BILIN TOWNSHIP, Mon State, Myanmar — Daw Thein Thay was out early on Sunday morning 30 March, eager to start collecting data in her assigned area. The 35 year-old Karen primary school teacher was one of 120,000 people trained as census enumerators in Myanmar’s first census since 1983.

After putting on her enumerator’s cap and jacket, she set out with a clipboard, census questionnaires and a list of homes she was to visit. 

By day three she had already enumerated 56 households. “I have another 80 households to go in the next-door village of Donwon, which I will visit tomorrow,” she said. 

Asked how the community was responding to the enumeration process and if she had encountered any difficulties, Daw Thein Thay replied: “So far everyone was able to answer the 41 questions on the census form.” All of the household she visited were of Karen or Bamar ethnicity, and all her enumerations were conducted in Karen or Burmese language. Other ethnic groups in Mon State include Mon and Pa-O.

U Myint, 42 year-old Bamar farmer and father of four, sat down with the enumerator as the head of his household to go over the questionnaire. Other family members helped with the answers.

“I was happy to be part of the enumeration as it will benefit our community,” U Myint said. He said he found all the questions on the questionnaire easy to understand and was able to answer them without difficulty. He knew about the census beforehand, having had heard about it on the radio. The family does not own a television set. 

One of many small-scale farmers in Bilin Township, U Myint owns five acres of land, on which he and his wife mainly raise fruits and vegetables. They sell their produce at the local market, which enables them to pay for seeds for planting as well as living costs. None of their children attend school. During the rainy season they also earn money working in the surrounding paddy fields or a nearby rubber plantation. 

Their oldest daughter Ma Mon Mon Muay, 19, lives next door with her husband and four-month-old son. She was enumerated before her father, and also reported having no problem answering the 41 questions.