Book Review: Socio-Economic Atlas of Myanmar

Summary

This review examines the Socio-Economic Atlas of Myanmar, the first publication of its kind, which integrates extensive country data into accessible visualizations across six themes: administration, environment, population, infrastructure, economic development, and social development. While it fills critical data gaps, particularly in areas absent from the 2014 Census Atlas, the review identifies significant shortcomings. The authors fail to critically reflect on their perspective, omitting ethnicity and belonging despite available census data, and use problematic phrasing such as the "so-called Rohingya issue" without justification. Additionally, the atlas lacks transparency on data sources and methodology, and does not address controversies surrounding the 2014 Census, including allegations of incomplete questioning, lack of post-enumeration surveys, and politicized ethnic identity handling. These omissions undermine the atlas's reliability for policymakers and researchers, though it still holds potential to stimulate new debates and research on Myanmar.