Basic Facts

Area: 676,552 sq km (261,218 sq miles).

Population: 46,402,000 (1997).

Population Density: 68.6 per sq km.

Capital: Yangon (Rangoon). Population: 2,513,023 (1983).

Government: Socialist Republic since 1974. Power assumed by the army in 1988. Head of State and Government: General Than Shwe since 1992.

Language: The official language is Myanmar (Burmese). There are over 100 dialects spoken in Myanmar. English is spoken in business circles.

Religion: 87% Theravada Buddhist. The remainder are Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Animist.

Myanmar, officially, Union of Myanmar, republic in Southeast Asia, bounded on the west by Bangladesh; on the northwest by India's Assam State; on the northeast by China's Yunnan Province; on the east by Laos and Thailand; and on the southwest by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The longest land border is shared with China. Myanmar (pronounced myahn-mah) was known as Burma until 1989; the English version of the country's name was changed by the military government that took over in 1988. Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) is the capital and largest city.

Climate

The climate of Myanmar and other countries in South and Southeast Asia follows a monsoon pattern. During the half of the year that the sun's rays strike directly above the equator, the land mass of Asia is heated more than is the Indian Ocean. This draws moist hot air from over the ocean onto the land, bringing the rains of the southwest monsoon. When the tilt of the earth brings the direct sun rays south of the equator, the heating of the Indian Ocean draws the cooler dry air of the northeast monsoon from the highlands of Asia across the countries of South and Southeast Asia. As a result, Myanmar has three seasons: hot and wet, warm, and very hot. During the hot, wet season, from mid-May to October, rain usually falls every day and sometimes all day. Almost all of Myanmar's annual rainfall falls during this time. In the cooler season, which runs from late October to mid-February, the temperature for January averages 25° C (77° F) in Yangon in Lower Myanmar and 20° C (68° F) in Mandalay in Upper Myanmar. The hottest season runs from late February to early May. At the end of this season, the average monthly temperature reaches the upper 30°s C (lower 100°s F) in many parts of Myanmar. By July rains have brought the average temperature down to 29° C (84° F) in Mandalay and 27° C (81° F) in Yangon. Average annual rainfall varies from about 5,000 mm (about 200 in) on the Tenasserim Coast to about 760 mm (about 30 in) at Mandalay.

Geography: Myanmar is a diamond-shaped country extending 925km (575 miles) from east to west and 2100km (1300 miles) from north to south. It is bounded by China, Laos and Thailand in the east, by Bangladesh and India in the north and by the Indian Ocean in the west and south. The Irrawaddy River runs through the centre of the country and fans out to form a delta on the south coast; Yangon stands beside one of its many mouths. North of the delta lies the Irrawaddy basin and central Myanmar, which is protected by a horseshoe of mountains rising to over 3000m (10,000ft), creating profound climatic effects. To the west are the Arakan, Chin and Naga mountains and the Patkai Hills; the Kachin Hills are to the north; to the east lies the Shan Plateau, which extends to the Tenasserim coastal ranges. Intensive irrigated farming is practised throughout central Myanmar, and fruit, vegetables and citrus crops thrive on the Shan Plateau, but much of the land and mountains are covered by subtropical forest.