Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for voluntary military service for both sexes (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 12,268,850
females age 18-49: 12,469,771 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 7,946,701
females age 18-49: 8,543,705 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 469,841
females: 455,689 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$39 million (FY97)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.1% (FY97)
Transnational Issues Burma
Disputes - international:
over half of Burma's population consists of diverse ethnic groups
with substantial numbers of kin beyond its borders; despite
continuing border committee talks, significant differences remain
with Thailand over boundary alignment and the handling of ethnic
rebels, refugees, and illegal cross-border activities; ethnic Karens
flee into Thailand to escape fighting between Karen rebels and
Burmese troops; in 2005 Thailand sheltered about 121,000 Burmese
refugees; Karens also protest Thai support for a Burmese
hydroelectric dam on the Salween River near the border;
environmentalists in Burma and Thailand continue to voice concern
over China's construction of hydroelectric dams upstream on the
Nujiang/Salween River in Yunnan Province; India seeks cooperation
from Burma to keep Indian Nagaland separatists from hiding in remote
Burmese uplands
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 540,000 (government offensives against ethnic insurgent
groups near the eastern borders; most IDPs are ethnic Karen,
Karenni, Shan, Tavoyan, and Mon) (2006)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Burma is a source country for men, women, and
children trafficked to East and Southeast Asia for sexual
exploitation, domestic service, and forced commercial labor; a
significant number of victims are economic migrants who wind up in
forced or bonded labor and forced prostitution; to a lesser extent,
Burma is a country of transit and destination for women trafficked
from China for sexual exploitation; internal trafficking of persons
occurs primarily for labor in industrial zones and agricultural
estates; internal trafficking of women and girls for sexual
exploitation occurs from villages to urban centers and other areas;
the military junta's economic mismanagement, human rights abuses,
and policy of using forced labor are driving factors behind Burma's
large trafficking problem
tier rating: Tier 3 - Burma does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making
significant efforts to do so