Burmese, or Myanmar, is a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is spoken mainly in Myanmar (Burma), where it is the official language. There are approximately 33 million people who speak Burmese as a first language. There are also thought to be another 10 million who speak it as a second language.
There are two registers of Burmese: high and low. The high register is used in formal literature, newspapers, radio and formal speeches. The low register is used in television, comics, informal literature, and everyday conversation. Since the 1960s some Burmese writers have promoted the use of the low register, and have suggested the abandoning of the high register.
Ninety percent of the Burmese people are Buddhist, with 8% Christians. Myanmar is a closed country to most any outside influence.
Myanmar is one of the least developed countries; as of 2020, according to the Human Development Index, it ranks 147 out of 189 countries in terms of human development, the lowest in Southeast Asia. Since 2021, more than 600,000 people were displaced across Myanmar due to the surge in violence, with more than 3 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
