A study of families, households and population in the Union of Burma

Abstract

This thesis reviews the historical writings on families and households in the Union of Burma, followed by a statistical analysis of the demographic, social and economic characteristics of household heads and total population. Where data are available such characteristics are discussed for various regions. The review of sociological and anthropological studies of families and households is based mainly on historical writings. The customs and behaviour with regard to marriage, kin-relations, divorce and inheritance, status of women and role of children in different racial groups have been examined. A varied picture of the ;socio-cultural pattern of family life of different societies in the Union of Burma was observed. A statistical analysis of the family itself is not feasible in the Union of Burma as information has always been sought by households. The statistical data on households reveal that the summary indices such as the average size of household, mean age of the head of the household, proportion of the total population by marital status, educational attainment and workforce participation do not show much variation between the regions, and thus by races. One could generally conclude that although the minorities depict variation in their customs towards family life, the characteristics of the people living in various regions, which broadly approximate racial groups, are not different.