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Southeast Asia, between Bangladesh and Thailand. Almost as big as Texas. Humid, tropical and rainy. Less so in winter.
Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937, when Britain made it a separate, self-governing colony. British rule was not popular and Burmese joined the Japanese in driving the British out. Arrogance by the Japanese drove Burmese against them and toward the end of the war they helped the British drive the Japanese out. Britain gave Burma its independence in 1948.
From 1962 Burma was dominated by General Ne Win, as a military ruler, then self-appointed president and later as a power broker. In 1962 the general created a military Revolutionary Council, which he chaired. He announced that he was on a Burmese road to socialism.
On 4 January 1974, Burma was named Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. In 1988 protests against economic hardship and political oppression erupted. Demonstrations were violently crushed by army troops who fired relentlessly into unarmed crowds. The world took little notice because of Burma's isolation. sters throughout the country. Thousands were arrested. On September 18, 1988, army chief-of-staff General Saw Maung "staged" another military coup. A civilian, Dr. Maung Maung, was appointed President and he promised free and fair multi-party elections. Elections for parliamentary seats in 1990 gave a landslide victory to members of the National League for Democracy, but ruling military men denied the party power, and rule by military junta continued. The leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Since 1992 Burma's politics has remained the control of the State Peace and Development Council - the military government - led General Than Shwe. He is described in Wikipedia as having relaxed some state control over the economy, and have having allowed the International Commitee of the Red Cross and Amnest International to make visits to Burma, but also as "often seen as not tolerating criticism," as an opponent of democractization (losing power), and as "sullen and rather withdrawn, as marking national holidays and ceremonies with messages in the state-run newspapers, but rarely talking to the press.
2007: Burma is run by twelve generals in a clique called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Differences among the generals and other details about them have been guarded state secrets.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Estimated per capita GDP:
2007 $1,900 (Ranks180th)
2006 $1,800
2005 $1,700
2004 $1,700
GDP annual growth rate estimated for 2007: 5.5 percent. (Ranks 96th)
Most overseas development assistance ceased after the junta suppressed the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently ignored the results of the 1990 election.
Seventy percent of the labor force in Burma is in agriculture.
Burma exports gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, rice, clothing, jade and gems, largely to Thailand, India, China and Japan.
Military expenditures as a percentage of GDP: 2.1 (estimated for 2005).
According to the CIA Factbook "Burma is a resource-rich country that suffers from government controls, inefficient economic policies, and abject rural poverty" In 2007 the Factbook writes: "Published statistics on foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and unofficial border trade - often estimated to be as large as the official economy. Though the Burmese government has good economic relations with its neighbors, better investment and business climates and an improved political situation are needed to promote serious foreign investment, exports, and tourism."
2008: deaths 9.23, births 17.23
2007: deaths 9.33, births 17.48
2005: deaths 12.15,
births 18.11
Estimated for July 2008: 47.758 million, up from 42.9 million in 2005. Growth rate estimated for 2008: 0.8 percent per year.
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 49.12, down from 67.24 in 2005 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births).
Average life expectancy estimated for 2008: 62.94 up from 62.49 years - about ten years less than its neighbors Thailand and China.
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 1.2 percent (2003).
The majority ethnicity is 68 percent. Many different ethnicities make up the other 32 percent, which included those who live on the sea coast, the Moken, who have been imposed upon by the government's building of military bases.
Eighty-nine percent of the people in Burma are counted as Buddhist, 4 percent as Christian and 4 percent as Muslim.
The government is dictatorial, including control over information. Those in power are repressive. Burma is a one-party state.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.