Myanmar’s Deepening Poverty Leaves Millions With Little Strength for Another Crisis

A new UNDP report finds that 68 percent of the population, more than 37 million people, are living in multidimensional poverty or are vulnerable to falling into it, revealing how deeply everyday life has been affected.

For millions of people across Myanmar, an illness, a lost job or a flooded home can become a crisis that the family no longer has the resources to manage. Years of conflict, economic disruption and displacement have drained savings, unsettled livelihoods and weakened access to essential services. A new UNDP report finds that 68 percent of the population, more than 37 million people, are living in multidimensional poverty or are vulnerable to falling into it, revealing how deeply everyday life has been affected.

Poverty reaches beyond an empty wallet

The report, Layers of Deprivation: Multidimensional Poverty in Myanmar, examines overlapping disadvantages in health, education and living standards. Its findings describe a struggle that extends beyond earnings, reaching into whether families can obtain medical care, live in adequate housing or access clean water and sanitation. Health and living-standard deficits account for more than 80 percent of multidimensional poverty, with conflict zones facing particular difficulties. Savings, dependable work and social support networks that once helped households through emergencies are steadily disappearing.

Where people live shapes the hardship they experience, with conflict, displacement and restricted services driving deprivation in some areas, and persistent gaps in employment, education, infrastructure and public services dominating elsewhere. Rakhine is among the hardest-hit regions: more than two-thirds of its population are multidimensionally poor, and nearly one-third are severely poor. Phone-based data collection may understate deprivation among stateless and displaced people, including Rohingya communities. Yangon's lower regional poverty rate also conceals one of the country's largest concentrations of multidimensionally poor people, exposing growing insecurity in urban and peri-urban neighbourhoods.

Each new shock takes away another safety net

Climate pressures threaten households already struggling to recover, with exposure to floods, cyclones, droughts and landslides affecting around one in five households. The release warns that these pressures are expected to intensify with El Niño, and an estimated 600,000 people had been affected by flooding at the end of August. Losing crops or a home can leave families facing another recovery bill before they have paid for the previous emergency, especially when displacement has disrupted work and access to help.

Rising fuel prices linked to the Gulf crisis, inflation and increasing food costs are adding to that strain. Diesel and gasoline prices remain approximately 87 percent and 85 percent above pre-crisis levels, respectively; prices in Chin, Rakhine, Kachin and Ayeyarwaddy are two to four times those in Yangon. UNDP regional director Kanni Wignaraja describes communities confronting emergencies in close succession, from conflict and displacement to illness and lost income, until the small reserves they depend on are exhausted.

Young people's shrinking choices threaten recovery

Young people are growing up with fewer routes into education, employment and a secure future, with insecurity and economic stress narrowing their choices about staying, moving or building a career. UNDP's Generation Crossroads estimates that at least one million young people have left Myanmar since 2021, representing a major loss of human capital. An ageing population and youth departures leave older people carrying more responsibility for care, food and family safety, increasing dependence on community support systems already under severe strain.

Nearly half of households dependent on casual labour are multidimensionally poor, and casual-worker, conflict-affected and migrant households face the highest poverty levels. Without greater investment in decent livelihoods, education and essential services, desperation could push more people towards illegal or dangerous ways of surviving. Wignaraja's warning reaches beyond today's deprivation to the opportunities Myanmar is losing for tomorrow: recovery cannot wait for the fighting to end. Supporting healthcare, education, livelihoods, local markets and basic services is essential to preserving people's ability to rebuild their lives and their country.