Myanmar Civil Registration

Civil registration
Research use: Information can be used to compile pedigrees and family groups. Identifies parents, children and spouses and dates and places of vital events. Other relatives are often identified.

Record type: Births, marriages, divorces, deaths.

Time period: 1852-present. Contents: Births:  Child’s name, birth date and place; parents’ names, residence, and occupation; witnesses’ ages, relationships, residences. Marriages: Bride and groom names, ages, residences, occupations, marriage date and place; sometimes ages and/or birth dates and places; parents' names; residences, occupations; witnesses; former spouses. Divorces: Often listed on the back of the marriage register. Includes names, ages, dates and places, occupations, residences. Death registers: Name of deceased, age, death date and place, occupation, name of surviving spouse, informant’s name and residence, cause of death, sometimes birth date and place, parents’ names, children’s names. Location: National Civil Registration Office, local police registry offices.

Population coverage: Before 1960, 20%; after 1960, 70%.

Reliability: Excellent.

Background
BMD returns were not formally organized until the arrival of the British in 1826, when they gained the territory of Tenasserim, bordering Siam. Civil Administration was initially centered at Prince of Wales Island, Penang. In 1834 the province became part of Bengal, however military administration was based in Madras until the 1840's. Records relating to baptisms, marriages and burials in Tenasserim may therefore appear in Chaplain's Returns in the UK or Madras (for military events) or in Madras, Penang or Bengal returns during this period.

The only official returns were Anglican and RC until the 1850's, when the Government of India provided means for returns of minority religions such as the Baptists. Records from the Myanmar National Archives show that Baptist marriages were not reported until November 1858.