YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — As Myanmar continues its transition from decades of military rule and self-imposed isolation, it is about to carry out a census that experts say is crucial for national planning and development, but also likely to inflame already soaring ethnic and religious tensions.

No one knows exactly how many people live in the predominantly Buddhist nation. The generally accepted figure is around 60 million, but that is based on extrapolations from Myanmar’s last census, conducted 30 years ago, a count believed by experts to have significantly underrepresented the Muslim community and excluded large swaths of the country plagued by civil strife.