Themilitary council started conducting a pilot census in Maungdaw township, awestern Rakhine border town with a majority Muslim population, which is closeto Bangladesh.

Thecensus (1 to 15 Oct) is conducted to collect data from residents by thedepartmental officials and ward administrators. The government and villageadministrators have joined the mission.

Themilitary junta-owned New Light of Myanmar daily reported on 9 October that thecensus team is divided into small groups so that accurate data can be collectedquickly.

RakhineState Prime Minister U Htin Lin visited Maungdaw on 8 October to watch thecensus works. However, many residents have no idea about the census.

 "Icame to know that Rakhine Prime Minister visited the construction site of cityhall in Maungdaw. But I don't know about the census. I asked the administrator and evenhe was clueless about it. He claimed that they have not received suchnotifications, said a young resident.

Similarly,a Aung Bala villager also stated that they have no information about the pilotcensus in the villages under Maungdaw township.

Thepilot census covers 20 townships across Myanmar which was initiated after themilitary coup.  

Thejunta is expecting to complete the census by next year so that the electoralpapers can be prepared for the next general polls.

Juntachief general Min Aung Hlaing informed about the national elections recently ata meeting held in Naypyidaw.

On1 October, the military council released the national census report statingthat the country had a population of 56.2 million, whereas the Rakhinepopulation was 3.4 million.

Earlier,Myanmar witnessed national censuses 1973, 1983 and 2014, where in 2019 an interimcensus was also conducted.