Burma (i/ˈbɜrmə/ BUR-mə), also known as Myanmar (i/ˈmjɑːnˌmɑr/ MYAHN-mar, /ˈmaɪænmɑr/ or /ˈmjænmɑr/), is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. At 676,578 km2 (261,227 sq mi), it is the 40th largest country, the second largest in Southeast Asia and the 24th most populous with over 60.28 million people.
Burma is a resource-rich country and in 2011 GDP stood at $82.68 billion and was estimated to grow at an annual rate of 5.5%. Among others, the EU, United States and Canada had previously imposed economic sanctions on Burma.
The United Nations and several other organizations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country, including genocide, systematic rape, child labour, slavery, human trafficking and a lack of freedom of speech. Nevertheless in recent years, the government has slowly been improving relations with major powers like the United States, Japan and European Union countries.
Read more about Burma: Etymology, History, Geography, Government and Politics, Administrative Divisions (regions and States), Human Rights, Health, Foreign Relations, Military Relations, Economy, Demographics, Culture, Education, Media, Sport
Other articles related to "burma":
... The Lethwei and Pongyi thaing martial arts are the national sport in Burma. ...
... Protestants in Burma make up 3% of that nation's population, many of them Baptists ... The Protestant Churches of Burma were begun in the early 19th century by Adoniram Judson, an American Baptist missionary ... Methodists and Anglicans form the strongest denominations in Burma ...
... Yangbye Island or Yanbye Island) is an island off the coast of Rakhine State, Burma. 1945, as part of the British Fourteenth Army 1944/45 offensive on the Southern Front of the Burma Campaign ... State and from Ramree Island, oil from the Middle East and gas from Burma's ocean coast will be transported through the pipelines to China ...
... are a subgroup of the Red Karen (Karenni) people, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Burma (Myanmar) ... In the late 1980s and early 1990s due to conflict with the military regime in Burma, many Kayan tribes fled to the Thai border area ...
... See Insein Prison, Human rights in Burma. ...
Famous quotes containing the word burma:
“If the Third World War is fought with nuclear weapons, the fourth will be fought with bows and arrows.”
—Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten Of Burma Mountbatten (1900–1979)