The population of Myanmar (2004 estimate) is 49.9 million. Myanmar is 131st of the 175 countries on the Human Development Index, above Papua New Guinea and Swaziland, and bracketed under ‘medium development countries’. It fell from its position of 127 held in 2002 (125 in 2000).

Public expenditure on health and education as a percentage of GDP is extremely low. The public expenditure on health is just about 0.4 percent of GDP, and education is about 0.5% of GDP.

Myanmar is poor by Asian standards, and consequently suffers from a number of social problems. Inflation in the prices of consumer goods has been a continuing problem, particularly for poorer people in the cities. Since a large number of young women in the border areas have been drawn into prostitution in Thailand, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has become a large-scale problem. For much of the period since World War II (1939-1945), poverty along with the conditions of political unrest have kept the population growth rate quite low, lower even than in neighbouring Thailand, which boasts a successful family planning program.

The literacy rate of the adult population is reported to be 86 percent. However, the Myanmar government claimed that less than one-fifth of the population was truly literate when it was seeking United Nations (UN) status as a “least developed country” in the late 1980s.

World Bank
• Myanmar at a glance
• Data profile

AIDS/HIV
• UNDP You and Aids Profile
• UNAIDS

Foundation Projects

The Foundation supports the developmental and emergency relief projects of the De La Salle Brothers in Myanmar.