File photo of Myanmar’s military chief-turned-President Min Aung Hlaing.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A soldiers provides security to census enumerators who collect information in Naypyitaw, Myanmar on October 1, 2024 as the country holds a national census to compile voter lists for a general election and to analyze population and socioeconomic trends.
| Photo Credit: AP

Myanmar’s military government launched a nationwide census was on Tuesday, which the junta said will be used to compile voter lists for a general election promised for next year, even though much of the country is engulfed in civil war.

Census takers, most of them schoolteachers and local administrative workers, began going door-to-door in the capital, Naypyitaw, accompanied by soldiers and police.

The shadow National Unity Government, a group that led the struggle against military rule, has advised people to use “caution” in complying with the survey, and pro-democracy guerrillas have warned that those who help collect information will face reprisals. Several were attacked and killed during a similar smaller-scale survey last year.

The military government was widely seen as hoping the polls will legitimise its rule, which began after it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

‘Crucial for polls’

In a televised speech in early September, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, said the information being gathered from October 1 to October 15 was crucial for compiling voter lists for a general election, but did not specify a date for the polls. He previously pledged to hold an election in 2025. He also said that people must answer all the questions without anxiety or doubt.

The census was widely seen as an effort to gather information to more closely monitor opponents of military rule.

The Ministry of Immigration and Population said more than 42,000 census workers will gather information from more than 13 million households across the country. The survey contained 68 questions on matters such as the number of people living in each home, their education, disabilities, types of houses and access to water, electricity and toilets.

It also included questions about the occupants’ backgrounds, family members who have been away from home and the cause of death of family members, all highly sensitive matters for those who joined the armed resistance or the civil disobedience movement.

A 33-year-old nurse from Yangon, the country’s biggest city, who joined the civil disobedience movement in 2021 said she was worried about her safety because the census contained detailed questions about her job history and the military might use it to punish her. Like others who agreed to be interviewed, she spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared arrest.

A 29-year-old man who took up arms to fight against the army in the southeastern State of Kayin said he had suggested to his family back in his hometown in Mon State that they visit relatives in other townships to avoid the survey.

A 26-year-old gym trainer from Yangon said that he believed the authorities are gathering information not only for the census but also to obtain details of men who are eligible for military service. The military activated conscription in February after it was forced into the defensive against pro-democracy militants as well as ethnic militias seeking autonomy.

The Chin Brotherhood Alliance, which comprises five ethnic Chin militias from the northwestern Chin State, and the Dawei Defence Team, a group from the southern Tanintharyi region, warned in statements last month that they will take strong action against military government personnel who participate in the survey.