Religions in Burma: Impact on daily life and business

Burma has a population of 50 million people, 135 ethnic groups and over one hundred languages and dialects. The country gained independence from Britain in 1947 and has been ruled since 1962 by highly repressive and authoritarian military regimes.

The religions of Burma
The majority of the population are Theravada Buddhists. There are minorities of Christians (mostly Baptists as well as some Catholics and Anglicans), Muslims (mostly Sunni), Hindus, and practitioners of traditional Chinese and indigenous religions. According to government statistics, almost 90 percent of the population are Buddhist, 4 percent are Christian, and 4 percent are Muslim; however, according to the USA department of state, these statistics may understate the non-Buddhist proportion of the population.
The country is ethnically diverse, and there are correlations between ethnicity and religion. Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion among the majority Bamar ethnic group, and among the Shan and Chinese minorities. Christianity is the dominant religion among the Kachin and the kayah ethnic groups. Islam and Hinduism are practiced mainly by Indians. Traditional indigenous religions persist widely in popular Buddhist rituals, especially in rural areas (Dingrin, 2001)
In much of the country there also is some correlation between religion and social class. Non-Buddhists tend to be better educated, more urbanized, and more business oriented than the Buddhist majority (Schober, 2008).

The Theravada Buddhism
Most of the Buddhist follows the Theravada form of Buddhism. Literally, it means “the teaching of the elders”. It is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. Mainly of the non-Burmese groups follows this philosophy, but their beliefs and practices can present some differences, mainly because they include animistic elements, reflecting the beliefs which predated the introduction of Buddhism.
The Buddhism has a huge influence