Myanmar's first census in three decades shows the country has a population of 51 million people, authorities said Saturday.

This figure is a significantly lower amount of the estimated population of 60 million.

"The provisional result of the population in Myanmar is 51,419,420. The female population is 1.7 million more than the male population," immigration minister Khin Yi said at a press conference Saturday.

The former junta-ruled nation's last survey was conducted in 1983.

The latest census, which triggered international concern after authorities refused to allow minority Muslims to register their ethnicity as Rohingya, was conducted in March and April.