Myanmar States and Regions

Myanmar is a country of 677,000 square kilometres whose first tier splits in two by name: the states, where the main ethnic minorities live around the rim, and the regions of the Bamar heartland along the Irrawaddy. Which kind of division a place is says a good deal about where it lies, so the groups below are the way to learn them.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Regions, states and the Nay Pyi Taw union territory
In the game: 15 divisions

Start

What you are looking at

The states and regions of Myanmar, the first tier of the country. Both are governed in the same way, and the difference is in the name: a state is the home of a named minority (Kachin, Chin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan), and a region is a division where the Bamar majority lives. Nay Pyi Taw, the capital built from 2005, is a union territory of its own.

The source draws Bago as an East and a West half and Shan as three, North, East and South. This map merges them back, so each of these is one answer, as it is in the country's own count. The districts beneath them keep the borders, and the regions are the Myanmar Districts grouped.

How to place one

Start with Shan. The largest state fills the east, on the borders with China, Laos and Thailand.
Follow the Irrawaddy south. Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, Bago and Ayeyarwady run in a line down the middle, ending in the delta.
Read the west as a wall. Chin and Rakhine sit between the river plain and India and the Bay of Bengal.
Finish at the thin tail. Tanintharyi runs down the narrow strip towards Thailand and the Malay peninsula.

Every division, by kind

Regions7 divisions: Ayeyarwady, Bago, Magway, Mandalay, Sagaing, Tanintharyi, Yangon
States7 divisions: Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine, Shan
Union territory1 division: Nay Pyi Taw

Worked examples

Shan

The state that is a third of the east

Shan is the largest division on the map, a plateau along the eastern border, and the one the source draws in three pieces.

Nay Pyi Taw

The capital

Nay Pyi Taw is a union territory in the middle of the country, between Mandalay and Bago, and the seat of government since 2006.

Kayah

The smallest state

Kayah is the smallest state, in the hills on the Thai border between Shan and Kayin.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a state and a region?

A state is the home of a named ethnic minority; a region is a division of the Bamar heartland. Both are the same tier. The game groups them so you can learn one kind at a time.

Why are Bago and Shan one answer each?

Some boundary files draw Bago in two and Shan in three. The country counts each as one division, so this map does too.

What is below the state or region?

The districts, which are their own quiz.

The tier below this one is Myanmar Districts. For another country at this level, see Madagascar Regions.

Sources

OCHA, Myanmar administrative boundaries (COD-AB), on HDX, the boundaries, from the Myanmar Information Management Unit; the regions are the districts dissolved, so the two maps share every border
Administrative divisions of Myanmar, the states, regions and union territory

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