
Myanmar Population and Economy
The population of Myanmar - which today exceeds 30 million residents - it has increased on average over the last fifteen years by 2% per year. The rate of increase of the urban population - double that of the general one - is considerable, especially in the two major cities of the country, which are about to become the two industrial centers of the Myanmar Rangoon (which went from 720,000 residents in 1960 to over 2 million in 1970) and Mandalay (from 180,000 to over 400,000). Myanmar still remains one of the poorest of the underdeveloped countries, with an average annual per capita income (1974) around 80 dollars. In the economic structure of the country, the primary sector continues to have a preponderant importance, and in the first place agriculture,…