Preceding Pictures of Myanmar from MSN.com

Preceding Pictures of Myanmar from MSN.com
MYANMAR – An Economic Profile
Inta M.C. Mitterbach, Student
The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio
Economic Geography 3350-3201
Professor: Dr. Richard Klosterman
Due: March 15, 2007
File: Geography 3350-320 (Economic) Assignment 1 Economic Profile (Myanmar) IMCM
The country of Myanmar was formerly known as Burma. It is
located in Asia, sharing its border with India and China to the north,
Bangladesh to the west and Laos to the east on opposite sides in the
center, and Thailand in the south. The capital is Rangoon, located about in
the center of the country near the coast on the Bay of Bengal, The Sea of
Andaman, the Gulf of Martaban, and “The Mouths of the Irriwaddy.”
(Essential Atlas of the World, 2005.) The country is strategically located
near shipping routes. (CIA Factbook 2007.) The official name of the
country is the Union of Myanmar, formed in 1948. (Map and flag from
MSN Pictures database.) The Burmese people of Myanmar originally
came from Tibet and were later conquered by China. After that, Britain
ruled Burma as part of India. In 1948, Burma became independent. In
Mayanmar, the “Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi” has been
under “house arrest” and “incommunicado” since 1989. (CIA Factbook,
2007.) The country is considered to be a “military junta” government type.
(CIA Factbook.) A military junta is a military group that holds the country
with military power after taking over the government. (Amerian Heritage
Dictionary, 1994.) Historically, the country has seen some political turmoil.
At a glance, viewing photos provided through the Associated Press, the country looks
like it has some advanced and some primitive areas. There are people bringing loads of bamboo
by hand through the waterways, some people riding the rickshaw style bicycle taxis, and a
capital city that looks old. There were pictures of people working on building a road in a
primitive way and in one picture there was a man using heavy construction machinery working
on the landscape for a new capital city. Also, a picture of people, political activists with signs in
English was found. The following recent pictures (from the Associated Press Database) show a
Burmese Monk in a market place, a construction worker using modern heavy machinery, men
fishing, and a landscape of the capital city of Rangoon.
Page 1 of 6
According to the 2007 World Almanac, there are almost 47 million people in the country,
made up of “Burman (68%), Shan (9%), [and] Karen 7%.” (World Almanac 2007.) The
population is approximately four times the population in Ohio. The total land area is “261,970
sq[uare] mi[les,]” compared to Ohio: “44,825 sq[uare] mi[les,]” Myanmar is approximately six
times the size of Ohio.
The monetary unit is called a kyat and is worth about 15% of the U.S. dollar. One U.S.
dollar is equal to 6.43 kyats. The kyat equals 100 pyas. (Essential Atlas of the World, 2005.) The
industrial capabilities include “agric[ultural] proc[essing], apparel, wood [and] wood products,
mining, [and] constr[uction] materials. Chief crops [include] rice, beans, sesame, peanuts, [and]
sugarcane.” The natural resources include “oil, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten,
lead, coal, marble, limestone, gemstones, nat[ural] gas, [and] hydropower.” The livestocks
include “[…] cattle[,…] chicken[,…] goats[,…] pigs[, and…] sheep[.]” (World Almanac 2007.)
The arable land is 14.92% of the total land available. (CIA Factbook 2007.) According to the
CIA Factbook, there are $5.289 billion in exports and $2.049 billion in imports. The exports are
compared in the following table to compare the countries who are exporting the same types of
products.
Location
Clothing Pulses Gas Wood Products Beans Fish Rice Total $ Exports







Myanmar
5.289 bil

United States
1.024 tri
China
974 bil
India
112 bil
Japan
593 bil


Bangladesh
11.17 bil


Laos
593.6 mil
Note: Japan, Bangladesh and Laos added for comparison of neighboring and economic power in
Asia. The green highlighting shows the two higher exports. Myanmar is rated 95th from the top
in the amount of dollars in exports. Also note: the categories of exports are not all inclusive for
all of the countries. Pulses are a legume type of plant that is grown to feed animals and people.
The plant produces one to twelve seeds.
The following table gives an idea of where Myanmar stands worldwide with regard to its
population, literacy and Gross Domestic Product. The World, Myanmar, the United States,
China, India and the lowest ranking country, Pitcairn Island has been selected to create a table of
economic conditions to compare. The statistics were found in the CIA Factbook online. Based on
literacy rates that strongly indicate the progression of a society, given the 5 countries that I
selected for comparison, the United States ranks first, the China ranks second, Myanmar ranks
third, and India ranks fourth. Pitcairn Island does not have sufficient data for comparison. China
Page 2 of 6
and India were selected because they are currently in the group of upcoming economic giants in
the world. It does not appear that Myanmar has a problem with population explosion, but the
literacy rate is not as high as the rate for the United States. Although Myanmar is not at the top
of the World Ranking for Gross Domestic Product, it is closer to the top ranking than the bottom.
Table 1 – Ranking (The shaded red cells indicate the highest concern.)
Location
Worldwide
Myanmar
United
States
China
India
Pitcairn
Island
Population World
Rank
Population
Growth Rate
World Literacy
Rank Rate
/235
Purchase
Power
(GDP)
World
Rank
6.5 bil
47.3 mil
298.4 mil
27
4
0.81%
0.91%
27
4
85.3%
99.0%
84 billion
13 trillion
65
1
1.3 bil
1.1 bil
45
1
2
235
0.59%
1.38%
-0.01%
1
2
235
90.9%
59.5%
NA
10 trillion
6 trillion
3
5
NA
Note: The Pitcairn Island is in the Pacific and is a “British Dependency.” (The figures are from
the CIA Factbook, 2007.)
According to the CIA Factbook, the country is suffering from instability and inflation.
The United States has a ban on imports from Mayanmar and providing “financial services” from
the United States in an act of dissatisfaction with the house arrest of the nobel prize winner. (CIA
Factbook 2007.) As you can see from the preceding table, Myanmar is not at the top of the world
according to rank, but for a developing country, out of approximately 200 countries, Myanmar
shows a rank of 65 which is closer to the top than the bottom.
As you can see from the following table, Myanmar is predominantly an agricultural
country and arable land is 14.92 %, compared to 18.01% for the United States.
Location
Worldwide
Myanmar
United States
China
India
Agriculture
4%
54.7%
0.9%
11.9%
19.9%
Industry
32%
7%
20.4%
48.1%
19.3%
Services
64%
23%
78.6%
40%
60.7%
Total %
100%
84.7%
90%
100%
99.9%
NOTE: (The figures for the preceding table are from the CIA Factbook, 2007.)
Page 3 of 6
Location
Worldwide
Myanmar
United
States
China
India
Unemployment
Rate
World % Below
Inflation
Industrial
World
Rank Poverty
Rate
Production
Rank
Line
Growth Rate
30.00% 175.0
NA
NA
3.00%
114
10.20%
10.2
25%
21.40%
NA
NA
4.60%
48.0
12%
2.50%
4.20%
93
4.20%
7.80%
41.0
87.0
10%
25%
1.50%
5.30%
22.90%
7.50%
3
44
NOTE: (The figures for the preceding table are from the CIA Factbook, 2007.)
Taking a look at the World Bank website, which recognizes Burma as Myanmar, the
figures given are most prevalent from year 2000. The table shown indicates that the GDP went
down from 9.8% in 2000 to 3.0% in 2004, and then rose to 5% in 2005. Inflation went way up
from 6.1% in 2000, to 17.6% in 2005. Mobile phone use went from 6.0% in 2000, up to 10.3% in
2004. The internet use went from 0.1% in 2000, up to 1.3% in 2004. Foreign investment went
down from 258.0 million in 2000, to 213.5 million in 2004 (according to US dollars). Also
according to the World Bank figures, “Long Term Debt” went from 5.2 billion in 2000, up to 5.6
billion in 2004. According to the CIA Factbook, it is difficult to determine the export rates and
figures due to a great amount of smuggling to Thailand, China, and Bangladesh. The figure given
is 5.289 billion dollars and lists the exports being smuggled as “[…]timber, gems, narcotics, rice,
and other products[….]”The World Bank does not provide any information with regard to
exports.
The following pictures are from MSN.com.
The following pictures are from Associated Press.
According to the Lonely Planet publication on Southeast Asia, if you are thinking about
visiting Myanmar, you may have to enter through China. There is no entrance or exit from India,
Bangladesh, or Laos. Once you are in Myanmar, there is no exit to China. You can get a 1-30
Page 4 of 6
day tourist permit to visit Myanmar depending on where you are coming from. The visas are
twenty dollars for 28 days and issued by Myanmar embassies and consulates. Some of the sites
include Buddhist monasteries and shrines, restaurants, palaces, museums, festivals, and gardens.
The air transportation, boats and busses are available for transportation from place to place. Be
sure to take plenty of travelers checks, there are no ATMs. The “[h]ighlights[,]” according to the
Lonely Planet publication, are the cities of Bagan with “[t]housands of ancient temples[…;] Inle
Lake[: a] pristine lake amid mountains, home to floating villages, monasteries, and gardens[;
and] Kalaw[: …for backpacking…].”
From the Lonely Planet guide, the following expressions/greetings are provided:
Min gala ba – hello
Thwa-ba-oun-meh – goodbye
Chez u beh – thanks
The following pictures are from Associated Press.
Sources:
American Heritage Dictionary. Dell Publishing. New York. 1994
Associated Press Database. Available through University of Akron Bierce Library at
http://accuweather.ap.org.proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl.
Chambers World Atlas. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd., Edinburgh. 2005
CIA World Factbook, The. CIA. February 09, 2007.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/.html
Essential Atlas of The World. Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. Third Edition. New York.
2005.
Southeast Asia on a shoestring. Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. Oakland, CA. 2006.
MSN (Microsoft Net). February 09, 2007. https://www.msn.com
Page 5 of 6
Wikipedia. February 11, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
World Almanac and Book of Facts 2007, The. World Almanac Books. Copyright 2007 by World
Almanac Education Group, New York, 2007.
The following map is scanned from Chambers Reference Atlas.
Page 6 of 6