Page updated on 21/07/2010

Most people live in the 40,000-odd villages of the country, while the majority of the urban population reside in the capital city of Rangoon. Among the population engaged in agriculture, approximately 37 percent of the people do not have any land or livestock. Poverty and misery have increased in the past three decades.

On 3rd May, 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated the country when winds of up to 215 km/h (135 mph) touched land in the densely populated, rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division.

Recent reports estimate that more than 130,000 people are dead or missing from Cyclone Nargis that hit the countrys Irrawaddy delta. Damage totaled to 10 billion dollars (USD); it was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history.

Burma (recently renamed Myanmar) is probably potentially one of the richest countries in the world. The natural resources are enormous: natural gas, oil, tin, coal, silver, gold, gems, large teak forests, fertile rice fields just to mention a few.

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