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 (261,800 sq miles), 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.