  We review recent research on the Milky Way galaxy and try to investigate
whether its shape is similar to other barred galaxies. The emphasis is given on
microlensing research because this method can be useful in determining the
shape of the Galaxy with the minimal set of assumptions. By analyzing plots of
the microlensing optical depth, $\tau$ as a function of galactic coordinates
for different values of the axis ratio, $q$ of the galactic halo, we have shown
that observations are best described by a flattened halo with $0.2 ^<_\sim q
^<_\sim 0.6$.
