Yangon, May 29 (IANS): Myanmar's population, which grew slower at 0.89 percent per year, is less than half of the 1970s rate, according to the final results of the 2014 population and housing census released on Friday.

The total population accounted for 51.5 million which include estimates for areas not enumerated in Rakhine, Kachin and Kayin states comprising a total of 1.2 million people, Xinhua news agency reported citing the figures.

Of them, more females (51.8 percent) were counted than males (48. 2 percent), the results said, adding that the urban population across the country represented 30 percent of the total, while the rural population took up 70 percent.

Half of the population is under the age of 27 but the proportion of children has started to fall. The average number of children per woman has declined to 2.3 from 4.7 in 1983.

Life expectancy at birth, 66.8 years, has improved but is still one of the lowest in Southeast Asia, it said, adding that the life expectancy is six years longer for females than males.

Eighty-five percent of adult males and 50 percent of females are in the workforce, while unemployment is 4 percent and nearly twice as high as those between 15 and 29.

Yangon is the most populated region with 7,355,075 people accounting for 14.3 percent and the least populated state is Kayah state with 286,738 people accounting for 0.6 percent.

Myanmar's 2014 Nationwide Population and Housing Census results in Nay Pyhi Taw was launched by President U Thein Sein and the event was attended by chief ministers from all of the country's 15 states and regions, ethnic and religious leaders, international donors and representatives of UN agencies, international NGOs, civil society organisations and the private sector totaling 1,000.

U Thein Sein expressed appreciation over the participation and cooperation rendered in the census process by ethnic national leaders.

Vijay Nambiar, UN special advisor for Myanmar, hailed the census as a "monumental achievement" that would benefit both the country's development and its democratic process, despite challenges that need to be addressed.

Myanmar held the national census in March-April 2014, the first in three decades, and successfully collected 98 percent of the current population in line with international norms.

The country's first population census, conducted in 1872, showed a total population of 2.7 million, while the second in 1983 registered 35.3 million.