FACTBOX: Key facts about Myanmar, Asia's troubled state

(Reuters) - Myanmar's military government is to hold a referendum on a new constitution in May 2008, followed by elections in 2010.

Here are some key facts about Myanmar, a former British colony that gained independence in 1948.

COUNTRY NAME: Union of Myanmar, or Myanmar. The name was changed from the Union of Burma in 1989 in what the ruling military junta described as an attempt to respond to protests from minority non-Burman ethnic groups.

POPULATION: 56.51 million in 2006 and growing an average annual two percent, the Asian Development Bank estimates. The vast majority of the 135 ethnic groups are Burman (68 percent), followed by Shan (9 percent) and Karen (7 percent).

The population is predominately Theravada Buddhist (89 percent), the rest being Christian, Muslim, Hindu and animist.

AREA: At approximately 678,000 sq km, it is the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Less than two percent of land is under permanent crops and pasture. About 15 percent is arable. Forests make up nearly 50 percent.

BORDERS: Myanmar has borders with Bangladesh, China , India, Laos and Thailand (1,800 km). It also has nearly 2,000 km of coastline on the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.

CAPITAL: Naypyidaw. In 2005, the military government moved the capital 390 kilometers north from colonial-era Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) to remote Naypyidaw.

ARMED FORCES: Active forces estimated at 375,500 in 2006, making the country's military one of Asia's largest after China and India. The military rely mostly on older Russian and Chinese technology.

ECONOMY: Long-isolated Myanmar joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, comprising its major trade partners, in 1997. It embarked on a market economy in 1998 after 26 years of central planning.

Though impoverished, Myanmar is rich in natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, timber, tin, zinc, copper and precious stones. The economy relies heavily on the export of natural gas, agricultural, marine and forest products and textiles.

There are few accurate economic statistics available and the country has a large black-market economy.

Independent economists say decades of mismanagement by the military, which has ruled for 45 years, have left Myanmar with negligible growth, rampant inflation and a currency, the kyat, considered worthless outside the country. An estimated 26 percent of the population live in poverty on less than $1 a day.

POLITICS:

Myanmar has faced political and economic isolation since the military refused to recognize the results of a democratic election in 1990, won by the pro-democracy National League for Democracy of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Foreign donors remain reluctant to help, saying the country's human rights record is not good and urging the junta to honor the election results. Suu Kyi wants foreign investment and tourism halted until the junta allows political reform.

Many Western countries, including members of the European Union, the United States and Australia, maintain economic and military sanctions on the country. Neighboring China is a main trading partner and one of the regime's few friends, while Thailand is another important export market.

In the late summer of 2007 widespread protests led by monks threatened the junta as thousands of people took to the streets. After weeks of demonstrations the military cracked down, suspending the country's Internet, arresting ringleaders and shutting down some monasteries. The junta's actions resulted in widespread international condemnation.

Sources: Reuters, CIA World Factbook, Asian Development Bank Myanmar factsheet 2007 (www.adb.org/Documents/Fact_Sheets/MYA.pdf)