Buddhist monks (Photo: aa.com.tr) Yangon (VNA/AA) - After being withheld for over a year for political reasons, controversial census data on religion in Myanmar is set to be released later this month, according to a Myanmar government official.
Permanent Secretary of the Labour, Immigration and Population Ministry Mya Kyaing told Anadolu Agency by phone that the religion data from the Population and Housing Census conducted in 2014, which had been withheld alongside ethnic data until after last year’s election, would be released on July 21 with the instruction from the current government.
“However the release date for census data on ethnicity has yet to decided,” he added.
The 2014 census had been the first in 30 years in Myanmar, which inaugurated its first civilian government led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in late March.
In June, Mya Kyaing also told Anadolu Agency that the preparation of data on ethnicity had also been finalised but the ministry has yet to set a date for its release as it is “more complicated than any other issues in the country”.-VNA
