The number of residents in Myanmar’s urban area has increased by 100 percent in about 30 years, from 8 million in 1980 to 16 million now, adviser to the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association (MCEA) Hla Maung said.
With the development of industries and businesses in Myanmar, the figure is expected to increase every year, with the urban dwelling population hitting 35 percent of the total population in 2015, the former ambassador said.
People living in urban areas in Myanmar were 30 percent of the total population in 2000.
The total population in urban areas was 15.34 million in 2000 and that figure is expected to increase to 23.68 million in 2015, U Hla Maung said.
In 2015, 4.74 million homes will be required in order to provide every resident a roof in Myanmar. About 20 percent of the housing will be needed for the local residents. Myanmar needed 2.89 million dwellings in 2000.
“Some 20,000 rooms will be needed annually in Yangon and only 7,000 rooms have been constructed. The average requirement of the room is still increasing,” an official from MCEA said.
According to statistics, the population in Myanmar is increasing by 2.2 percent annually. If the population continues to increase at that rate, the total population will reach 67.65 million by 2015.
The total population is expected to increase by 17.52 million during the fifteen-year period from 2000 to 2015, Hla Maung said.