_2021_01_31_reuters">[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-explainer/explainer-crisis-in-myanmar-after-army-alleges-election-fraud-idUSKBN2A113H "Explainer: Crisis in Myanmar after army alleges election fraud,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228221918/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-explainer/explainer-crisis-in-myanmar-after-army-alleges-election-fraud-idUSKBN2A113H |date=28 February 2021 }} 31 January 2021, updated 1 February 2021, [[Reuters News Service]], retrieved 28 February 2021</ref><ref name="defeated_2020_11_12_irrawaddy_com">[https://www.irrawaddy.com/elections/military-backed-usdp-leaders-defeated-nld-myanmar-election.html "Military-Backed USDP Leaders Defeated by NLD in Myanmar Election,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301160653/https://www.irrawaddy.com/elections/military-backed-usdp-leaders-defeated-nld-myanmar-election.html |date=1 March 2021 }} 12 November 2020, ''[[The Irrawaddy]]'', retrieved 28 February 2021</ref> &ndash; even worse than in 2015<ref name="defeated_2020_11_12_irrawaddy_com" /> &ndash; capturing only 33 of the 476 elected seats.<ref name="commission_rejects_2021_01_29_apnews_com" /><ref name="crisis_in_myanmar_2021_01_31_reuters" />

As the election results began emerging, the USDP rejected them, urging a new election with the military as observers.<ref name="myanmar_election_2020_11_11_nytimes_com" /><ref name="defeated_2020_11_12_irrawaddy_com" /> More than 90 other smaller parties contested the vote, including more than 15 who complained of irregularities. However, election observers declared there were no major irregularities.<ref name="crisis_in_myanmar_2021_01_31_reuters" /><ref name="commission_rejects_2021_01_29_apnews_com" /><ref name="myanmar_election_body_2021_01_28_irrawaddy_com">[https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-election-body-rejects-military-allegations-electoral-fraud.html "Myanmar Election Body Rejects Military Allegations of Electoral Fraud,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301124627/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-election-body-rejects-military-allegations-electoral-fraud.html |date=1 March 2021 }} 28 January 2021, ''[[The Irrawaddy]]'', retrieved 6 February 2021</ref> However, despite the election commission validating the NLD's overwhelming victory,<ref name="myanmar_election_body_2021_01_28_irrawaddy_com" /> the USDP and Myanmar's military persistently alleged fraud.<ref name="military_condemns_2021_01_15_irrawaddy_com">[https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-military-condemns-speakers-refusal-probe-election-fraud-claims.html "Myanmar Military Condemns Speaker's Refusal to Probe Election Fraud Claims,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310112448/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-military-condemns-speakers-refusal-probe-election-fraud-claims.html |date=10 March 2021 }} 15 January 2021, ''[[The Irrawaddy]]'', retrieved 7 February 2021</ref><ref name="Myanmar_military_2021_01_26_irrawaddy_com">[https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-military-refuses-rule-coup-presses-claim-fraud-nov-election.html "Myanmar Military Refuses to Rule Out Coup as It Presses Claim of Fraud in Nov Election,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301142916/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-military-refuses-rule-coup-presses-claim-fraud-nov-election.html |date=1 March 2021 }} 26 January 2021, ''[[The Irrawaddy]]'', retrieved 7 February 2021</ref><ref name="military_threats channelnewsasia_com">[https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/military-threats--coup-fears-overshadow-myanmar-parliament-opening-14068508 "Military Thrests: Coup Fears Overshadow Myanmar Parliament Opening,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130124925/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/military-threats--coup-fears-overshadow-myanmar-parliament-opening-14068508 |date=30 January 2021 }} ''[[Channel NewsAsia]]'',</ref><ref name="military_chief_warns_2021_01_28_irrawaddy_com">[https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-military-chief-warns-constitution-revoked-laws-not-followed.html "Myanmar Military Chief Warns Constitution Should Be Revoked If Laws Not Followed,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301124634/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-military-chief-warns-constitution-revoked-laws-not-followed.html |date=1 March 2021 }} 28 January 2021, ''[[The Irrawaddy]]'', retrieved 7 February 2021</ref><ref name="coup_talk_2021_01_28_bangkokpost_com">[https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2059323/un-embassies-fret-over-myanmar-coup-talk "UN, embassies fret over Myanmar coup talk,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224030219/https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2059323/un-embassies-fret-over-myanmar-coup-talk |date=24 February 2021 }} 28 January 2021, ''[[Bangkok Post]]'', retrieved 30 January 2021</ref>{{excessive citations inline|date=July 2024}}
In January 2021, just before the new parliament was to be sworn in, the NLD announced that Suu Kyi would retain her State Counsellor role in the upcoming government.
<ref name="suu_kyi_to_keep_2021_01_25_irrawaddy_com">[https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmars-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-keep-state-counselor-position-nld-says.html "Myanmar's Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Keep State Counselor Position NLD Says,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301124641/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmars-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-keep-state-counselor-position-nld-says.html |date=1 March 2021 }} 25 January 2021, ''[[The Irrawaddy]]'', retrieved 6 February 2021</ref>

[[File:We want our leader free Daw Aung San Su Kyi.jpg|thumb|left|Protesters against the military coup in Myanmar]]

In the early morning of 1 February 2021, the day parliament was set to convene, the [[Tatmadaw]], Myanmar's military, detained Suu Kyi and other members of the ruling party.<ref name="crisis_in_myanmar_2021_01_31_reuters" /><ref name=":3"/><ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com">[https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Myanmar-Coup/Myanmar-coup-Week-of-Feb.1-to-Feb.-21-EU-action-in-focus-as-foreign-ministers-set-to-meet "Myanmar coup: Week(s) of Feb.1 to Feb. 21, EU action in focus as foreign ministers set to meet; Candlelight vigil held in Yangon; Facebook removes military's 'True News' page,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302033544/https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Myanmar-Coup/Myanmar-coup-Week-of-Feb.1-to-Feb.-21-EU-action-in-focus-as-foreign-ministers-set-to-meet |date=2 March 2021 }} (reverse chronology) 1 February through 21 February 2021, ''[[Nikkei Asia]]'', retrieved 1 March 2021</ref> The military handed power to military chief [[Min Aung Hlaing]] and declared a state of emergency for one year<ref name="suu_kyi_detained_2021_01_31_bloomberg_com">{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-31/myanmar-s-suu-kyi-detained-in-early-morning-raid-reuters-says |title=Myanmar Military Takes Power for One Year, Suu Kyi in Detention |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=31 January 2021 |via=www.bloomberg.com |access-date=1 February 2021 |archive-date=1 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201050819/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-31/myanmar-s-suu-kyi-detained-in-early-morning-raid-reuters-says |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> and began closing the borders, restricting travel and electronic communications nationwide.<ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" /> The military announced it would replace the existing election commission with a new one, and a military media outlet indicated new elections would be held in about one year &ndash; though the military avoided making an official commitment to that.<ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" /> The military expelled NLD party Members of Parliament from the capital city, [[Naypyidaw]].<ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" /> By 15 March 2021 the military leadership continued to extend martial law into more parts of Yangon, while security forces killed 38 people in a single day of violence.<ref>{{cite news |first=Helen |last=Regan |title=Chinese factories set on fire in Myanmar in deadliest day since coup |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/15/asia/myanmar-deaths-chinese-factories-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=15 March 2021 |website=CNN |archive-date=15 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315111827/https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/15/asia/myanmar-deaths-chinese-factories-intl-hnk/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

By the second day of the coup, thousands of protesters were marching in the streets of Yangon, and other protests erupted nationwide, largely halting commerce and transportation. Despite the military's arrests and killings of protesters, the first weeks of the coup found growing public participation, including groups of civil servants, teachers, students, workers, monks and religious leaders &ndash; even normally disaffected ethnic minorities.<ref name="teachers_join_2021_02_05_bbc">[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55944482 "Myanmar coup: Teachers join growing protests against military,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222185331/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55944482 |date=22 February 2021 }} 5 February 2021, BBC News, retrieved 28 February 2021</ref><ref name="tens_of_thousands_2021_02_07_irrawaddy_com">[https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/tens-thousands-take-streets-myanmar-protest-military-regime.html "Tens of Thousands Take to Streets in Myanmar to Protest Military Regime,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227061633/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/tens-thousands-take-streets-myanmar-protest-military-regime.html |date=27 December 2021 }} 12 November 2020, ''[[The Irrawaddy]]'', retrieved 28 February 2021</ref><ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" />

[[File:Myanmar_civil_war.svg|thumb|Military situation in Myanmar {{As of|2025|4|4|lc=yes}}. Areas controlled by the [[Tatmadaw]] are highlighted in {{highlight|pink|#EBC0B3}}.]]
The coup was immediately condemned by the [[United Nations Secretary General]], and leaders of democratic nations. The U.S. threatened sanctions on the military and its leaders, including a "freeze" of US$1 billion of their assets in the U.S.<ref name="teachers_join_2021_02_05_bbc" /><ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" /> [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Russia]], [[Vietnam]], [[Thailand]], the [[Philippines]] and [[China]] refrained from criticizing the military coup.<ref>{{cite news |title=On Bloodiest Day for Myanmar Civilians, India Attends Military Parade by Coup Leaders |url=https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-china-russia-pakistan-attend-myanmar-armed-forces-day-parade |work=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]] |date=28 March 2021 |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-date=28 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328071814/https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-china-russia-pakistan-attend-myanmar-armed-forces-day-parade |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=China Responds to Bloodshed in Myanmar With Deafening Silence |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/03/china-responds-to-bloodshed-in-myanmar-with-deafening-silence/ |work=The Diplomat |date=2 March 2021 |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616043203/https://thediplomat.com/2021/03/china-responds-to-bloodshed-in-myanmar-with-deafening-silence/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=India has a history of involvement in its neighbours' affairs. Why has it not condemned the Myanmar coup? |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3122841/india-has-history-involvement-its-neighbours-affairs-why-has-it |work=South China Morning Post |date=24 February 2021 |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616043304/https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3122841/india-has-history-involvement-its-neighbours-affairs-why-has-it |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Myanmar coup: ASEAN split over the way forward |url=https://www.dw.com/en/myanmar-coup-asean-ties/a-57042503 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=29 March 2021 |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-date=10 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610152119/https://www.dw.com/en/myanmar-coup-asean-ties/a-57042503 |url-status=live}}</ref> A [[United Nations Security Council]] resolution called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the other detained leaders<ref name="teachers_join_2021_02_05_bbc" /><ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" /> &ndash; a position shared by the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]].<ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" />

International development and aid partners &ndash; business, non-governmental, and governmental &ndash; hinted at suspension of partnerships with Myanmar. Banks were closed and [[social media]] communications platforms, including [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]], removed Tatmadaw postings. Protesters appeared at Myanmar embassies in foreign countries.<ref name="teachers_join_2021_02_05_bbc" /><ref name="myanmar_coup_2021_02_21_nikkei_com" /> The National Unity Government then declared the formation of an armed wing on 5 May 2021, a date that is often cited as the start of a [[Myanmar civil war (2021–present)|full-scale civil war]]. This armed wing was named the [[People's Defence Force (Myanmar)|People's Defence Force]] (PDF) to protect its supporters from military junta attacks and as a first step towards a Federal Union Army. The civil war is ongoing as of 2025.<ref>{{cite news |title=Can Myanmar's New 'People's Defense Force' Succeed? |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/05/can-myanmars-new-peoples-defense-force-succeed/ |agency=The Diplomat |date=26 April 2021 |access-date=3 June 2021 |archive-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509135933/https://thediplomat.com/2021/05/can-myanmars-new-peoples-defense-force-succeed/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-civil-war-in-myanmar-no-end-in-sight/ |title=The civil war in Myanmar: No end in sight |access-date=6 October 2023 |archive-date=13 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013033325/https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-civil-war-in-myanmar-no-end-in-sight/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

== Geography ==
{{main|Geography of Myanmar}}

Myanmar has a total area of {{convert|678500|km2}}. It lies between latitudes [[9th parallel north|9°]] and [[29th parallel north|29°N]], and longitudes [[92nd meridian east|92°]] and [[102nd meridian east|102°E]]. Myanmar is bordered in the northwest by the [[Chittagong Division]] of [[Bangladesh]] and the [[Mizoram]], Manipur, [[Nagaland]] and [[Arunachal Pradesh]] states of India. Its north and northeast border is with the [[Tibet Autonomous Region]] and [[Yunnan]] for a Sino-Myanmar border total of {{convert|2185|km|abbr=on}}. It is bounded by [[Laos]] and [[Thailand]] to the southeast. Myanmar has {{convert|1930|km|abbr=on}} of contiguous coastline along the [[Bay of Bengal]] and [[Andaman Sea]] to the southwest and the south, which forms one quarter of its total perimeter.{{r|World Factbook}}

In the north, the [[Hengduan Mountains]] form the border with China. [[Hkakabo Razi]], located in [[Kachin State]], at an elevation of {{convert|5881|m|ft|0}}, is the highest point in Myanmar.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Patrick Hesp |year=2000 |title=Geographica's World Reference |publisher=Random House Australia |pages=738, 741 |display-editors=etal}}</ref> Many mountain ranges, such as the [[Rakhine Yoma]], the [[Bago Yoma]], the [[Shan Hills]] and the [[Tenasserim Hills]] exist within Myanmar, all of which run north-to-south from the [[Himalayas]].<ref name="myathan">{{cite book |first=Mya |last=Than |year=2005 |title=Myanmar in ASEAN: Regional Co-operation Experience |isbn=978-9812302106 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |location=Singapore}}</ref> The mountain chains divide Myanmar's three river systems, which are the [[Irrawaddy River|Irrawaddy]], [[Salween River|Salween (Thanlwin)]], and the [[Sittaung River|Sittaung]] rivers.<ref name="myatthein">{{cite book |first=Myat |last=Thein |year=2005 |title=Economic Development of Myanmar |isbn=978-9812302113 |publisher=Inst. of Southeast Asian Studies |location=Singapore}}</ref> The Irrawaddy River, Myanmar's longest river at nearly {{convert|2170|km|mi|0}}, flows into the [[Gulf of Martaban]]. Fertile plains exist in the valleys between the [[mountain chain]]s.<ref name="myathan" /> The majority of Myanmar's population lives in the [[Irrawaddy River|Irrawaddy]] valley, which is situated between the [[Rakhine Yoma]] and the [[Shan Plateau]].

Myanmar is one of the most seismically prone countries in the world.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=28 March 2025 |title=Expert reaction to Myanmar earthquake |url=https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-myanmar-earthquake/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250328130459/https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-myanmar-earthquake/ |archive-date=28 March 2025 |access-date=28 March 2025 |website=Science Media Center}}</ref> The [[Sagaing Fault]] between the [[Indian plate|Indian Plate]] and the [[Eurasian plate|Eurasian Plate]] runs north-south through the center of the country.<ref name=":6" /> There have been many small and some big [[List of earthquakes in Myanmar|earthquakes]] with a 7–8 magnitude.<ref name=":6" />

=== Administrative divisions ===
{{main|Administrative divisions of Myanmar}}

{{Burma Administrative Divisions Image Map}}
Myanmar is divided into seven states ({{lang|my|ပြည်နယ်}}) and seven regions ({{lang|my|တိုင်းဒေသကြီး}}), formerly called divisions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar/index.htm |title=Myanmar. States & Regions |publisher=Myanmar's NET |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104160039/http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar/index.htm |archive-date=4 November 2013}}</ref> Regions are predominantly Bamar (that is, mainly inhabited by Myanmar's dominant ethnic group). States, in essence, are regions that are home to particular ethnic minorities. The administrative divisions are further subdivided into [[Districts of Myanmar|districts]], which are further subdivided into townships, [[Ward (country subdivision)|wards]], and villages. Since 30 April 2022, districts inside regions and states have been expanded to total count of 121.<ref>{{cite news |title=နေပြည်တော်၊ တိုင်းဒေသကြီးနှင့် ပြည်နယ်များတွင် ခရိုင် ၄၆ ခရိုင် အသစ်တိုးချဲ့ဖွဲ့စည်းသည့်အတွက် စုစုပေါင်းခရိုင် ၁၂၁ ခရိုင်ရှိလာ |newspaper=News Eleven |location=Myanmar |language=my |date=1 May 2025 |url=https://news-eleven.com/article/229873 |access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref>

Below are the number of districts, townships, cities/towns, wards, village groups and villages in each division and state of Myanmar as of 30 April 2022:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! No.
! [[Country subdivision|State/Region]]
! Districts
! Town<br />ships
! Cities/<br />Towns
! [[Ward (country subdivision)|Wards]]
! Village<br />groups
! Villages
|-
| 1
| [[Kachin State]]
| 6
| 18
| 32
| 172
| 594
| 2547
|-
| 2
| [[Kayah State]]
| 4
| 7
| 10
| 44
| 74
| 517
|-
| 3
| [[Kayin State]]
| 5
| 7
| 18
| 86
| 376
| 2092
|-
| 4
| [[Chin State]]
| 4
| 9
| 18
| 66
| 464
| 1347
|-
| 5
| [[Sagaing Region]]
| 10
| 37
| 50
| 271
| 1755
| 5989
|-
| 6
| [[Tanintharyi Region]]
| 4
| 10
| 18
| 90
| 267
| 1237
|-
| 7
| [[Bago Region]]
| 6
| 28
| 52
| 328
| 1414
| 6487
|-
| 8
| [[Magway Region]]
| 7
| 25
| 32
| 199
| 1538
| 4788
|-
| 9
| [[Mandalay Region]]
| 11
| 28
| 30
| 280
| 1415
| 4799
|-
| 10
| [[Mon State]]
| 4
| 10
| 17
| 106
| 366
| 1143
|-
| 11
| [[Rakhine State]]
| 7
| 17
| 26
| 171
| 1045
| 3741
|-
| 12
| [[Yangon Region]]
| 14
| 45
| 21
| 743
| 621
| 2143
|-
| 13
| [[Shan State]]
| 20
| 55
| 86
| 513
| 1562
| 13773
|-
| 14
| [[Ayeyarwady Region]]
| 8
| 26
| 45
| 300
| 1919
| 11864
|-
| 15
| [[Naypyidaw Union Territory]]
| 4
| 8
| 8
| 58
| 187
| 796
|-
|
| '''Total'''
| '''121'''
| '''330'''
| '''463'''
| '''3427'''
| '''13597'''
| '''63268'''
|}

=== Climate ===
{{main|Climate of Myanmar}}

[[File:Koppen-Geiger Map MMR present.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Myanmar map of Köppen climate classification]]

Much of the country lies between the [[Tropic of Cancer]] and the [[Equator]]. It lies in the [[monsoon]] region of Asia, with its coastal regions receiving over {{convert|5000|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} of rain annually. Annual [[Precipitation (meteorology)|rainfall]] in the [[river delta|delta]] region is approximately {{convert|2500|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}, while average annual rainfall in the dry zone in central Myanmar is less than {{convert|1000|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}. The northern regions of Myanmar are the coolest, with average temperatures of {{convert|21|C|F}}. Coastal and delta regions have an average maximum temperature of {{convert|32|C|F|1}}.<ref name="myatthein" />
Previously and currently analysed data, as well as future projections on changes caused by [[Climate change in Myanmar|climate change]] predict serious consequences to development for all economic, productive, social, and environmental sectors in Myanmar.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Impact of Climate Change and the Case of Myanmar {{!}} Myanmar Climate Change Alliance |url=https://myanmarccalliance.org/en/climate-change-basics/impact-of-climate-change-and-the-case-of-myanmar/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205141140/https://myanmarccalliance.org/en/climate-change-basics/impact-of-climate-change-and-the-case-of-myanmar/ |archive-date=5 December 2018 |access-date=2 December 2018 |website=myanmarccalliance.org |language=en-GB}}</ref> In order to combat the hardships ahead and do its part to help [[combat climate change]] Myanmar has displayed interest in expanding its use of renewable energy and lowering its level of carbon emissions. Groups involved in helping Myanmar with the transition and move forward include the [[UN Environment Programme]], Myanmar Climate Change Alliance, and the [[Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation]] which directed in producing the final draft of the Myanmar national climate change policy that was presented to various sectors of the Myanmar government for review.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |title=National climate change policy finalised |language=en |work=The Myanmar Times |url=https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/yangon/25824-national-climate-change-policy-finalised.html |access-date=18 October 2018 |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215224221/https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/yangon/25824-national-climate-change-policy-finalised.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In April 2015, it was announced that the [[World Bank]] and Myanmar would enter a full partnership framework aimed to better access to electricity and other basic services for about six million people and expected to benefit three million pregnant woman and children through improved health services.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |title=Millions to Benefit from Myanmar's New Partnership Framework With the World Bank Group |language=en |publisher=World Bank |url=http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/04/23/millions-benefit-myanmar-new-partnership-framework-world-bank-group |access-date=2 December 2018 |archive-date=23 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923051600/http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/04/23/millions-benefit-myanmar-new-partnership-framework-world-bank-group |url-status=live}}</ref> Acquired funding and proper planning has allowed Myanmar to better prepare for the impacts of climate change by enacting programs which teach its people new farming methods, rebuild its infrastructure with materials resilient to natural disasters, and transition various sectors towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.<ref name=":5">{{cite web |title=Myanmar Climate Change Policy |url=http://myanmarccalliance.org/mcca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/National-Myanmar-Climate-Change-Policy-DRAFT-1_for-website.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322094917/http://myanmarccalliance.org/mcca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/National-Myanmar-Climate-Change-Policy-DRAFT-1_for-website.pdf |archive-date=22 March 2020 |website=myanmarccalliance.org}}</ref>

=== Biodiversity ===
{{main|Wildlife of Myanmar}}

{{further|Deforestation in Myanmar|List of protected areas of Myanmar}}
[[File:Kaw Gon towards Shwe Kyar Pwint.jpg|thumb|The limestone landscape of [[Kayin State]]]]

Myanmar is a [[biodiverse]] country with more than 16,000 [[plant]], 314 [[mammal]], 1131 [[bird]], 293 [[reptile]], and 139 [[amphibian]] species, and 64 terrestrial [[ecosystems]] including tropical and subtropical vegetation, seasonally inundated wetlands, shoreline and tidal systems, and alpine ecosystems. Myanmar houses some of the largest intact natural ecosystems in [[Southeast Asia]], but the remaining ecosystems are under threat from land use intensification and over-exploitation. According to the [[IUCN Red List of Ecosystems]] categories and criteria more than a third of Myanmar's land area has been converted to [[Anthropogenic biome|anthropogenic ecosystems]] over the last 2–3 centuries, and nearly half of its ecosystems are threatened. Despite large gaps in information for some ecosystems, there is a large potential to develop a comprehensive [[protected area network]] that protects its terrestrial biodiversity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Nicholas J. |last2=Keith |first2=David A. |last3=Duncan |first3=Adam |last4=Tizard |first4=Robert |last5=Ferrer-Paris |first5=Jose R. |last6=Worthington |first6=Thomas A. |last7=Armstrong |first7=Kate |last8=Nyan Hlaing |last9=Win Thuya Htut | last10 = Aung Htat Oo |last11=Kyaw Zay Ya |last12=Grantham |first12=Hedley |date=2020 |title=Myanmar's terrestrial ecosystems: Status, threats and conservation opportunities |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=252 |article-number=108834 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108834 |s2cid=228850408 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020BCons.25208834M |hdl=1959.4/unsworks_73305 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Myanmar continues to perform badly in the global [[Environmental Performance Index]] (EPI) with an overall ranking of 153 out of 180 countries in 2016, among the worst in the [[South Asia]]n region. The environmental areas where Myanmar performs worst (i.e. highest ranking) are [[air quality]] (174), health impacts of [[environmental issues]] (143) and [[biodiversity]] and [[habitat]] (142). Myanmar performs best (i.e. lowest ranking) in [[environmental impacts of fisheries]] (21) but with declining [[Fish stocks|fish stock]]s. Despite several issues, Myanmar also ranks 64 and scores very good (i.e. a high percentage of 93.73%) in environmental effects of the agricultural industry because of an excellent management of the [[nitrogen cycle]].<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://epi.yale.edu/reports/2016-report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204021925/http://epi.yale.edu/reports/2016-report |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 February 2016 |title=2016 Report |journal=EPI Report |access-date=17 December 2016}}</ref><ref>EPI (2016): [http://epi.yale.edu/country/myanmar Myanmar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424221820/http://epi.yale.edu/country/myanmar |date=24 April 2017 }}</ref> Myanmar is one of the most highly vulnerable countries to [[climate change]]; this poses a number of social, political, economic and foreign policy challenges to the country.<ref>Overland, I. et al. (2017). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320622312 Impact of Climate Change on ASEAN International Affairs: Risk and Opportunity Multiplier] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728065717/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320622312_Impact_of_Climate_Change_on_ASEAN_International_Affairs_Risk_and_Opportunity_Multiplier |date=28 July 2020 }}. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and Myanmar Institute of International and Strategic Studies (MISIS).</ref>

Myanmar's slow economic growth has contributed to the preservation of much of its environment and ecosystems. [[Forest]]s, including dense tropical growth and valuable [[teak]] in lower Myanmar, cover over 49% of the country, including areas of [[acacia]], [[bamboo]], [[Hopea odorata|ironwood]] and ''[[Magnolia champaca]]''. [[Coconut]] and [[betel palm]] and rubber have been introduced. In the [[highland]]s of the north, oak, pine and various rhododendrons cover much of the land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199909/msg00690.html |title=Myanmar's Forest Law and Rules n |publisher=BurmaLibrary.org |access-date=15 July 2006 |archive-date=11 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011134623/http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199909/msg00690.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Heavy logging since the new 1995 forestry law went into effect has seriously reduced forest area and wildlife habitat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Robert |last2=Bindloss |first2=Joseph |last3=Butler |first3=Stuart |year=2009 |chapter=Environment: National Parks |title=Myanmar (Burma) |edition=10th |publisher=Lonely Planet |location=Footscray, Victoria, Australia |page=[https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetmyan00joeb/page/85 85] |isbn=978-1-74104-718-9 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetmyan00joeb |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetmyan00joeb/page/85}}</ref> The lands along the coast support all varieties of tropical fruits and once had large areas of [[Myanmar Coast mangroves|mangroves]] although much of the protective mangroves have disappeared. In much of central Myanmar (the dry zone), [[vegetation]] is sparse and stunted.

Typical jungle animals, particularly [[tiger]]s, occur sparsely in Myanmar. In upper Myanmar, there are [[rhinoceros]], [[wild water buffalo]], [[clouded leopard]], [[wild boar]]s, [[deer]], [[antelope]], and [[elephant]]s, which are also tamed or bred in captivity for use as work animals, particularly in the [[lumber industry]]. Smaller mammals are also numerous, ranging from [[gibbon]]s and [[monkey]]s to [[flying foxes]]. The abundance of [[bird]]s is notable with over 800 species, including [[Rose-ringed parakeet|parrots]], [[myna]], [[peafowl]], [[red junglefowl]], [[weaverbirds]], [[crow]]s, [[heron]]s, and [[Eastern barn owl|barn owl]]. Among reptile species there are [[crocodile]]s, [[gecko]]s, [[cobra]]s, [[Burmese python]]s, and [[turtle]]s. Hundreds of species of freshwater fish are wide-ranging, plentiful and are very important food sources.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/myanmar-flora-fauna.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923162044/http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/myanmar-flora-fauna.htm |archive-date=23 September 2006 |url-status=dead |title="Flora and Fauna" at |publisher=Myanmars.net |access-date=17 April 2010}}</ref>

== Government and politics ==
{{multiple image
| perrow = 3
| total_width = 350
| image1 = Min Aung Hlaing at the Kremlin on March 4, 2025 (cropped)(b).jpg
| image2 = Soe Win.jpg
| image3 = NyoSaw.jpg
| footer = Leaders of the military government. From left to right:
* [[Min Aung Hlaing]], Pro Tem [[President of Myanmar|President]] (On Duty) and Chairman of the [[State Security and Peace Commission]]
* [[Soe Win (general)|Soe Win]], Vice Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission
* [[Nyo Saw]], [[Prime Minister of Myanmar|Prime Minister]]
}}

Myanmar operates ''de jure'' as a [[unitary state|unitary]] [[assembly-independent]] [[republic]] under its [[2008 Constitution of Myanmar|2008 constitution]]. But in February 2021, the civilian government led by [[Aung San Suu Kyi]], was deposed by the [[Tatmadaw]]. In February 2021, [[Myanmar military]] declared a one-year state emergency and First Vice President [[Myint Swe]] became the [[President of Myanmar|Acting President of Myanmar]] and handed the power to the [[Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services]] [[Min Aung Hlaing]] and he assumed the role [[Chairman of the State Administration Council]], then [[Prime Minister of Myanmar|Prime Minister]]. The [[President of Myanmar]] acts as the [[de jure]] [[head of state]] and the [[Chairman of the State Administration Council]] acts as the [[de facto]] [[head of government]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Phillips |first=Kimberley |title=The last thing the Myanmar people need is false hope |website=The Canberra Times |date=20 February 2021 |url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7133580/the-last-thing-the-myanmar-people-need-is-false-hope/ |access-date=23 February 2021 |archive-date=21 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221102954/https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7133580/the-last-thing-the-myanmar-people-need-is-false-hope/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Myanmar-Lower-House-Parliament.jpg|right|thumb|[[Assembly of the Union]] (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw)]]
The constitution of Myanmar, its third since independence, was drafted by its military rulers and published in September 2008. The country is governed as a [[parliamentary system]] with a [[bicameral legislature]] (with an executive [[President of Myanmar|president]] accountable to the legislature), with 25% of the legislators appointed by the military and the rest elected in general elections.

The legislature, called the [[Assembly of the Union]], is bicameral and made up of two houses: The 224-seat upper [[House of Nationalities]] and the 440-seat lower [[House of Representatives (Myanmar)|House of Representatives]]. The upper house consists 168 members who are directly elected and 56 who are appointed by the [[Burmese Armed Forces]]. The lower house consists of 330 members who are directly elected and 110 who are appointed by the armed forces.

=== Political culture ===
{{Main|Politics of Myanmar}}

The major political parties are the [[National League for Democracy]] and the [[Union Solidarity and Development Party]].

Myanmar's army-drafted constitution was approved in a [[2008 Burmese constitutional referendum|referendum]] in May 2008. The results, 92.4% of the 22 million voters with an official turnout of 99%, are considered suspect by many international observers and by the National League of Democracy with reports of widespread [[Electoral fraud|fraud]], ballot stuffing, and voter intimidation.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-33587120080515 |title=Reuters, Cyclone-hit Myanmar says 92 percent back charter |work=Reuters |date=15 May 2008 |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-date=10 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090110185048/http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-33587120080515 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[2010 Myanmar general election|elections of 2010]] resulted in a victory for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Various foreign observers questioned the fairness of the elections.<ref name="nyt-un-doubt-fairness-of-election"/><ref>{{cite news |author=Jha, Lalit K |url=http://www2.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15692 |title=2010 Burmese Election may be Illegitimate: Clinton |work=The Irrawaddy |date=21 May 2009 |access-date=15 May 2013 |archive-date=10 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110164549/http://www2.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15692 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11707294 |title=Western states dismiss Burma's election |publisher=BBC |date=8 November 2010 |access-date=11 November 2010 |archive-date=11 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111021602/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11707294 |url-status=live}}</ref> One criticism of the election was that only government-sanctioned political parties were allowed to contest in it and the popular [[National League for Democracy]] was declared illegal.<ref name=guardianASSK>{{cite news |last=Tisdall |first=Simon |title=Aung San Suu Kyi has to tread softly&nbsp;– but governments must tell it like it is |date=4 July 2011 |work=The Guardian |location=UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jul/04/aung-san-suu-kyi-burmese}}</ref> However, immediately following the elections, the government ended the house arrest of the democracy advocate and leader of the National League for Democracy, [[Aung San Suu Kyi]],<ref>{{cite news |author=Walker, Peter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/12/aung-san-suu-kyi-burma-release |title=Guardian report on Aung's release from house arrest |work=The Guardian |access-date=1 September 2012 |location=London |date=12 November 2010}}</ref> and her ability to move freely around the country is considered an important test of the military's movement toward more openness.<ref name=guardianASSK /> According to the [[V-Dem Democracy indices]], Myanmar in 2024 was one of the most [[autocracy|autocratic]] countries in the world.<ref name="j496">{{cite web |title=Democracy Report 2025, 25 Years of Autocratization – Democracy Trumped? |url=https://v-dem.net/documents/54/v-dem_dr_2025_lowres_v1.pdf |access-date=14 March 2025}}</ref>

=== Foreign relations ===
{{main|Foreign relations of Myanmar}}

Though the country's foreign relations, particularly with [[Western nations]], have historically been strained, the situation has markedly improved since the reforms following the 2010 elections. After years of diplomatic isolation and economic and military sanctions,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:SN01182:@@@L&summ2=m& |title=Burma Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 |publisher=United States Library of Congress |access-date=4 February 2007 |date=4 June 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040125044621/http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108%3ASN01182%3A%40%40%40L&summ2=m& |archive-date=25 January 2004}}</ref> the United States relaxed curbs on foreign aid to Myanmar in November 2011<ref name="Clinton" /> and announced the resumption of diplomatic relations on 13 January 2012<ref>{{cite news |author1=Myers, Steven Lee |author2=Mydans, Seth |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/world/asia/united-states-resumes-diplomatic-relations-with-myanmar.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113174407/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/world/asia/united-states-resumes-diplomatic-relations-with-myanmar.html |archive-date=13 January 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The New York Times |title=U.S. to Renew Myanmar Ties in Light of Reforms |date=13 January 2012 |access-date=15 May 2013}}</ref> The [[European Union]] has placed sanctions on Myanmar, including an [[arms embargo]], cessation of [[trade preference]]s, and suspension of all aid with the exception of [[humanitarian aid]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/myanmar/intro/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060725000750/http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/myanmar/intro/index.htm |archive-date=25 July 2006 |title=The EU's relations with Burma / Myanmar |access-date=13 July 2006 |publisher=European Union}}</ref>

Sanctions imposed by the United States and European countries against the former military government, coupled with boycotts and other direct pressure on corporations by supporters of the democracy movement, have resulted in the withdrawal from the country of most U.S. and many European companies.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8195956.stm |title=Overview of Burma sanctions |publisher=BBC News |access-date=12 November 2011 |date=18 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812181932/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8195956.stm |archive-date=12 August 2011}}</ref> Despite Western isolation, Asian corporations have generally remained willing to continue investing in the country and to initiate new investments, particularly in natural resource extraction. The country has close relations with neighbouring India and China with several Indian and Chinese companies operating in the country. Under India's [[Look East policy (India)|Act East policy]], fields of co-operation between India and Myanmar include [[remote sensing]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11045BA04AFDFED0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Burma, India to sign accord on use of India's remote sensing satellite data |publisher=NewsLibrary.com |date=9 March 2006 |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501183947/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11045BA04AFDFED0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |archive-date=1 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> oil and gas exploration,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0426/p04s01-wosc.html |title=India looks to Burma to slake growing thirst for gas |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=26 April 2006 |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-date=8 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708035039/http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0426/p04s01-wosc.html |url-status=live}}</ref> information technology,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/04/content_8953269.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111015855/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/04/content_8953269.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 January 2009 |title=Myanmar, India to build IT centres in Myanmar_English_Xinhua |agency=Xinhua News Agency |date=4 August 2008 |access-date=17 April 2010}}</ref> hydropower<ref>{{cite web |url=http://steelguru.com/news/index/2008/08/01/NTY5MDg%3D/India_to_develop_two_hydel_power_projects_in_Myanmar.html |title=India to develop two hydel power projects in Myanmar – 56908 |publisher=Steelguru.com |date=1 August 2008 |access-date=20 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116032246/http://steelguru.com/news/index/2008/08/01/NTY5MDg%3D/India_to_develop_two_hydel_power_projects_in_Myanmar.html |archive-date=16 January 2009}}</ref> and construction of ports and buildings.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/mobile/bbc_news/world/asia_pacific/716/71684/story7168492.shtml |title=India urges Burma reconciliation |publisher=BBC News |date=2 January 2008 |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-date=2 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202013907/http://news.bbc.co.uk/mobile/bbc_news/world/asia_pacific/716/71684/story7168492.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> Myanmar also has close political relations with Vietnam<ref>{{Cite web |last=[[Vietnam News Agency]] |date=17 December 2019 |title=PM calls for stronger Vietnam-Myanmar parliamentary ties |url=https://en.vietnamplus.vn/pm-calls-for-stronger-vietnammyanmar-parliamentary-ties/165624.vnp |access-date=3 April 2023 |website=[[VietnamPlus]] |language=en |archive-date=3 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403185621/https://en.vietnamplus.vn/pm-calls-for-stronger-vietnammyanmar-parliamentary-ties/165624.vnp |url-status=live}}</ref> and Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Michimi Muranushi |date=22 October 2019 |title=Japan's Defense of Myanmar and the Rohingya Genocide |url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/japans-defense-myanmar-and-rohingya-genocide |access-date=3 April 2023 |website=[[Middle East Institute]] |language=en |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320170843/https://www.mei.edu/publications/japans-defense-myanmar-and-rohingya-genocide |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=26 May 2021 |title=Japan should not follow the Western policy on Myanmar – Diplomat op-ed |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-should-not-follow-western-policy-myanmar-diplomat-op-ed-2021-05-26/ |access-date=3 April 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220803021638/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-should-not-follow-western-policy-myanmar-diplomat-op-ed-2021-05-26/ |archive-date=3 August 2022}}</ref>

In June 2013, Myanmar held its first ever summit, the [[World Economic Forum]] on East Asia 2013. A regional spinoff of the annual [[World Economic Forum]] in [[Davos]], Switzerland, the summit was held on 5–7 June and attended by 1,200 participants, including 10 heads of state, 12 ministers and 40 senior directors from around the world.<ref>{{cite web |title={{As written|Pheo|nix}} Voyages appointed travel manager for Myanmar's first major summit |url=http://www.ttgmice.com/article/pheonix-voyages-appointed-travel-manager-for-myanmars-first-major-summit/ |publisher=TTGmice |access-date=29 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110163809/http://www.ttgmice.com/article/pheonix-voyages-appointed-travel-manager-for-myanmars-first-major-summit/ |archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref>

On 19 January 2025, Reuters reported that [[ASEAN]] had told Myanmar's military government to prioritise ceasefire, "urging the junta to start dialogue and end hostilities immediately" and "to allow unhindered humanitarian access", citing Malaysia's foreign minister [[Mohamad Hasan (politician)|Mohamad Hasan]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Azhar |first=Danial |date=19 January 2025 |title=ASEAN tells Myanmar junta peace, not election, is priority |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysia-takes-asean-mantle-tempers-expectations-myanmar-south-china-sea-2025-01-18/ |access-date=21 January 2025 |website=Reuters}}</ref> The ASEAN chair's statement denounced "the continued acts of violence against civilians and public facilities and urged all parties involved" to "immediately halt indiscriminate violence, exercise utmost restraint, ensure the protection and safety of all civilians and civilian infrastructures, and create a conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogue".<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 January 2025 |title=Press Statement by the Chair of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat |url=https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/FINAL-Press-Statement-by-the-Chair-AMM-Retreat-2025.pdf |access-date=21 January 2025 |website=ASEAN}}</ref>

=== Military ===
{{main|Armed forces of Myanmar}}
Since the late 1950s, Myanmar's military has had major roles in Myanmar's politics.<ref name=":Han">{{Cite book |last=Han |first=Enze |title=The Ripple Effect: China's Complex Presence in Southeast Asia |date=2024 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-769659-0 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=23}}[[File:Myanmar Air Force MiG-29 MRD.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Myanmar Air Force]] [[Mikoyan MiG-29]] multirole fighter]]
Myanmar has received extensive military aid from China in the past.<ref>{{cite news |author=Cody, Edward |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092702382_pf.html |title=Caution by Junta's Asian Neighbors Reflects Their Self-Interest |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=27 September 2007 |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-date=7 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130707052329/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092702382_pf.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Myanmar has been a member of ASEAN since 1997. Though it gave up its turn to hold the ASEAN chair and host the [[ASEAN Summit]] in 2006, it chaired the forum and hosted the summit in 2014.<ref name="24th-asean-official-website">{{cite news |url=http://www.asean.org/?static_post=24th-asean-summit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416074423/http://www.asean.org/?static_post=24th-asean-summit |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 April 2016 |title=24th ASEAN Summit, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, 10–11 May 2014 |work=ASEAN |date=4 April 2014 |access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref> In November 2008, Myanmar's political situation with neighbouring Bangladesh became tense as they began searching for natural gas in a disputed block of the Bay of Bengal.<ref name="24th-asean-official-website"/> Controversy surrounding the Rohingya population also remains an issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1966621,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100220230847/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1966621,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 February 2010 |magazine=Time |title=For Rohingya in Bangladesh, No Place is Home |date=19 February 2010}}</ref>

Myanmar's armed forces are known as the [[Tatmadaw]], which numbers 488,000. The Tatmadaw comprises the [[Myanmar Army|Army]], the [[Myanmar Navy|Navy]], and the [[Myanmar Air Force|Air Force]]. The country [[List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel|ranked twelfth]] in the world for its number of active troops in service.<ref name="NCGUB" /> The military is very influential in Myanmar, with all top cabinet and ministry posts usually held by military officials. Official figures for military spending are not available. Estimates vary widely because of uncertain exchange rates, but Myanmar's military forces' expenses are high.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0607-03.htm |title=World Military Spending Topped US$1&nbsp;trillion in 2004 |access-date=19 July 2006 |last=Starck |first=Peter |date=7 June 2005 |agency=Reuters |publisher=Common Dreams NewsCenter |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620161837/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0607-03.htm |archive-date=20 June 2006}}</ref> Myanmar imports most of its weapons from Russia, Ukraine, China and India.

Myanmar is building a research [[nuclear reactor]] near [[Pyin Oo Lwin]] with help from Russia. It is one of the signatories of the nuclear [[non-proliferation]] pact since 1992 and a member of the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] (IAEA) since 1957. The military junta had informed the IAEA in September 2000 of its intention to construct the reactor.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=BBC |title=Russia and Burma in Nuclear Deal |date=15 May 2007 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6658713.stm |access-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819190144/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6658713.stm |archive-date=19 August 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |work=The Telegraph |title=Nuclear Watchdog asks Burma to Open Up Suspect Sites |date=14 January 2011 |last=Moore |first=Malcolm |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/8259803/Nuclear-watchdog-asks-Burma-to-open-up-suspect-sites.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/8259803/Nuclear-watchdog-asks-Burma-to-open-up-suspect-sites.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=28 September 2011 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 2010 as part of the [[United States diplomatic cables leak|leaked diplomatic cables]], Myanmar was suspected of using North Korean construction teams to build a fortified surface-to-air missile facility.<ref>{{cite news |title=Myanmar 'building nuclear sites' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/12/10/myanmar-building-nuclear-sites |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=Al Jazeera |date=10 December 2010 |language=en |archive-date=3 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240603015912/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/12/10/myanmar-building-nuclear-sites |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2019, the United States [[Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance|Bureau of Arms Control]] assessed that Myanmar is not in violation of its obligations under the [[Non-Proliferation Treaty]] but that the Myanmar government had a history of non-transparency on its nuclear programs and aims.<ref name="ACVC">{{cite web |last1=Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance |title=Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments |url=https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Compliance-Report-2019-August-19-Unclassified-Final.pdf |access-date=2 January 2020 |website=2019 Compliance Report |publisher=United States Department of State |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122040233/https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Compliance-Report-2019-August-19-Unclassified-Final.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Until 2005, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] annually adopted a detailed resolution about the situation in Myanmar by consensus.<ref name="UN-5483030">{{UN document |docid=A-54-PV.83 |body=General Assembly |type=Verbotim Report |session=54 |meeting=83 |page=30 |anchor=pg030-bk03 |date=17 December 1999 |meetingtime=10:00 |speakername=The President |access-date=25 September 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{UN document |docid=A-55-PV.81 |body=General Assembly |type=Verbotim Report |session=55 |meeting=81 |page=22 |anchor=pg022-bk01 |date=4 December 2000 |meetingtime=15:00 |speakername=The President |access-date=25 September 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{UN document |docid=A-56-PV.92 |body=General Assembly |type=Verbotim Report |session=56 |meeting=92 |page=7 |anchor=pg007-bk04 |date=24 December 2001 |meetingtime=11:00 |access-date=25 September 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{UN document |docid=A-60-PV.69 |body=General Assembly |type=Verbotim Report |session=60 |meeting=69 |page=19 |anchor=pg019-bk05 |date=23 December 2005 |meetingtime=10:00 |speakername=The President |access-date=25 September 2007 }}</ref> But in 2006 a divided United Nations General Assembly voted through a resolution that strongly called upon the government of Myanmar to end its systematic violations of human rights.<ref>{{UN document |docid=A-61-PV.84 |body=General Assembly |type=Verbotim Report |session=61 |meeting=84 |page=14 |anchor=pg014-bk07 |date=22 December 2006 |meetingtime=10:00 |access-date=25 September 2007 }}</ref> In January 2007, Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution before the [[United Nations Security Council]]<ref>{{UN document |docid=S-2007-14 |type=Document |body=Security Council |year=2007 |document_number=14 |date=12 January 2007 |access-date=25 September 2007}}</ref> calling on the government of Myanmar to respect human rights and begin a democratic transition. South Africa also voted against the resolution.<ref>{{UN document |docid=S-PV-5619 |body=Security Council |type=Verbotim Report |meeting=5619 |page=3 |anchor=pg003-bk01 |date=12 January 2007 |meetingtime=16:00 |speakername=Mr. Kumalo |speakernation=South Africa |access-date=25 September 2007}}</ref>

=== Human rights and internal conflicts ===
{{main|Human rights in Myanmar|Internal conflict in Myanmar}}[[File:Conflict areas in Myanmar.png|thumb|upright=0.8|Map of conflict zones in Myanmar. [[Administrative divisions of Myanmar|States]] and regions affected by fighting during and after 1995 are highlighted in yellow.]]

There is consensus that the former military regime in Myanmar (1962–2010) was one of the world's most repressive and abusive regimes.<ref>{{cite web |title=The World's Most Repressive Regimes 2013 |url=http://www.middle-east-info.org/gateway/mostrepressiveregimes.pdf |publisher=Freedom House |location=Geneva |year=2003 |pages=vii–7 |quote=Burma continues to be ruled by one of the world's most repressive regimes. |access-date=7 November 2010 |archive-date=30 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030032649/http://www.middle-east-info.org/gateway/mostrepressiveregimes.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Are EU Trade Sanctions on Burma Compatible With WTO Law? |journal=Are EU Trade Sanctions on Burma Compatible with WTO Law? |first=Robert |last=Howse |author2=Jared M. Genser |pages=166 ff |url=http://students.law.umich.edu/mjil/article-pdfs/v29n2-howse-genser.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607153959/http://students.law.umich.edu/mjil/article-pdfs/v29n2-howse-genser.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2010 |access-date=7 November 2010 |quote=repressive and abusive military regime}}</ref> In November 2012, [[Samantha Power]], Barack Obama's Special Assistant to the President on Human Rights, wrote on the White House blog that "Serious human rights abuses against civilians in several regions continue, including against women and children."<ref name=ShanVsGovt /> Members of the United Nations and major international human rights organisations have issued repeated and consistent reports of widespread and systematic human rights violations in Myanmar. The United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly<ref>{{cite web |title=List of UN General Assembly Resolutions on Burma |url=http://www.altsean.org/Research/UN%20Dossier/UNGA.htm |access-date=4 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104120635/http://www.altsean.org/Research/UN%20Dossier/UNGA.htm |archive-date=4 November 2016}}</ref> called on the Burmese military junta to respect human rights and in November 2009 the General Assembly adopted a resolution "strongly condemning the ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" and calling on the Burmese military regime "to take urgent measures to put an end to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."<ref>{{Cite press release |title=UN General Assembly Resolution: Time for Concrete Action |publisher=International Federation for Human Rights |date=20 November 2009 |url=http://www.fidh.org/UN-General-Assembly-Resolution-time-for-concrete |access-date=4 January 2010 |archive-date=29 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129215628/http://www.fidh.org/UN-General-Assembly-Resolution-time-for-concrete |url-status=live}}</ref>

International human rights organisations including [[Human Rights Watch]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/01/burma9290.htm |title=Statement to the EU Development Committee |date=1 September 2004 |author=Adams, Brad |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |access-date=12 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620074005/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/01/burma9290.htm |archive-date=20 June 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Amnesty International]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar |title=Amnesty International 2009 Report on Human Rights in Myanmar |access-date=4 January 2010 |author=Adams, Brad |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912013419/http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar |archive-date=12 September 2009}}</ref> have repeatedly documented and condemned widespread human rights violations in Myanmar. The ''Freedom in the World 2011'' report by [[Freedom House]] notes, "The military junta has&nbsp;... suppressed nearly all basic rights; and committed human rights abuses with impunity." In July 2013, the [[Assistance Association for Political Prisoners]] indicated that there were approximately 100 political prisoners being held in Burmese prisons.<ref name="mmtimes1">{{cite news |date=24 July 2013 |title=Myanmar set to release some 70 prisoners |newspaper=The Myanmar Times |url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/7577-myanmar-set-to-release-some-70-prisoners.html |access-date=24 July 2013 |archive-date=2 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102003228/http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/7577-myanmar-set-to-release-some-70-prisoners.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="irrawaddy1">{{cite news |last=Weng |first=Lawi |date=24 July 2013 |title=Burma Govt Releases 73 Political Prisoners |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/burma-govt-releases-73-political-prisoners.html |access-date=24 July 2013 |archive-date=30 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030200045/http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/burma-govt-releases-73-political-prisoners.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Myanmar: Final push on political prisoners needed |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/50659a382.html |access-date=19 March 2013 |date=27 September 2012 |archive-date=18 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218083935/http://www.refworld.org/docid/50659a382.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Burma Frees 56 Political Prisoners |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/burma-frees-fifty-six-political-prisoners-day-after-sanctions-dropped/1647578.html |access-date=26 April 2013 |publisher=Voice of America |date=22 April 2013 |archive-date=26 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426052937/http://www.voanews.com/content/burma-frees-fifty-six-political-prisoners-day-after-sanctions-dropped/1647578.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Evidence gathered by a British researcher was published in 2005 regarding the extermination or "Burmisation" of certain ethnic minorities, such as the [[Karen people|Karen]], [[Karenni people|Karenni]] and [[Shan people|Shan]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Guardia |first=Anton La |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/Myanmarmyanmar/1492726/Myanmar%27s-%27slow-genocide%27-is-revealed-through-the-eyes-of-its-child-victims.html |title=Myanmar's 'slow genocide' is revealed through the eyes of its child victims |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=24 June 2005 |access-date=20 November 2012 |location=London}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
[[File:Mae La refugee camp2.jpg|thumb|[[Mae La refugee camp|Mae La camp]], [[Tak Province|Tak]], Thailand, one of the largest of nine [[UNHCR]] camps in Thailand<ref>{{cite web |title=2013 UNHCR country operations profile – Thailand |work=UNHCR |url=http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e489646.html |access-date=15 May 2013 |archive-date=24 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424075211/http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e489646.html |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Based on the evidence gathered by Amnesty photographs and video of the ongoing armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the [[Arakan Army]] (AA), attacks escalated on civilians in Rakhine State. Ming Yu Hah, [[Amnesty International]]'s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns said, the [[UN Security Council]] must urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the [[International Criminal Court]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/myanmar-villages-burned-civilians-injured-rakhine-state-conflict/ |title=Myanmar: Villages burned, civilians injured and killed as Rakhine State conflict escalates |access-date=12 October 2020 |website=Amnesty International |date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=15 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015014929/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/myanmar-villages-burned-civilians-injured-rakhine-state-conflict/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The military is notorious for rampant use of sexual violence.<ref name="UNHR" />

In November 2024, the [[International Criminal Court|ICC]] prosecutor [[Karim Ahmad Khan|Karim A.A. Khan]] KC filed an arrest warrant application of Senior General, Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defence Services [[Min Aung Hlaing]] for "criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Application for an arrest warrant in the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar {{!}} International Criminal Court |url=https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-application-arrest-warrant-situation-bangladesh |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=www.icc-cpi.int |language=en}}</ref>

The military takeover in 2021 has further worsened poverty in country.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rebane |first=Teele |date=2024-08-30 |title=Myanmar's poorest are so desperate they're turning to social media to sell their kidneys |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/30/asia/myanmar-organ-selling-coup-poverty-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

The Myanmar government has been alleged to have committed [[Rohingya genocide|genocide]] against the Rohingya. The [[Rohingya people]] face severe persecution, denied citizenship and basic rights since 1982. Many have been expelled, making them one of the world's most persecuted minorities.<ref name="rohingya">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7872635.stm |title=What drive the Rohingya to sea? |publisher=BBC |date=5 February 2009 |access-date=29 July 2012 |author=Head, Jonathan |archive-date=1 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001062936/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7872635.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Government reforms ====
According to the [[Crisis Group]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-east-asia/burma-myanmar/B127-myanmar-major-reform-underway.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202223754/http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-east-asia/burma-myanmar/B127-myanmar-major-reform-underway.aspx |archive-date=2 December 2012 |title=Major Reform Underway |publisher=Crisis Group |date=22 September 2011 |access-date=29 August 2011}}</ref> since Myanmar transitioned to a new government in August 2011, the country's human rights record has been improving. Previously giving Myanmar its lowest rating of 7, the 2012 ''Freedom in the World'' report also notes improvement, giving Myanmar a 6 for improvements in civil liberties and political rights, the release of political prisoners, and a loosening of restrictions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Freedom in the World 2012: Burma |url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2012/burma-0 |publisher=Freedom House |access-date=4 February 2012 |archive-date=11 November 2013 |archive-url=https://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20131111164649/http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2012/burma-0 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2013, Myanmar improved yet again, receiving a score of 5 in civil liberties and 6 in political freedoms.<ref>{{cite web |title=Burma |url=http://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2013/burma |access-date=22 November 2013 |author=Freedom House |year=2013 |archive-date=2 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202232101/http://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2013/burma |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The government has assembled a [[Myanmar National Human Rights Commission|National Human Rights Commission]] that consists of 15 members from various backgrounds.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201109/3312219.htm?desktop |title=Burma gets rights commission |publisher=Australia Network News |date=7 September 2011 |access-date=29 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926011538/http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201109/3312219.htm?desktop |archive-date=26 September 2011}}</ref> Several activists in exile, including Thee Lay Thee Anyeint members, have returned to Myanmar after President Thein Sein's invitation to expatriates to return home to work for national development.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/593/news59307.html |title=Anyeint group returns from exile in Thailand |publisher=MM Times |date=19–25 September 2011 |access-date=29 August 2011 |author=Kyaw Hsu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930085339/http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/593/news59307.html |archive-date=30 September 2011}}</ref> In an address to the United Nations Security Council on 22 September 2011, Myanmar's Foreign Minister [[Wunna Maung Lwin]] confirmed the government's intention to release prisoners in the near future.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/burma-flags-mass-release-of-political-prisoners-20110928-1kx9d.html |title=Burma flags mass release of political prisoners |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=29 September 2011 |access-date=29 August 2011 |author=Murdoch, Lindsay |archive-date=30 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930155712/http://www.smh.com.au/world/burma-flags-mass-release-of-political-prisoners-20110928-1kx9d.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The government has also relaxed reporting laws, but these remain highly restrictive.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/20/free-press-is-the-key-to-myanmar-reform.htmldawn |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729234619/http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/20/free-press-is-the-key-to-myanmar-reform.htmldawn |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 July 2012 |title=Free press is the key to Myanmar reform |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=20 September 2011 |access-date=29 August 2011}}</ref> In September 2011, several banned websites, including YouTube, [[Democratic Voice of Burma]] and [[Voice of America]], were unblocked.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burmese-junta-relaxes-access-to-foreign-websites-2356125.html |title=Burmese junta relaxes access to foreign websites |work=The Independent |location=London |date=17 September 2011 |access-date=29 August 2011 |author=Buncombe, Andrew |archive-date=20 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020142656/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burmese-junta-relaxes-access-to-foreign-websites-2356125.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Homosexual acts are [[LGBT rights in Myanmar|illegal in Myanmar]] and can be punishable by life imprisonment.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/gay-lesbian-bisexual-relationships-illegal-in-74-countries-a7033666.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/gay-lesbian-bisexual-relationships-illegal-in-74-countries-a7033666.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=LGBT relationships are illegal in 74 countries, research finds |work=The Independent |date=17 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=State Sponsored Homophobia 2016: A world survey of sexual orientation laws: criminalisation, protection and recognition |url=http://ilga.org/downloads/02_ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2016_ENG_WEB_150516.pdf |work=[[International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association]] |date=17 May 2016 |access-date=9 July 2018 |archive-date=2 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902183618/http://ilga.org/downloads/02_ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2016_ENG_WEB_150516.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Economy ==
{{main|Economy of Myanmar}}

{{Update|part=section|date=January 2025|reason=Economic situation has changed since the [[2021 Myanmar coup d'état]]}}{{further|Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Transport in Myanmar|Oil and gas industry in Myanmar}}

Myanmar's [[economy]] is one of the [[fastest growing economies]] in the world with a nominal GDP of US$76.09 billion in 2019 and an estimated purchasing power adjusted GDP of US$327.629 billion in 2017 according to the World Bank.<ref>{{cite news |title=world bank indicator |work=World Bank |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=MM |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=15 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115104355/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=MM |url-status=live}}</ref>{{synthesis inline|date=June 2021}} Foreigners are able to legally lease but not own property.<ref name="aht">{{cite news |last=Aung Hla Htun |date=16 March 2012 |title=Exclusive: Myanmar drafts new foreign investment rules |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-investment-idUSBRE82F0IY20120316 |access-date=17 March 2012 |archive-date=16 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316160225/https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/16/us-myanmar-investment-idUSBRE82F0IY20120316 |url-status=live}}</ref> In December 2014, Myanmar set up its first stock exchange, the [[Yangon Stock Exchange]].<ref>{{cite news |date=25 March 2016 |title=Yangon Stock Exchange Formally Opens for Business |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/03/25/world/asia/ap-as-myanmar-stock-exchange.html |access-date=25 March 2016}}</ref>

The informal economy's share in Myanmar is one of the biggest in the world and is closely linked to corruption, smuggling and illegal trade activities.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Brown |year=2005 |title=A Colonial Economy in Crisis |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-30580-8}}</ref><ref>Stokke, Kristian; Vakulchuk, Roman and Indra Overland (2018) [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323018961 Myanmar: A Political Economy Analysis] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728150758/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323018961_Myanmar_A_Political_Economy_Analysis |date=28 July 2020}}. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Report commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.</ref> In addition, decades of civil war and unrest have contributed to Myanmar's current levels of poverty and lack of economic progress. Myanmar lacks adequate [[infrastructure]]. Goods travel primarily across the Thai border (where most illegal drugs are exported) and along the Irrawaddy River.<ref name="idea">{{cite web |url=http://www.idea.int/asia_pacific/burma/upload/chap3.pdf |title=Challenges to Democratization in Burma |access-date=12 July 2006 |date=November 2001 |publisher=International IDEA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060723083624/http://www.idea.int/asia_pacific/burma/upload/chap3.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2006}}</ref> Notably, opium production in Myanmar is the world's second-largest source of [[opium]] after [[Opium production in Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], producing some 25% of the world's opium, forming part of the Golden Triangle. While opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar had declined year-on-year since 2015, cultivation area increased by 33% totalling 40,100 hectares alongside an 88% increase in yield potential to 790 tonnes in 2022 according to latest data from the [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]] (UNODC) Myanmar Opium Survey 2022.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unodc.org/roseap/myanmar/2023/01/myanmar-opium-survey-report/story.html |title=Myanmar Opium Survey 2021: Cultivation, Production and Implications |date=February 2022 |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426044556/https://www.unodc.org/roseap/myanmar/2023/01/myanmar-opium-survey-report/story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> With that said, the [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]] (UNODC) has also warned that opium production in Myanmar may rise again if the economic crunch brought on by COVID-19 and the country's 1 February military coup persists, with significant public health and security consequences for much of Asia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_myanmars-economic-meltdown-likely-push-opium-output-says-un/6206434.html |title=Myanmar's Economic Meltdown Likely to Push Opium Output Up, Says UN |date=31 May 2021 |access-date=15 October 2021 |archive-date=18 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018182910/https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_myanmars-economic-meltdown-likely-push-opium-output-says-un/6206434.html |url-status=live}}</ref> At the same time, the Golden Triangle, and specifically [[Shan State]] in Myanmar, is believed to be the largest [[methamphetamine]]-producing area in the world. The growing signs of an intensification of methamphetamine manufacturing activity within and around the Golden Triangle, and a corresponding decrease in the number of production facilities dismantled in other parts of the region, suggests that methamphetamine manufacture in East and Southeast Asia is now consolidated into the lower Mekong region.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/opinions/asia-organized-crime-intl/index.html |title=Parts of Asia are slipping into the hands of organized crime |first=Jeremy |last=Douglas |publisher=CNN |date=15 November 2018 |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=18 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418083136/https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/opinions/asia-organized-crime-intl/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Countries in East and Southeast Asia have collectively witnessed sustained increases in seizures of methamphetamine over the last decade, totalling over 171 tons and a record of over 1 billion methamphetamine tablets in 2021 according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, more than any other part of the world.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 2022 |title=Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia: Latest Developments and Challenges 2022 |url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/scientists/2022-regional-synthetic-drugs-in-east-and-southeast-asia.html |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426145938/https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/scientists/2022-regional-synthetic-drugs-in-east-and-southeast-asia.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In April and May 2020, Myanmar authorities reported Asia's largest ever drug operation in Shan State, totalling what was believed to be 193 million methamphetamine tablets, hundreds of kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine as well as some heroin, and over 162,000 litres and 35.5 tons of drug precursors as well as sophisticated production equipment and several staging and storage facilities.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/myanmar-drugs-exclusive-idINKBN22U0PH |title=Huge fentanyl haul seized in Asia's biggest-ever drugs bust |publisher=Reuters |date=18 May 2020 |via=www.reuters.com |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228092412/https://www.reuters.com/article/myanmar-drugs-exclusive-idINKBN22U0PH |url-status=live}}</ref>

Both China and India have attempted to strengthen ties with the government for economic benefit in the early 2010s. Many Western nations, including the United States and Canada, and the [[European Union]], historically imposed investment and trade sanctions on Myanmar. The United States and European Union eased most of their sanctions in 2012.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hargreaves |first=Steve |url=https://money.cnn.com/2013/06/18/news/economy/myanmar-business/index.html?iid=HP_LN |title=Myanmar: Tales from the last business frontier |publisher=CNN |date=18 June 2013 |access-date=6 July 2013 |archive-date=22 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622080534/http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/18/news/economy/myanmar-business/index.html?iid=HP_LN |url-status=live}}</ref> From May 2012 to February 2013, the United States began to lift its economic sanctions on Myanmar "in response to the historic reforms that have been taking place in that country."<ref>{{cite web |date=18 March 2013 |title=Frequently Asked Questions and Answers |url=http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Sanctions/Pages/answer.aspx#268 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727011638/http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Sanctions/Pages/answer.aspx |archive-date=27 July 2013 |access-date=4 August 2013 |publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury}}</ref> Foreign investment comes primarily from China, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, India, and Thailand.<ref>{{cite news |first=David |last=Fullbrook |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FK04Ae03.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041106012133/http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FK04Ae03.html |url-status=unfit |archive-date=6 November 2004 |title=So long US, hello China, India |work=Asia Times |date=4 November 2004 |access-date=14 July 2006}}</ref> The military has stakes in some major industrial corporations of the country (from oil production and consumer goods to transportation and tourism).<ref name="mccartan">{{cite news |last=McCartan |first=Brian |date=28 February 2012 |title=Myanmar military in the money |work=Asia Times |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NB28Ae02.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227154915/http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NB28Ae02.html |url-status=unfit |archive-date=27 February 2012 |access-date=30 September 2012}}</ref><ref name="brady">{{cite news |last=Brady |first=Brendan |date=7 September 2012 |title=Boom Days in Burma |work=Newsweek |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/09/16/boom-days-in-burma.html |url-status=dead |access-date=30 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929192043/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/09/16/boom-days-in-burma.html |archive-date=29 September 2012}}</ref>

=== Economic history ===
[[File:Myingyan Railway Station 2.jpg|thumb|The trains are relatively slow in Myanmar. The railway trip from [[Bagan]] to [[Mandalay]] takes about 7.5 hours ({{convert|179|km|mi|abbr=on|disp=or}}).]]Under the [[British Empire|British]] administration, the people of Burma were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, with [[Europeans]] at the top, Indians, Chinese, and Christianised minorities in the middle, and Buddhist Burmese at the bottom.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Myint-U |first=Thant |title=The river of lost footsteps: histories of Burma |date=2006 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=978-0-374-16342-6 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=65064707}}</ref> Forcefully integrated into the world economy, Burma's economy grew by involving itself with extractive industries and [[cash crop]] agriculture. However, much of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of Europeans. The country became the world's largest exporter of [[rice]], mainly to European markets, while other colonies like India suffered mass starvation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Mike |title=Late Victorian holocausts: El Niño famines and the making of the third world |date=2001 |publisher=Verso |isbn=1-85984-739-0 |location=London |oclc=45636958}}</ref> Being a follower of free market principles, the British opened up the country to large-scale immigration with Rangoon exceeding New York City as the greatest immigration port in the world in the 1920s. Historian [[Thant Myint-U]] states, "This was out of a total population of only 13 million; it was equivalent to the United Kingdom today taking 2 million people a year." By then, in most of Burma's largest cities, [[Rangoon]], [[Akyab]], [[Pathein|Bassein]] and [[Moulmein]], the Indian immigrants formed a majority of the population. The Burmese under British rule felt helpless, and reacted with a "racism that combined feelings of superiority and fear".<ref name=":0" />

Crude oil production, an indigenous industry of [[Yenangyaung]], was taken over by the British and put under [[Burmah Oil]] monopoly. British Burma began exporting crude oil in 1853.<ref>{{cite web |author=Total |title=Oil and Gas in Myanmar |url=http://burma.total.com/myanmar-en/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar-900130.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415084151/http://burma.total.com/myanmar-en/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar-900130.html |archive-date=15 April 2015}}</ref> European firms produced 75% of the world's teak.<ref name="steinberg" /> The wealth was, however, mainly concentrated in the hands of Europeans. In the 1930s, agricultural production fell dramatically as international rice prices declined and did not recover for several decades.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Booth, Anne |date=Spring 2003 |title=The Burma Development Disaster in Comparative Historical Perspective |url=http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/file64274.pdf |journal=SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research |volume=1 |issue=1 |issn=1479-8484 |access-date=2 October 2012 |archive-date=9 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809043455/http://www.soapy-massage.com/thai-soapy-massage-turkish-bath-house.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> During the Japanese invasion of Burma in World War II, the British followed a [[scorched earth]] policy. They destroyed major government buildings, oil wells and mines that developed for tungsten ([[Mawchi]]), tin, lead and silver to keep them from the Japanese. Myanmar was bombed extensively by the Allies.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

After independence, the country was in ruins with its major infrastructure completely destroyed. With the loss of India, Burma lost relevance and obtained independence from the British. After a parliamentary government was formed in 1948, Prime Minister [[U Nu]] embarked upon a policy of nationalisation and the state was declared the owner of all of the land in Burma. The government tried to implement an eight-year plan partly financed by injecting money into the economy, but this caused inflation to rise.<ref>{{cite web |last=Watkins |first=Thayer |title=Political and Economic History of Myanmar (Burma) Economics |url=http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/burma.htm |access-date=8 July 2006 |publisher=San Jose State University |archive-date=26 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526144053/http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/burma.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[1962 Burmese coup d'état|1962 coup d'état]] was followed by an economic scheme called the [[Burmese Way to Socialism]], a plan to nationalise all industries, with the exception of [[agriculture]]. While the economy continued to grow at a slower rate, the country eschewed a Western-oriented development model, and by the 1980s, was left behind capitalist powerhouses like [[Singapore]] which were integrated with Western economies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor, Robert H. |title=General Ne Win : a political biography |date=25 May 2015 |isbn=978-981-4620-13-0 |location=Singapore |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |oclc=934623309}}</ref><ref name="ruin" /> Myanmar asked for admittance to a [[least developed country]] status in 1987 to receive debt relief.<ref>{{cite web |year=2005 |title=List of Least Developed Countries |url=https://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/list.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026045553/http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/list.htm |archive-date=26 October 2013 |publisher=UN-OHRLLS}}</ref>

=== Agriculture ===
{{Further|Agriculture in Myanmar}}
[[File:Rijstvelden Myanmar 2006.jpg|thumb|Rice is Myanmar's largest agricultural product.]]

The major agricultural product is [[Rice production in Myanmar|rice]], which covers about 60% of the country's total cultivated land area. Rice accounts for 97% of total food grain production by weight. Through collaboration with the [[International Rice Research Institute]], 52 modern rice varieties were released in the country between 1966 and 1997, helping increase national rice production to 14&nbsp;million tons in 1987 and to 19&nbsp;million tons in 1996. By 1988, modern varieties were planted on half of the country's ricelands, including 98 percent of the irrigated areas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irri.org/media/facts/pdfs/myanmar.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907011925/http://www.irri.org/media/facts/pdfs/myanmar.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 September 2005 |title=Myanmar and IRRI}}&nbsp;{{small|(21.2&nbsp;KB)}}, Facts About Cooperation, International Rice Research Institute. Retrieved 25 September 2007.</ref> In 2008 rice production was estimated at 50 million tons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx |title=Faostat |publisher=Faostat.fao.org |access-date=17 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713020710/http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx |archive-date=13 July 2011}}</ref>

=== Extractive industries ===
Myanmar produces precious stones such as [[rubies]], [[sapphire]]s, [[pearl]]s, and [[jade]]. [[Rubies]] are the biggest earner; 90% of the world's rubies come from the country, whose red stones are prized for their purity and hue. Thailand buys the majority of the country's gems. Myanmar's "Valley of Rubies", the mountainous [[Mogok Township|Mogok]] area, {{convert|200|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of [[Mandalay]], is noted for its rare pigeon's blood rubies and blue sapphires.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uvm.edu/envnr/gemecology/index.html |title=Gems of Burma and their Environmental Impact |publisher=Uvm.edu |access-date=20 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526104410/http://www.uvm.edu/envnr/gemecology/index.html |archive-date=26 May 2010}}</ref>

Many [[U.S.]] and [[European Union|European]] jewellery companies, including Bulgari, Tiffany and Cartier, refuse to import these stones based on reports of deplorable working conditions in the mines. [[Human Rights Watch]] has encouraged a complete ban on the purchase of Burmese gems based on these reports and because nearly all profits go to the ruling junta, as the majority of mining activity in the country is government-run.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/11/11/burma-gem-trade-bolsters-military-regime-fuels-atrocities |title=Burma: Gem Trade Bolsters Military Regime, Fuels Atrocities |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=11 November 2007 |access-date=22 August 2017 |archive-date=3 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903143133/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/11/11/burma-gem-trade-bolsters-military-regime-fuels-atrocities |url-status=live}}</ref> The government of Myanmar controls the gem trade by direct ownership or by joint ventures with private owners of mines.<ref>{{cite news |author=Ferro, Shane |date=19 July 2011 |url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/38144/burmese-gem-emporium-rakes-in-15-billion-despite-human-rights-abuse-concerns/ |title=Burmese Gem Emporium Rakes in $1.5 Billion Despite Human Rights Abuse Concerns |publisher=Blouin ARTINFO |access-date=15 May 2013 |archive-date=5 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205180522/http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/38144/burmese-gem-emporium-rakes-in-15-billion-despite-human-rights-abuse-concerns |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Rare-earth elements]] are also a significant export, as Myanmar supplies around 10% of the world's rare earths.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2021 |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021-rare-earths.pdf |website=usgs.gov |publisher=USGS |access-date=9 October 2021 |archive-date=27 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127021048/https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021-rare-earths.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Conflict in Kachin State has threatened the operations of its mines as of February 2021.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Subramanian |first1=Sribala |title=Rare Earths in Myanmar: Unobtanium? |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/rare-earths-in-myanmar-unobtanium/ |website=The Diplomat |access-date=9 October 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009133352/https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/rare-earths-in-myanmar-unobtanium/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Daly |first1=Tom |title=China rare earths extend surge on worries over Myanmar supply, inspection threat |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rare-earths-myanmar-idUSKBN2BI1HR |website=Reuters |date=26 March 2021 |access-date=9 October 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009133347/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rare-earths-myanmar-idUSKBN2BI1HR |url-status=live}}</ref>

Other industries include agricultural goods, textiles, wood products, construction materials, gems, metals, oil and natural gas. Myanmar Engineering Society has identified at least 39 locations capable of geothermal power production and some of these hydrothermal reservoirs lie quite close to Yangon which is a significant underutilised resource for electrical production.<ref>{{citation |last=DuByne |first=David |title=Geothermal Energy in Myanmar Securing Electricity for Eastern Border Development |url=http://www.oilseedcrops.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Geothermal-Energy-in-Myanmar-Securing-Electricity-for-Eastern-Border-Development-David-DuByne.pdf |journal=Myanmar Business Today Magazine |date=November 2015 |pages=6–8 |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120104918/http://www.oilseedcrops.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Geothermal-Energy-in-Myanmar-Securing-Electricity-for-Eastern-Border-Development-David-DuByne.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Tourism ===
{{main|Tourism in Myanmar}}

[[File:Tourists in Myanmar (8397039153).jpg|thumb|Tourists in Myanmar]]
[[File:U Bein Bridge Mandalay 4.jpg|thumb|[[U Bein Bridge]] in Mandalay]]
The government receives a significant percentage of the income of private-sector tourism services.<ref>{{cite web |last=Enescu, Raluca |url=http://www.tayzathuria.org.uk/bd/2006/12/24/re.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430235921/http://www.tayzathuria.org.uk/bd/2006/12/24/re.htm |archive-date=30 April 2011 |title=Burma Digest |publisher=Tayzathuria.org.uk |date=24 December 2006}}</ref> The most popular available tourist destinations in Myanmar include big cities such as [[Yangon]] and [[Mandalay]]; religious sites in [[Mon State]], [[Pindaya]], [[Bago, Burma|Bago]] and [[Hpa-An]]; nature trails in [[Inle Lake]], [[Kengtung]], [[Putao District|Putao]], [[Pyin Oo Lwin]]; ancient cities such as [[Bagan]] and [[Mrauk-U]]; as well as beaches in Nabule,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.southernmyanmar.com/beaches-2/ |title=Southern Myanmar |page=Tourist Destinations |website=southernmyanmar.com |access-date=20 May 2015 |archive-date=11 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511103149/http://www.southernmyanmar.com/beaches-2/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Ngapali Beach|Ngapali]], [[Ngwe Saung Beach|Ngwe-Saung]], and [[Mergui]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://birma.com/destinations-in-myanmar |title=Myanmar Travel Agency |page=Tourist Destinations |website=birma.com |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131020180639/http://birma.com/destinations-in-myanmar |url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, much of the country is off-limits to tourists, and interactions between foreigners and the people of Myanmar, particularly in the border regions, are subject to police scrutiny. They are not to discuss politics with foreigners, under penalty of imprisonment and, in 2001, the Myanmar Tourism Promotion Board issued an order for local officials to protect tourists and limit "unnecessary contact" between foreigners and ordinary Burmese people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/action_holiday.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429173300/http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/action_holiday.html |archive-date=29 April 2009 |title=The Tourism Campaign&nbsp;– Campaigns |publisher=The Burma Campaign UK |access-date=17 April 2010}}</ref>

The most common way for travellers to enter the country is by air.<ref name="LP1">{{cite web |title=Getting there & away |url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/myanmar-burma/transport/getting-there-away |publisher=lonelyplanet.com |access-date=4 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801235500/http://www.lonelyplanet.com/myanmar-burma/transport/getting-there-away |archive-date=1 August 2013}}</ref> According to the website ''[[Lonely Planet]]'', getting into Myanmar is problematic: "No bus or train service connects Myanmar with another country, nor can you travel by car or motorcycle across the border&nbsp;– you must walk across." They further state that "It is not possible for foreigners to go to/from Myanmar by sea or river."<ref name="LP1" /> There are a few border crossings that allow the passage of private vehicles, such as the border between [[Ruili]] (China) to [[Mu-se]], the border between [[Htee Kee]] (Myanmar) and [[Phu Nam Ron]] (Thailand)—the most direct border between [[Dawei]] and [[Kanchanaburi]], and the border between [[Myawaddy]] and [[Mae Sot]], Thailand. At least one tourist company has successfully run commercial overland routes through these borders since 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dragoman.com/holidays/details/south-east-asia-between-kunming-and-bangkok-via-burma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129052459/http://www.dragoman.com/holidays/details/south-east-asia-between-kunming-and-bangkok-via-burma |url-status=dead |title=Dragoman |archive-date=29 January 2015}}</ref>

Flights are available from most countries, though direct flights are limited to mainly Thai and other [[ASEAN]] airlines. According to ''[[Weekly Eleven|Eleven]]'' magazine, "In the past, there were only 15 international airlines and increasing numbers of airlines have begun launching direct flights from Japan, Qatar, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany and Singapore."<ref name="11.1">{{cite web |title=International airlines to open direct flights to Myanmar |work=Eleven Myanmar |url=http://elevenmyanmar.com/business/2945-international-airlines-to-open-direct-flights-to-myanmar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110164418/http://elevenmyanmar.com/business/2945-international-airlines-to-open-direct-flights-to-myanmar |archive-date=10 November 2013 |date=2 August 2013 |last1=Tint |first1=Soe}}</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{main|Demographics of Myanmar}}

[[File:Downtownflatsyangon.jpg|thumb|A block of apartments in downtown Yangon, facing [[Bogyoke Market]]. Much of Yangon's urban population resides in densely populated flats.]]
{|class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px"
! colspan="4" style="text-align:center; background:#cfb;"|Population{{UN Population|ref}}
|-
! style="background:#cfb;"|Year
! style="background:#cfb;"|Million
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1950 ||style="text-align:right;"|17.1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|2000 ||style="text-align:right;"|46.1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|{{UN Population|Year}} ||style="text-align:right;"|{{#expr:{{formatnum:{{UN Population|Myanmar}}|R}}/1e6 round 1}}
|}
The provisional results of the [[2014 Myanmar Census]] showed that the total population was 51,419,420.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spoorenberg |first1=Thomas |year=2015 |title=Provisional results of the 2014 census of Myanmar: The surprise that wasn't |journal=Asian Population Studies |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=4–6 |doi=10.1080/17441730.2014.972084 |s2cid=154114929}}</ref> This figure includes an estimated 1,206,353 persons in parts of northern [[Rakhine State]], [[Kachin State]] and [[Kayin State]] who were not counted.<ref name="spoor">{{cite journal |last1=Spoorenberg |first1=Thomas |year=2015 |title=Myanmar's first census in more than 30 years: A radical revision of the official population count |journal=Population & Societies |volume=527 |issue=November |pages=1–4 |url=https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/24592/population.societies.2015.527.census.birma.en.en.pdf |access-date=9 December 2015 |archive-date=8 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808043519/https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/24592/population.societies.2015.527.census.birma.en.en.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> People who were out of the country at the time of the census are not included in these figures. There are over 600,000 registered [[migrant worker]]s from Myanmar in [[Thailand]], and millions more work illegally. Burmese citizens account for 80% of all migrant workers in Thailand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA390012005 |title=Thailand: The Plight of Burmese Migrant Workers |access-date=13 July 2006 |date=8 June 2006 |publisher=Amnesty International |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626102346/http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA390012005 |archive-date=26 June 2006}}</ref> At the beginning of the 20th century, Burma's [[Census in Myanmar|population]] was approximately 10&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maung |first=M. Ismael Khin |title=The population of Burma: An analysis of the 1973 Census |publisher=East-West Population Institute |date=April 1986 |isbn=0866380779}}</ref> The national population density is {{convert|76|/km2}}, among the lowest in Southeast Asia.

Myanmar's fertility rate in 2011 was 2.23, slightly above the [[Sub-replacement fertility|replacement level]]<ref name="jon" /> and low compared to [[Southeast Asian countries]] of similar economic standing.<ref name="jon" /> There has been a significant decline in fertility in the 2000s, from a rate of 4.7 children per woman in 1983, down to 2.4 in 2001, despite the absence of any national population policy.<ref name="jon">{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Gavin W. |year=2007 |title=Delayed Marriage and Very Low Fertility in Pacific Asia |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=453–478 |url=http://dahuang.dhxy.info/population/Delayed_Marriage_Fertility09.pdf |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5x361pgmm?url=http://dahuang.dhxy.info/population/Delayed_Marriage_Fertility09.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 March 2011 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00180.x |access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spoorenberg |first1=Thomas |year=2013 |title=Demographic changes in Myanmar since 1983: An examination of official data |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=309–324 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00593.x}}</ref><ref name="mya">{{cite journal |author=Myat |year=2000 |title=The Economic Position of Women in Burma |journal=Asian Studies Review |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=243–255 |doi=10.1080/10357820008713272 |s2cid=144323033 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8403.00076 |access-date=21 January 2020 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727060044/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8403.00076 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The fertility rate is much lower in urban areas.

The relatively rapid decline in fertility is attributed to several factors, including extreme delays in marriage (almost unparalleled among developing countries in the region), the prevalence of illegal abortions, and the high proportion of single, unmarried women of reproductive age, with 25.9% of women aged 30–34 and 33.1% of men and women aged 25–34 being single.<ref name="mya" /><ref name=mar>[https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldmarriage/worldmarriagepatterns2000.pdf WorldMarriage Patterns 2000] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031225072830/https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldmarriage/worldmarriagepatterns2000.pdf |date=25 December 2003 }}. United Nations</ref>

These patterns stem from economic dynamics, including high income inequality, which results in residents of reproductive age opting for delay of marriage and family-building in favour of attempting to find employment and establish some form of wealth;<ref name="mya" /> the average age of marriage in Myanmar is 27.5 for men, 26.4 for women.<ref name="mya" /><ref name=mar />

=== Largest cities ===
{{further|List of cities and largest towns in Myanmar}}
{{Largest cities
 | country      = Myanmar
 | stat_ref     = [http://www.geohive.com/cntry/myanmar.aspx geohive.com]
 | list_by_pop  =
 | div_name     = Division
 | div_link     =

| city_1 = Yangon
 | div_1 = Yangon Region{{!}}Yangon
 | pop_1 = 5,211,431

| city_2 = Mandalay
 | div_2 = Mandalay Region{{!}}Mandalay
 | pop_2 = 1,225,546

| city_3 = Naypyidaw
 | div_3 = Naypyidaw Union Territory {{!}}Naypyidaw
 | pop_3 = 1,160,242

| city_4 = Bago, Burma{{!}}Bago
 | div_4 = Bago Region{{!}}Bago
 | pop_4 = 491,434

| city_5 = Hpa-An
 | div_5 = Kayin State{{!}}Kayin
 | pop_5 = 421,575

| city_6 = Taunggyi
 | div_6 = Shan State{{!}}Shan
 | pop_6 = 381,636

| city_7 = Monywa
 | div_7 = Sagaing Region{{!}}Sagaing
 | pop_7 = 372,095

| city_8 = Myitkyina
 | div_8 = Kachin State{{!}}Kachin
 | pop_8 = 306,949

| city_9 = Mawlamyine
 | div_9 = Mon State{{!}}Mon
 | pop_9 = 289,388

| city_10 = Magway, Burma{{!}}Magway
 | div_10 = Magway Region{{!}}Magway
 | pop_10 = 289,247

}}

=== Ethnic groups ===
{{main|Ethnicity in Myanmar}}

{{bar box
|title=Ethnic composition in Burma/Myanmar<br />(rough estimate)
|titlebar=
|width=
|left1=Ethnic group
|right1=Percent
|float=right
|bars=
{{bar percent|[[Bamar]]|orange|68}}
{{bar percent|[[Shan people|Shan]]|blue|10}}
{{bar percent|[[Karen people|Karen]]|green|7}}
{{bar percent|[[Rakhine people|Rakhine]]|yellow|3.5}}
{{bar percent|[[Burmese Chinese|Han-Chinese]]|purple|3}}
{{bar percent|[[Mon people|Mon]]|red|2}}
{{bar percent|[[Burmese Indians|Indians]]|violet|2}}
{{bar percent|[[Jingpo people|Kachin]]|black|1.5}}
{{bar percent|[[Chin people|Chin]]|brown|1}}
{{bar percent|[[Karenni people|Kayah]]|lime|0.8}}
{{bar percent|Other groups|cyan|5}}
}}

[[File:Ethnolinguistic map of Burma 1972 en.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|Ethnolinguistic groups of Burma/Myanmar|alt=]]

Myanmar is [[ethnically diverse]]. The government recognises [[List of ethnic groups in Myanmar|135 distinct ethnic groups]]. There are at least 108 different ethnolinguistic groups in Myanmar, consisting mainly of distinct [[Tibeto-Burman]] peoples, but with sizeable populations of [[Tai–Kadai-speaking peoples|Tai–Kadai]], [[Hmong–Mien]], and Austroasiatic (Mon–Khmer) peoples.<ref name="languages-of-myanmar">{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MM |title=Languages of Myanmar |access-date=13 January 2007 |last=Gordon |first=Raymond G. Jr. |year=2005 |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition |publisher=SIL International |archive-date=7 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207085517/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MM |url-status=live}}</ref>

Ethnic identity in modern-day Myanmar has been significantly shaped by British colonial rule, Christian missionaries, and [[Decolonization|decolonisation]] in the post-independence era. To this day, the [[Burmese language]] does not have precise terminology that distinguishes the European concepts of [[Ethnicity|race and ethnicity]]; the term ''lu-myo'' ({{lang|my|လူမျိုး}}, {{lit|type of person}}) can reference race, ethnicity, and religion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-28 |title=Identity Crisis: Ethnicity and Conflict in Myanmar |url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/312-identity-crisis-ethnicity-and-conflict-myanmar |website=International Crisis Group}}</ref> For instance, many [[Bamar people|Bamar]] self-identify as members of the 'Buddhist ''lu-myo''' or the '[[Burmese people|Myanmar ''lu-myo'']],' which has posed a significant challenge for census-takers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Callahan |first=Mary P. |date=2017 |title=Distorted, Dangerous Data? Lumyo in the 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/665626 |journal=Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=452–478 |issn=1793-2858}}</ref>

The [[Bamar]] form an estimated 68% of the population.<ref name="statedept">{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm |title=Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs |access-date=17 April 2010 |date=August 2005 |publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122194342/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm |archive-date=22 January 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{irrelevant citation|date=July 2024|reason=the source doesn't mention ethnic composition in Myanmar}} 10% of the population are [[Shan people|Shan]].<ref name="statedept" /> The Kayin make up 7% of the population.<ref name="statedept" /> The [[Rakhine people]] constitute 4% of the population. [[Burmese Chinese|Overseas Chinese]] form approximately 3% of the population.<ref name="statedept" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Than, Mya |editor=Suryadinata, Leo |year=1997 |title=Ethnic Chinese As Southeast Asians}}</ref> Myanmar's ethnic [[Minority group|minority]] groups prefer the term "ethnic nationality" over "ethnic minority" as the term "minority" furthers their sense of insecurity in the face of what is often described as "Burmanisation"—the proliferation and domination of the dominant [[Bamar people|Bamar culture]] over minority cultures.

[[Mon people|Mon]], who form 2% of the population, are ethno-linguistically related to the [[Khmer people|Khmer]].<ref name="statedept" /> [[Burmese Indians|Overseas Indians]] are 2%.<ref name="statedept" /> The remainder are [[Kachin people|Kachin]], [[Chin people|Chin]], [[Rohingya]], [[Anglo-Indian]]s, [[Burmese Gurkha|Gurkha]], [[People of Nepal|Nepali]] and other ethnic minorities. Included in this group are the [[Anglo-Burmese]]. Once forming a large and influential community, the Anglo-Burmese left the country in steady streams from 1958 onwards, principally to Australia and the United Kingdom. It is estimated that 52,000 Anglo-Burmese remain in Myanmar. {{As of|2009}}, 110,000 Burmese [[refugee]]s were living in refugee camps in Thailand.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kato |first=Mariko |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/02/18/national/myanmar-refugees-to-try-resettling/ |title=Myanmar refugees to try resettling |work=Japan Times |date=18 February 2009 |access-date=6 August 2014 |archive-date=8 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808052623/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/02/18/national/myanmar-refugees-to-try-resettling/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Refugee camps exist along Indian, Bangladeshi and Thai borders while several thousand are in [[Malaysia]]. Conservative estimates state that there are over 295,800 minority refugees from Myanmar, with the majority being [[Rohingya]], [[Karen people|Karen]], and [[Karenni people|Karenni]] are principally located along the Thai-Myanmar border.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/publ/opendoc.pdf?tbl=PUBL&id=449676844 |title=Myanmar Refugees in South East Asia |access-date=13 July 2006 |date=April 2006 |format=PDF |publisher=UNHCR |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060621015621/http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/publ/opendoc.pdf?tbl=PUBL&id=449676844 |archive-date=21 June 2006}}</ref> There are nine permanent refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, most of which were established in the mid-1980s. The refugee camps are under the care of the Thai-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC). Since 2006,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/from-tropical-burma-to-syracuse-refugees-adjust/ |title=From tropical Burma to Syracuse, refugees adjust |work=CBS News |date=25 April 2012 |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=5 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705231358/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57420502/from-tropical-burma-to-syracuse-refugees-adjust |url-status=live}}</ref> over 55,000 Burmese [[refugee]]s have been resettled in the United States.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20120914041135/http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/ Office Of Refugee Resettlement: Data]". U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.</ref>

The persecution of [[Burmese Indians]], [[Burmese Chinese]] and other ethnic groups after the military coup headed by General [[Ne Win]] in 1962 led to the expulsion or emigration of 300,000 people.<ref>{{cite book |author=Smith, Martin |year=1991 |title=Burma&nbsp;– Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity |publisher=Zed Books |location=London, New Jersey |pages=43–44, 98, 56–57, 176}}</ref> They migrated to escape [[Racial Discrimination against Burmese Indians|racial discrimination]] and the wholesale nationalisation of private enterprise that took place in 1964.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,875949,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208073731/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,875949,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 December 2008 |title=Asians v. Asians. |magazine=Time |date=17 July 1964 |access-date=20 November 2012}}{{subscription required}}</ref> The Anglo-Burmese at this time either fled the country or changed their names and blended in with the broader Burmese society.

Many [[Rohingya]] Muslims have fled Myanmar. Many refugees headed to neighbouring Bangladesh, including 200,000 in 1978 as a result of the [[King Dragon operation in Arakan]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Macan-Markar |first=Marwaan |title=Burma's Muslim Rohingyas&nbsp;– The New Boat People. |url=http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45850 |publisher=Ipsnews.net |access-date=6 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311004334/http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45850 |archive-date=11 March 2009}}</ref> 250,000 more left in 1991.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ford |first=Peter |title=Why deadly race riots could rattle Myanmar's fledgling reforms |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0612/Why-deadly-race-riots-could-rattle-Myanmar-s-fledgling-reforms |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=12 June 2012 |access-date=6 August 2014 |archive-date=5 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105222644/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0612/Why-deadly-race-riots-could-rattle-Myanmar-s-fledgling-reforms |url-status=live}}</ref> Since August 2017, an estimated 23,000–43,700 Rohingya have been killed<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Habib |first1=Mohshin |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-748001039 |title=Forced migration of Rohingya : the untold experience |last2=Ahmad |first2=Salahuddin |last3=Jubb |first3=Christine |last4=Pallard |first4=Henri |last5=Rahman |first5=Masudur |last6=Ontario International Development Agency (issuing body) |publisher=Ontario International Development Agency, Canada |year=2018 |isbn=9780986681516 |page=69 |access-date=30 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Barron |first=Laignee |date=8 March 2018 |title=More Than 43,000 Rohingya Parents May Be Missing. Experts Fear They Are Dead |url=https://time.com/5187292/rohingya-crisis-missing-parents-refugees-bangladesh/ |access-date=30 October 2024 |work=[[TIME Magazine]]}}</ref> in the ongoing [[Rohingya genocide]], and another 730,000 have fled to Bangladesh.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 August 2022 |title=Myanmar: No Justice, No Freedom for Rohingya 5 Years On |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/24/myanmar-no-justice-no-freedom-rohingya-5-years |access-date=30 October 2024 |website=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref>

=== Languages ===
{{main|Languages of Myanmar}}

Myanmar is home to four major language families: [[Sino-Tibetan]], [[Tai–Kadai]], [[Austroasiatic]], and [[Indo-European]].<ref name="languages-of-myanmar"/> Sino-Tibetan languages are most widely spoken. They include [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Karen people|Karen]], [[Jingpo people|Kachin]], [[Chin people|Chin]], and Chinese (mainly [[Hokkien]]). The primary Tai–Kadai language is [[Shan language|Shan]]. [[Mon language|Mon]], [[Palaung language|Palaung]], and [[Va people|Wa]] are the major Austroasiatic languages spoken in Myanmar. The two major Indo-European languages are [[Pali]], the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism, and English.<ref name="ethno">{{cite web |last=Gordon |first=Raymond G. Jr. |title=Language Family Trees: Sino-Tibetan |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90150 |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition |publisher=SIL International |year=2005 |access-date=9 July 2006 |archive-date=11 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080811202503/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90150 |url-status=live}}</ref> More than a hundred languages are spoken in total. Since many of them are known only within small tribes around the country, they may have been lost (many if not all) after a few generations.

[[Burmese language|Burmese]], the mother tongue of the Bamar and official language of Myanmar, is related to [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]] and Chinese.<ref name="ethno" /> It is written in a [[Burmese alphabet|script]] consisting of circular and semi-circular letters, which were adapted from the [[Mon language|Mon script]], which in turn was developed from a southern Indian script in the 5th century. The earliest known inscriptions in the Burmese script date from the 11th century. It is also used to write [[Pali]], the sacred language of Theravada Buddhism, as well as several ethnic minority languages, including Shan, several Karen dialects, and Kayah (Karenni), with the addition of specialised characters and [[diacritic]]s for each language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lwinmoe.friendsofburma.org/doc/myanmar_extension.pdf |title=Proposal for encoding characters for Myanmar minority languages in the UCS |access-date=9 July 2006 |date=2 April 2006 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060723083627/http://lwinmoe.friendsofburma.org/doc/myanmar_extension.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2006}}</ref>

=== Religion ===
{{main|Religion in Myanmar}}

{{bar box|title=Religion in Myanmar|width=250px|barwidth=250px|float=right|left1=Religion|right1=Percentage|bars={{bar percent|[[Buddhism]]|Gold|87.9}}
{{bar percent|[[Christianity]]|Blue|6.2}}
{{bar percent|[[Islam in Myanmar|Islam]]|Green|4.3}}
{{bar percent|[[Hinduism]]|DarkOrange|0.5}}
{{bar percent|Tribal religions|Chartreuse|0.8}}
{{bar percent|Other|Crimson|0.2}}
{{bar percent|No religion|Black|0.1}}|caption=Source: [[Census in Myanmar|2014 Myanmar census]]}}Many religions are practised in Myanmar. Religious edifices and orders have been in existence for many years. The Christian and Muslim populations do, however, face religious persecution and it is hard, if not impossible, for non-Buddhists to join the army or get government jobs, the main route to success in the country.<ref>"Ethnic and Religious Diversity: Myanmar's Unfolding Nemesis", Matthews, Bruce, Institute of South East Asian Studies, Visiting Researcher Series, Volume 2001, No. 3. 2001.</ref> Such persecution and targeting of civilians is particularly notable in eastern Myanmar, where over 3,000 villages have been destroyed in the past ten years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tbbc.org/resources.html#reports |title=Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma 2006 Survey |access-date=4 February 2007 |author=Thailand Burma Border Consortium |year=2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515121040/http://www.tbbc.org/resources.html |archive-date=15 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Harry |last=Priestly |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=5380 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119160146/http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=5380 |archive-date=19 January 2012 |title=The Outsiders |work=[[The Irrawaddy]] |date=17 January 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://isrc.payap.ac.th/document/papers/paper23.pdf |title=The Encounter of Missionary Christianity and Resurgent Buddhism in Post-colonial Myanmar |access-date=14 July 2006 |author=Ling, Samuel Ngun |year=2003 |publisher=Payap University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060302235658/http://isrc.payap.ac.th/document/papers/paper23.pdf |archive-date=2 March 2006}}</ref> More than 200,000 Muslims have fled to Bangladesh by 2007 to escape persecution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zatko |first=Martin |title=The Rough Guide to Myanmar |date=2015 |page=357}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dummett |first=Mark |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7019882.stm |title=Burmese exiles in desperate conditions |publisher=BBC News |date=29 September 2007 |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=1 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901205917/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7019882.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:A nun and group of monks praying before idols in Myanmar.jpg|thumb|Praying Buddhist monks in [[Shwedagon Pagoda]]]]

A large majority of the population practices Buddhism; estimates range from 80%<ref name="pew">[http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/burma-myanmar/religious_demography#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010 Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project: Burma] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010114310/http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/burma-myanmar/religious_demography#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010 |date=10 October 2017 }}. [[Pew Research Center]]. 2010.</ref> to 89%.<ref name="Buddhanet">{{cite web |url=http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/burma-txt.htm |title=Buddhanet.net |access-date=17 February 2011 |archive-date=31 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331000030/http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/burma-txt.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="COTM">{{cite web |url=https://www.childrenofthemekong.org/in-myanmar-the-worst-is-yet-to-come-an-exclusive-interview/ |title=Children of the Mekong |date=2 March 2023 |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314154216/https://www.childrenofthemekong.org/in-myanmar-the-worst-is-yet-to-come-an-exclusive-interview/ |url-status=live}}</ref> According to the [[2014 Myanmar Census]], 87.9% of the population identifies as Buddhists.<ref name="TUR" /> [[Theravāda]] Buddhism is the most widespread.<ref name="Buddhanet" /> There are some 500,000 Buddhist monks and 75,000 nuns in this country of 54 million.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pyone |first1=Taung |title=Monks in Myanmar have a new target |url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/11/14/monks-in-myanmar-have-a-new-target |access-date=17 November 2019 |newspaper=The Economist |date=14 November 2019 |archive-date=17 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117122716/https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/11/14/monks-in-myanmar-have-a-new-target |url-status=live}}</ref> Other religions are practised largely without obstruction, with the notable exception of some religious minorities such as the Rohingya people, who have continued to have their citizenship status denied and treated as illegal immigrants instead,<ref name="rohingya" /> and Christians in Chin State.<ref name="2007-religious-freedom-report">{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90131.htm |title=International Religious Freedom Report 2007&nbsp;– Burma |publisher=U.S. Department of State |access-date=17 April 2010 |date=14 September 2007 |archive-date=8 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508105248/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90131.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> According to 2014 census, 6.2% of the population identifies as Christian; 4.3% as Muslim; 0.8% as followers of tribal religions; 0.5% as [[Hinduism|Hindus]]; 0.2% as followers of other religions; and 0.1% follow no religion.<ref name="TUR">{{cite book |title=The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census Report Volume 2-C |publisher=Department of Population Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population |date=July 2016 |pages=12–15}}</ref> According to the 2010 estimates of the [[Pew Research Center]], 7% of the population is Christian; 4% is Muslim; 1% follows traditional [[animistic]] beliefs; and 2% follow other religions, including [[Mahayana Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]], and [[East Asian religions]].<ref name="2007-religious-freedom-report" /><ref name="statedept" /> Jehovah's Witnesses have been present since 1914<ref>{{cite book |title=2013 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses |publisher=Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. |year=2013 |page=85}}</ref> and have about 80 congregations around the country and a branch office in Yangon publishing in 16 languages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/offices/myanmar |title=Office and Tour Information |publisher=jw.org |access-date=6 November 2015 |archive-date=9 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009050318/http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/offices/myanmar/ |url-status=live}}</ref> A tiny Jewish community in Yangon had a synagogue but no resident rabbi.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148859.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121191852/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148859.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 November 2010 |title=Burma—International Religious Freedom Report 2010 |publisher=U.S. Department of State |date=17 November 2010 |access-date=22 February 2011}}</ref>

Although Hinduism is practised by 0.5% of the population, it was a major religion in Myanmar's past.<ref>{{cite book |last=Aung-Thwin |first=Michael A. |title=The Mists of Rāmañña: The Legend that was Lower Burma |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |location=Honolulu |edition=illustrated |year=2005 |pages=31–34 |isbn=978-0-8248-2886-8}}</ref><ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], pp. 115–116</ref> [[Burmese folk religion]] is practised by many [[Bamars]] alongside Buddhism.

=== Health ===
{{main|Health in Myanmar}}

The general state of [[health care]] in Myanmar is poor. The government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=254167 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427103224/http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=254167 |archive-date=27 April 2011 |title=PPI: Almost Half of All World Health Spending is in the United States |date=17 January 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Anwar |first=Yasmin |title=Myanmar junta faulted for rampant diseases |url=http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/06/28_Myanmar.shtml |publisher=UC Berkeley News |date=28 June 2007}}{{dead link|date=September 2016}}</ref> Although [[health care]] is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Myanmar is 240. This is compared with 219.3 in 2008 and 662 in 1990. The under 5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 73 and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under 5's mortality is 47. According to Doctors without Borders, 25,000 Burmese AIDS patients died in 2007, deaths that could largely have been prevented by [[antiretroviral therapy]] drugs and proper treatment.<ref name="autogenerated1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20090225081933/http://www.msf.org/source/countries/asia/myanmar/2008/PreventableFate/PreventableFatereport.pdf A preventable fate: The failure of ART scale-up in Myanmar]. [[Médecins Sans Frontières]]. November 2008</ref>

HIV/AIDS, recognised as a disease of concern by the [[Ministry of Health (Myanmar)|Myanmar Ministry of Health]], is most prevalent among [[sex worker]]s and [[intravenous drug]] users. In 2005, the estimated adult [[HIV/AIDS in Myanmar|HIV prevalence rate in Myanmar]] was 1.3% (200,000–570,000 people), according to [[UNAIDS]], and early indicators of any progress against the HIV epidemic are inconsistent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/myanmar_statistics.html#25 |title=At a glance: Myanmar&nbsp;– statistics |access-date=9 January 2007 |work=UNICEF |archive-date=1 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901015340/http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/myanmar_statistics.html#25 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.unaids.org/UNA-docs/REPORT_ICAAP_01July05_en.pdf |title=A scaled-up response to AIDS in Asia and the Pacific |access-date=10 January 2007 |date=1 July 2005 |work=UNAIDS |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223010935/http://data.unaids.org/UNA-docs/report_icaap_01july05_en.pdf |archive-date=23 February 2007}}</ref><ref name="06decUNAIDS">{{cite web |url=http://data.unaids.org/pub/EpiReport/2006/05-Asia_2006_EpiUpdate_eng.pdf |title=Asia |access-date=9 January 2007 |work=UNAIDS |date=December 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116033206/http://data.unaids.org/pub/EpiReport/2006/05-Asia_2006_EpiUpdate_eng.pdf |archive-date=16 January 2007}}</ref> However, the National AIDS Programme Myanmar found that 32% of sex workers and 43% of intravenous drug users in Myanmar have HIV.<ref name="06decUNAIDS" />

=== Education ===
{{main|Education in Myanmar}}

[[File:Students, Hakha, Chin State, Myanmar.jpg|thumb|Students on their way to school, [[Kalaymyo]], [[Sagaing Region]], Myanmar]]

According to the [[UNESCO]] Institute of Statistics, Myanmar's official [[literacy rate]] as of 2000 was 90%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uis.unesco.org/TEMPLATE/html/Exceltables/education/Literacy_Regional_April2006.xls |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625071529/http://www.uis.unesco.org/TEMPLATE/html/Exceltables/education/Literacy_Regional_April2006.xls |archive-date=25 June 2007 |title=Adult (15+) Literacy Rates and Illiterate Population by Region and Gender for |access-date=13 July 2006 |date=April 2006 |format=XLS |publisher=UNESCO Institute of Statistics}}</ref> Historically, Myanmar has had high literacy rates. The educational system of Myanmar is operated by the government agency, the [[Ministry of Education (Myanmar)|Ministry of Education]]. The education system is based on the United Kingdom's system after nearly a century of British and Christian presences in Myanmar. Nearly all schools are government-operated, but there has been an increase in privately funded English language schools in the early 21st century. Schooling is compulsory until the end of elementary school, approximately 9 years old, while the compulsory schooling age is 15 or 16 at international level.

There are 101 universities, 12 institutes, 9 degree colleges and 24 colleges in Myanmar, a total of 146 higher education institutions.<ref>Chronicle of National Development Comparison Between Period Preceding 1988 and after (up to 31 December 2006).</ref> There are 10 technical training schools, 23 nursing training schools, 1 sport academy and 20 midwifery schools. There are four international schools acknowledged by WASC and College Board—[[The International School Yangon]], [[Myanmar International School]], Yangon International School, and International School of Myanmar in Yangon. Myanmar was ranked 122nd in the [[Global Innovation Index]] in 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GII Innovation Ecosystems & Data Explorer 2025 |url=https://www.wipo.int/gii-ranking/en/myanmar |access-date=2025-10-16 |website=WIPO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dutta |first1=Soumitra |url=https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/global-innovation-index-2025/en/index.html |title=Global Innovation Index 2025: Innovation at a Crossroads |last2=Lanvin |first2=Bruno |publisher=[[World Intellectual Property Organization]] |year=2025 |isbn=978-92-805-3797-0 |page=19 |language=en |doi=10.34667/tind.58864 |access-date=2025-10-17}}</ref>

=== Crime ===
{{Further|Crime in Myanmar}}

Myanmar had a murder rate of 15.2 per 100,000 population with a total of 8,044 murders in 2012.<ref name=UNODC>{{cite web |url=https://www.unodc.org/gsh/en/index.html |title=UNODC: Global Study on Homicide |author=agt |access-date=5 January 2015 |archive-date=2 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602171852/http://www.unodc.org/gsh/en/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Factors influencing Myanmar's high murder rate include communal violence and armed conflict.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://investvine.com/asean-as-safe-as-we-think/ |title=ASEAN: As safe as we think? |first=Justin |last=Calderon |work=Inside Investor |date=3 July 2013 |access-date=7 July 2013 |archive-date=22 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622190043/http://investvine.com/asean-as-safe-as-we-think/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Myanmar is one of the world's most corrupt nations according to the 2012 [[Transparency International]] [[Corruption Perceptions Index]], which ranked the country at number 171, out of 176 countries in total.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.trust.org/item/?map=myanmar-still-near-bottom-of-corruption-rankings-in-2012-despite-reforms%2F |publisher=[[Thomson Reuters Foundation]] |title=Myanmar still near bottom of corruption rankings in 2012 despite reforms |date=5 December 2012 |access-date=5 January 2015 |archive-date=5 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105214224/http://www.trust.org/item/?map=myanmar-still-near-bottom-of-corruption-rankings-in-2012-despite-reforms%2F |url-status=dead}}</ref> Myanmar is the world's second largest producer of [[opium]] after [[Opium production in Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], producing some 25% of the world's opium, and forms part of the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]]. The opium industry was a monopoly during colonial times and has since been illegally operated by corrupt officials in the Burmese military and rebel fighters,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20150082 |title=UN report: Opium cultivation rising in Burma |publisher=BBC News |date=31 October 2012 |access-date=10 June 2013 |archive-date=15 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130715114536/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20150082 |url-status=live}}</ref> primarily as the basis for heroin manufacture. Myanmar is the largest producer of methamphetamines in the world, with the majority of ''[[Ya ba]]'' found in Thailand produced in Myanmar, particularly in the Golden Triangle and northeastern Shan State, which borders Thailand, Laos and China.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/279434/myanmar-reforms-mask-meteoric-rise-in-drug-trade |title=Myanmar's rising drug trade |last=Thornton |first=Phil |date=12 February 2012 |work=Bangkok Post |access-date=19 February 2012}}</ref> Burmese-produced ''ya ba'' is typically trafficked to Thailand via Laos, before being transported through the northeastern Thai region of [[Isan]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LG13Ae01.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715054055/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LG13Ae01.html |url-status=unfit |archive-date=15 July 2010 |title=Holes in Thailand's drug fences |last=McCartan |first=Brian |date=13 July 2010 |work=Asia Times |access-date=19 February 2012}}</ref>

== Culture ==
{{main|Culture of Myanmar}}

[[File:Burmese Ramayana dance.jpg|thumb|upright|Burmese [[Kinnara|Kinnayi Kinnaya]] dance]]
A diverse range of indigenous cultures exist in Myanmar, with majority culture primarily Buddhist and [[Bamar]]. Bamar culture has been influenced by the cultures of neighbouring countries, manifested in its language, cuisine, music, dance and theatre. The arts, particularly literature, have historically been influenced by the local form of Theravada Buddhism. Considered the national epic of Myanmar, the ''[[Yama Zatdaw]]'', an adaptation of India's ''[[Ramayana]]'', has been influenced greatly by Thai, Mon, and Indian versions of the play.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.goldenlandpages.com/hotspots/rama/rama.htm |title=Ramayana in Myanmar's heart |access-date=13 July 2006 |date=13 September 2003 |publisher=Goldenland Pages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060426233452/http://www.goldenlandpages.com/hotspots/rama/rama.htm |archive-date=26 April 2006}}</ref> Buddhism is practised along with [[nat (spirit)|nat worship]], which involves elaborate rituals to propitiate one from a pantheon of 37 nats.<ref>{{cite book |last=Temple |first=R.C. |title=The Thirty-seven Nats-A Phase of Spirit-Worship prevailing in Burma |year=1906}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://myanmartravelinformation.com/mti-myanmar-religion/nats.htm |title=The Worshipping of Nats&nbsp;– The Special Festival of Mount Popa |publisher=Myanmar Travel Information |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623011500/http://myanmartravelinformation.com/mti-myanmar-religion/nats.htm |archive-date=23 June 2006 |access-date=10 January 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Myanmar Traditional novitiation march.JPG|thumb|A Buddhist [[Shinbyu]] ceremony in [[Mandalay]]]]

In a traditional village, the monastery is the centre of cultural life. Monks are venerated and supported by the lay people. A novitiation ceremony called [[shinbyu]] is the most important [[coming of age]] events for a boy, during which he enters the monastery for a short time.<ref name="kmc">{{cite book |author=Chit, Khin Myo |author-link=Khin Myo Chit |year=1980 |title=Flowers and Festivals Round the Burmese Year}}</ref> All male children in Buddhist families are encouraged to be a novice (beginner for Buddhism) before the age of twenty and to be a monk after the age of twenty. Girls have ear-piercing ceremonies ({{lang|my|နားသ}}) at the same time.<ref name="kmc" /> Burmese culture is most evident in villages where local festivals are held throughout the year, the most important being the [[pagoda festival]].<ref name="Myam-ma">{{cite book |author=Tsaya |year=1886 |title=Myam-ma, the home of the Myanmarn |publisher=Thacker, Spink and Co. |location=Calcutta |pages=36–37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Yoe, Shway |year=1882 |title=The Myanmarn&nbsp;– His Life and Notions |publisher=Norton Library 1963 |location=New York |pages=211–216, 317–319}}</ref> Many villages have a guardian nat, and superstition and taboos are commonplace.

[[File:Rakhine Thingyan 2011.jpeg|thumb|An [[Rakhine people|Arakan]] (Rakhine) girl pours water at revellers during the Burmese New Year [[Thingyan]] Water Festival in Yangon.]]

British colonial rule introduced Western elements of culture to Myanmar. Myanmar's education system is modelled after that of the United Kingdom. Colonial architectural influences are most evident in major cities such as Yangon.<ref>{{cite news |first=Steven |last=Martin |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3578993.stm |title=Burma maintains bygone buildings |publisher=BBC News |date=March 2004 |access-date=9 July 2006 |archive-date=8 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408162817/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3578993.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> Many ethnic minorities, particularly the Karen in the southeast and the Kachin and Chin who populate the north and northeast, practice Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/TheSilkenEast |title=The Silken East&nbsp;– A Record of Life and Travel in Burma |author=Scott O'Connor |year=1904 |publisher=Kiscadale |location=Scotland |page=[https://archive.org/details/TheSilkenEast/page/n283 32]}}</ref> According to ''[[The World Factbook]]'', the Burman population is 68% and the ethnic groups constitute 32%. In contrast, the exiled leaders and organisations claim the country is 40% ethnic.

=== Cuisine ===
{{main|Burmese cuisine}}

[[Burmese cuisine]] is characterised by extensive use of fish products such as [[fish sauce]], [[ngapi]] (fermented seafood) and dried prawn. [[Mohinga]] is the traditional breakfast dish and is Myanmar's national dish. Seafood is a common ingredient in coastal cities, while meat and poultry are more commonly used in landlocked cities like Mandalay. Freshwater fish and shrimp have been incorporated into inland cooking as a primary source of protein and are used in a variety of ways, fresh, salted whole or filleted, salted and dried, made into a salty paste, or fermented sour and pressed. Burmese cuisine also includes a variety of salads (''[[a thoke]]''), centred on one major ingredient, ranging from starches like rice, wheat and rice noodles, glass noodles and vermicelli, to potato, ginger, tomato, [[kaffir lime]], long bean, and [[lahpet]] (pickled tea leaves).

=== Sport ===
{{Main|Sport in Myanmar}}

The [[Lethwei]], [[Bando]], [[Banshay]], and [[Pongyi thaing]] martial arts and [[chinlone]] are traditional sports in Myanmar.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/sports/28iht-games28.html In Myanmar, Sports Choices Raise Concerns]. January 27, 2013. [[The New York Times]]. Thomas Fuller.</ref> Football is played all over the country, even in villages, and its [[Myanmar national football team|national team]] is ruled by the [[Myanmar Football Federation]]. The [[2013 Southeast Asian Games]] took place in Naypyidaw, Yangon, Mandalay and [[Ngwesaung Beach]] in December representing the third occasion that the event has been staged in Myanmar. Myanmar previously hosted the games in [[1961 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games|1961]] and [[1969 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games|1969]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.betweenonline.com/2011/12/28/myanmar-prepares-for-the-2013-southeast-asian-games/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624150410/http://www.betweenonline.com/2011/12/28/myanmar-prepares-for-the-2013-southeast-asian-games/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 June 2018 |title=Myanmar prepares for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games |access-date=5 January 2012}}</ref>

=== Art ===
{{main|Art of Myanmar|Myanmar architecture}}

Burmese traditional art concepts are popular and respected by the Burmese people and people from abroad. Burmese contemporary art has developed quite rapidly on its own terms. Artists born after the 1980s have had greater chances of art practice outside the country.

One of the first to study western art was [[Ba Nyan]]. Together with [[Ngwe Gaing]] and a handful of other artists, they were the pioneers of western painting style. Later on most young children learned the concepts from them. Some well known contemporary artists are [[Lun Gywe]], Aung Kyaw Htet, [[MPP Yei Myint]], Myint Swe, Min Wai Aung, [[Aung Myint]], [[Kin Maung Yin]], [[Po Po]] and [[Zaw Zaw Aung]].

=== Media and communications ===
{{main|Media of Myanmar}}

Because of Myanmar's political climate, there are not many media companies in relation to the country's population. Some are privately owned. All programming must meet with the approval of the censorship board. The Burmese government announced on 20 August 2012 that it would stop censoring media before publication. Following the announcement, newspapers and other outlets no longer required approved by state censors; however, journalists in the country can still face consequences for what they write and say.<ref>{{cite news |title=Burma Abolishes Censorship |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/08/20/burma-abolishes-censorship.html |work=The Daily Beast |access-date=20 August 2012 |archive-date=21 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821034757/http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/08/20/burma-abolishes-censorship.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In April 2013, international media reports were published to relay the enactment of the media liberalisation reforms that we announced in August 2012. For the first time in numerous decades, the publication of privately owned newspapers commenced in the country.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sukri |first=Azhar |title=Myanmar shows new signs of press freedom |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2013/04/201341115227284132.html |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=1 April 2013 |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-date=4 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404121722/http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2013/04/201341115227284132.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Internet ====
{{main|Internet in Myanmar}}

[[File:Kayan women Burma 1.jpg|thumb|[[Kayan people (Burma)|Kayan]] women in a village near [[Inle Lake]], 2010]]
Internet use is estimated to be relatively low compared to other countries.<ref name="Calderaro">{{cite journal |last1=Calderaro |first1=Andrea |title=Internet Governance Capacity Building in Post-Authoritarian Contexts. Telecom Reform and Human Rights in Myanmar |journal=SSRN |date=1 May 2015 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2686095 |url=http://orca.cf.ac.uk/90938/1/SSRN-id2686095-2.pdf |access-date=22 February 2021 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310112035/http://orca.cf.ac.uk/90938/1/SSRN-id2686095-2.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.opentechfund.org/files/reports/otf_myanmar_access_openness_public.pdf |title=Internet Access and Openness: Myanmar 2012 |access-date=18 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414221004/https://www.opentechfund.org/files/reports/otf_myanmar_access_openness_public.pdf |archive-date=14 April 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Myanmar's internet used to be subject to censorship, and authorities viewed e-mails and posts on Internet blogs until 2012 when the government removed media censorship. During the strict censorship days, activity at internet cafes was regulated, and one blogger named [[Zarganar]] was sentenced to prison for publishing a video of destruction caused by [[Cyclone Nargis]] in 2008; Zarganar was released in October 2011.

In regards to communications infrastructure, Myanmar is the last ranked Asian country in the World Economic Forum's [[Networked Readiness Index]] (NRI) – an indicator for determining the development level of a country's information and communication technologies. With 139 countries reported on, Myanmar ranked number 133 overall in the 2016 NRI ranking.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://reports.weforum.org/global-information-technology-report-2016/networked-readiness-index/?doing_wp_cron=1577930341.6168849468231201171875 |title=NRI Overall Ranking 2016 |work=Global Information Technology Report 2016 |publisher=World Economic Forum |access-date=1 January 2020 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528133139/https://reports.weforum.org/global-information-technology-report-2016/networked-readiness-index/?doing_wp_cron=1577930341.6168849468231201171875 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Film ===
{{main|Cinema of Myanmar}}

Myanmar's first film was a documentary of the funeral of Tun Shein—a leading politician of the 1910s, who campaigned for Burmese independence in London. The first Burmese [[silent film]] ''Myitta Ne Thuya'' (''[[Love and Liquor]]'') in 1920 which proved a major success, despite its poor quality. During the 1920s and 1930s, many Burmese-owned film companies made and produced several films. The first Burmese [[sound film]] was produced in 1932 in [[Bombay]], India with the title Ngwe Pay Lo Ma Ya (Money Can't Buy It). After World War II, Burmese cinema continued to address political themes. Many of the films produced in the early Cold War era had a strong propaganda element.

In the era that followed the political events of 1988, the film industry has been increasingly controlled by the government. Film stars who had been involved in the political activities were banned from appearing in films. The government issues strict rules on censorship and largely determines who produces films, as well as who gets academy awards.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Zaw, Aung |title=Celluloid Disillusions |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/database/2004/vol12.3/cover.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050213182520/http://www.irrawaddy.org/database/2004/vol12.3/cover.html |archive-date=13 February 2005 |journal=Irrawaddy |volume=12 |issue=3 |date=March 2004}}</ref>

Over the years, the movie industry has also shifted to producing many lower-budget [[direct-to-video]] films. Most of the movies produced nowadays are [[Comedy film|comedies]].<ref>Kyi Soe Tun quoted in the Bangkok Post, 11 August 2006</ref> In 2008, only 12 films worthy of being considered for an [[Academy Award]] were made, although at least 800 VCDs were produced.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120328075748/http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=14937 Through the Director's Lens]. ''Irrawaddy''. 16 January 2009</ref> Myanmar is the primary subject of a 2007 graphic novel titled ''Chroniques Birmanes'' by [[Quebec City|Québécois]] author and animator, [[Guy Delisle]]. The graphic novel was translated into English under the title ''[[Burma Chronicles]]'' in 2008. In 2009, a documentary about Burmese [[videojournalist]]s called ''[[Burma VJ]]'' was released.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://burmavjmovie.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521155756/http://burmavjmovie.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 May 2009 |title=Burma VJ&nbsp;– Academy Award Nominee&nbsp;– Best Documentary Feature |publisher=Burmavjmovie.com |access-date=17 April 2010}}</ref> This film was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature|Best Documentary Feature]] at the [[82nd Academy Awards|2010 Academy Awards]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dannyfisher.org/2010/02/02/burma-vj-nominated-for-a-2010-academy-award-for-best-documentary-feature/ |title=Burma VJ Nominated for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Rev. Danny Fisher |publisher=Dannyfisher.org |date=2 February 2010 |access-date=17 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429004750/http://dannyfisher.org/2010/02/02/burma-vj-nominated-for-a-2010-academy-award-for-best-documentary-feature/ |archive-date=29 April 2011}}</ref> ''[[The Lady (2011 film)|The Lady]]'' had its world premiere on 12 September 2011 at the [[36th Toronto International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2011/09/tiff-list-2011-a-complete-guide-to-the-toronto-international-film-festival-52378/ |title=TIFF List 2011: A Complete Guide To The Toronto International Film Festival |last1=Knegt |first1=Peter |date=12 September 2011 |website=IndieWire |language=en |access-date=31 December 2018 |archive-date=27 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027185622/https://www.indiewire.com/2011/09/tiff-list-2011-a-complete-guide-to-the-toronto-international-film-festival-52378/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Myanmar|Asia|Countries}}
* [[Outline of Myanmar]]
* [[Censorship in Myanmar]]
* [[Culture of Myanmar]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|group=nb}}

===Pronunciations of ''Myanmar''===
{{reflist|group=pronunciations}}

== References ==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}

* Cameron, Ewan. "The State of Myanmar", ''History Today'', May 2020, vol. 70, issue 4, pp.&nbsp;90–93.
* {{cite book |last=Charney |first=Michael W. |title=History of Modern Burma |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999}}
* Combs, Daniel. ''Until the World Shatters: Truth, Lies, and the Looting of Myanmar'' (2021).
* {{cite book |last=Lieberman |first=Victor B. |title=Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830, volume 1, Integration on the Mainland |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-80496-7 |ref=Lieberman}}
* {{cite book |last=Maclean |first=Rory |title=Under the Dragon-A Journey through Burma |publisher=[[Tauris Parke]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84511-622-4 |ref=Maclean}}
* {{cite book |last=Myint-U |first=Thant |title=The River of Lost Footsteps—Histories of Burma |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-374-16342-6 |ref=Myint-U}}
* {{cite book |last=Kemp |first=Hans |title=[Burmese Light, Impressions of the Golden Land] |publisher=Visionary World |edition=illustrated with text by Tom Vater |year=2013 |isbn=978-9628563708}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150518085846/http://www.networkmyanmar.org/images/stories/PDF13/aye%20chan%20bwb.pdf "Burma's Western Border as Reported by the Diplomatic Correspondence(1947–1975)"] by Aye Chan
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|voy=Myanmar|commons=မြန်မာပြည်|d=Q836}}

'''Government'''
* [http://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/ Republic of the Union of Myanmar – President's Office] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603041202/http://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/ |date=3 June 2021 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190119082002/https://myanmar.gov.mm/ Myanmar National Portal]
* [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/world-leaders-1/BM.html Chief of State and Cabinet Members] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101072042/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/world-leaders-1/BM.html |date=1 January 2016 }} from the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA)
'''General information'''
* [http://mingalapar.com/ General information about Myanmar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016011526/http://mingalapar.com/ |date=16 October 2015 }}
* [http://myanma.com/ Burma Myanmar search Engine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622160420/http://myanma.com/ |date=22 June 2013 }}
* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ Burma] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201171209/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ |date=1 December 2021 }}. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091205161122/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/myanmar.htm Burma] from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12990563 Burma profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626082954/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12990563 |date=26 June 2014 }} from [[BBC News]]
* [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/400119/Myanmar Myanmar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428155257/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/400119/Myanmar |date=28 April 2015 }} at ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''
* {{OSM relation|50371}}
* {{wikiatlas|Myanmar}}
* [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/eyes-of-the-storm-turning-points-in-burmese-history/5363/ Interactive timeline of turning points in Burmese history] 
* [http://www.ifs.du.edu/ifs/frm_CountryProfile.aspx?Country=MM Key Development Forecasts for Myanmar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011100735/http://www.ifs.du.edu/ifs/frm_CountryProfile.aspx?Country=MM |date=11 October 2012 }} from [[International Futures]]
* [http://www.burmalibrary.org/ Online Burma/Myanmar Library: Classified and annotated links to more than 17,000 full-text documents on Burma/Myanmar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716151155/http://www.burmalibrary.org/ |date=16 July 2006 }}
* [https://sea.lib.niu.edu/seadl/islandora/object/SEAImages%3Ads5276p4861900zacollection#page/1/mode/1up Historical Photographs of Burma {{!}} Southeast Asia Digital Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701134450/https://sea.lib.niu.edu/seadl/islandora/object/SEAImages:ds5276p4861900zacollection#page/1/mode/1up |date=1 July 2022 }}

{{Burma (Myanmar) topics|state=expanded}}
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[[Category:Myanmar| ]]
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