Burma's economic isolation over the years has meant that a large part of its labour force has not been able to upgrade its skills.

BBC: Ford announces entry into Burma market

This happens when there are relatively few children (because of the fall in fertility), relatively few older people (because of higher mortality previously), and lots of economically active adults, including, often, many women, who enter the labour force in large numbers for the first time.

ECONOMIST: Demography

"Much of this decline in the jobless rate is not due to improvements in the labour market, but rather to large numbers of young people dropping out of the labour force altogether due to discouragement, " the ILO says.

BBC: Youth unemployment 'set to rise'

However, he pointed out that "a lot of the drop in the unemployment rate comes down to a decline in the size of the labour force, which is quite large".

BBC: US unemployment rate falls sharply to 8.6%

To put these large sounding numbers in perspective, remember that the US labour force is growing a lot faster than ours.

BBC: US jobs numbers suggest 'soft patch' may get stickier

Some politicians worry that such a large, mainly Muslim country would change the whole character of the EU, while others point to the young labour force that Turkey could provide for an ageing Europe.

BBC: EU enlargement: The next eight