Country profile · Southeast Asia
Myanmar
Myanmar has about 54.9 million people (UN, 2025). The army seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021. The coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has been president since April 2026. The civil war has killed more than 100,000 people since the coup (ACLED). Myanmar is the world's fourth-largest miner of rare earths.
Where Myanmar ranks
All rankings →Which alliances is Myanmar in?
All alliances →Who runs Myanmar?
President Min Aung Hlaing was born on July 3, 1956. He trained as an officer at the Defence Services Academy and commanded the armed forces from 2011. On February 1, 2021, he led a coup and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party had won the election of November 2020. The army's government dissolved her party in 2023. It then held its own election between December 28, 2025 and January 25, 2026. Only 263 of the 330 townships voted, because of the war. The army's party, the USDP, won 739 of the 1,025 seats filled. The constitution also gives a quarter of the seats in parliament to officers chosen by the army chief (chart). Min Aung Hlaing gave up command of the army on March 30, 2026. Parliament elected him president on April 3. State media said Aung San Suu Kyi was moved to house arrest on April 30, 2026. Nobody outside has confirmed it.
- Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the army's party 339
- Officers appointed by the army chief 166
- Other parties, plus 78 seats left empty where no vote was held 159
Photo (June 2026): Prime Minister's Office of India, Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India (cropped)
Who are Myanmar's allies and rivals?
China is Myanmar's most important partner. Chinese pipelines carry oil and gas from Kyaukphyu, on the Bay of Bengal, to southern China. This lets some of China's fuel imports avoid the Strait of Malacca. China has also brokered ceasefires that made two ethnic armies give towns back to Myanmar's army, including Lashio in April 2025. Russia sells Myanmar fighter jets and signed a military cooperation agreement with it in February 2026. India hosted President Min Aung Hlaing's first trip abroad as president, in May 2026. The other members of ASEAN have barred Myanmar's leader from their summits since 2021 and have not recognized the election. Five of them still hosted him between July and October 2026. The EU and the UK keep their sanctions. The US also still sanctions him, but a senior State Department official met him in September 2026. The two governments are now talking about scam centers and rare earths.
Allies and partners
Tensions
- European UnionSanctions on 105 people and an arms embargo
United KingdomSanctions on the army's leaders since 2021
BangladeshHosts about 1.2 million Rohingya refugees
- Kyaukphyu Start of the oil and gas pipelines to China and site of a planned Chinese port. Still held by the army.
- Lashio Taken from the army in August 2024, the first regional army headquarters to fall. Handed back in April 2025 after Chinese pressure.
- Chipwi Rare earth mines on the Chinese border, taken by the Kachin Independence Army in October 2024.
- Myawaddy Border town next to the KK Park and Shwe Kokko scam compounds, raided in late 2025.
- Myanmar
- Partner
- Tensions
Who does Myanmar trade with?
China bought 29.6% of Myanmar's exports in 2025 and supplied 40.2% of its imports (chart). Thailand was the second-largest buyer. Singapore was the second-largest supplier, mostly of fuel. Myanmar's largest export is natural gas, which earned $3.2 billion in 2024 (OEC). It goes by pipeline to Thailand and China, and output has fallen every year since 2021. Beans and pulses (sold mostly to India), rice and rare earths come next. Clothing factories sell to the EU, which lets Myanmar's goods in without tariffs. The US has charged a 40% tariff since August 2025. The economy shrank in each of the last two years, by about 2.0% in the year to March 2026 (World Bank). Prices rose 21.1% that year. The share of people in poverty was 29.9% in 2025, up from 24.8% in 2017. Myanmar is also the world's largest known source of illegal opium (UNODC).
Singapore
Malaysia
Who controls Myanmar?
No one controls all of Myanmar. After the coup, the army crushed street protests. Its opponents then formed armed groups, the People's Defence Forces, and joined ethnic armies that had fought the army for decades. In October 2023, three ethnic armies launched a joint offensive. The Arakan Army now holds 14 of the 17 townships of Rakhine State and the whole border with Bangladesh. At the end of 2025, resistance forces held about 38% of Myanmar's land (ISP-Myanmar). The army still holds the cities and the central plains, where most people live. It has drafted more than 120,000 men since February 2024 and carried out more air strikes in 2025 than in any year since the coup (ACLED). By June 2026 it had won back 22 towns. More than 100,000 people have died in the war since the coup (ACLED). About 4 million people have fled their homes within Myanmar (UNHCR).
Why does China need Myanmar's rare earths?
Myanmar mined about 22,000 tonnes of rare earths in 2025, the fourth-largest amount in the world (chart). Its mines produce heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium. These metals help magnets keep their strength when they get hot, in electric car motors, wind turbines and weapons. Almost all of Myanmar's output goes to China, which refines it. Myanmar supplied 53% of China's rare earth imports by weight in the first nine months of 2025 (ISP-Myanmar). Most of the mines are in Kachin State, on the Chinese border. In October 2024 the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) captured the main mining area, and China closed the border gates. The KIA began taxing every tonne in 2025. China reopened four border gates held by the KIA in October 2025. In 2026 the United States also began talking about Myanmar's rare earths with the government of President Min Aung Hlaing.
Share of world rare earth mine production, 2025
Full ranking →
China69.2%
United States13.1%
Australia7.4%- Myanmar5.6%
Thailand1.2%
Russia0.7%
India0.7%
US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2026