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By Shoon Naing
(Reuters) - Myanmar said its 2024 census found a population of 51.3 million, slightly smaller than 10 years ago, as the junta prepares for promised elections amid ongoing conflict and unrest across the country, state media reported on Wednesday.
The census, which was held in October, will be used to compile voter lists for the elections planned for this year that opposition groups have widely condemned as a sham.
"I am striving to successfully organise a free and fair election, which is the ultimate goal of the State Administration Council," junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said in his New Year speech that was published in state media.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military overthrew an elected civilian government and violently suppressed pro-democracy protests, sparking a nationwide armed rebellion.
The military is fighting rebels on multiple fronts, struggling to govern and manage a crumbling economy that was seen as a promising frontier market before the generals ended a decade of tentative democracy.
Last month, Myanmar's foreign minister briefed neighbouring countries on the junta's progress towards holding an election, which has been widely criticised due to the absence and sidelining of opposition groups.
The 2024 population of 51.3 million was down from a 51.5 million figure in the previous census in 2014, the reports said. The country's Muslim Rohingya minority was not included in either census.
The population figure was made up of 32.2 million people counted in the census and an estimate of 19.1 million people in areas that were inaccessible due to security and transportation issues, the reports said.
"For estimating the population ... high-resolution satellite imagery (ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 metres) was acquired from commercial providers in Russia, China, India, and various European countries," the census report said.
The census figure is lower than a estimated 2024 population of 54.5 million from the World Bank, which is based on the United Nations World Population Prospects report. The World Bank has estimated Myanmar's population at 50.7 million in 2014.
(Reporting by Shoon Naing; Editing by John Mair)
