Myanmar poverty crisis deepens as UNDP report shows widespread multidimensional deprivation

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Myanmar poverty crisis UNDP report

Highlights

UNDP reports 17.9 million people in Myanmar are multidimensionally poor and another 19.5 million are vulnerable, exposing over 37 million to overlapping pressures.
Deficits in health and living standards account for over 80% of poverty, with Rakhine state seeing more than two-thirds of its population multidimensionally poor and nearly one-third severely poor.
UNDP warns macroeconomic instability, escalating conflict, El Niño-driven climate shocks, and the exodus of at least one million young people since 2021 are worsening Myanmar's long-term economic outlook.

UNDP findings highlight broadening deprivation

As reported by UN News, citing the UN Development Programme, the country is facing more than an income crisis, with family safety nets such as savings, stable work, access to services and social support networks steadily weakening.

The report says 17.9 million people in Myanmar are multidimensionally poor, while another 19.5 million are vulnerable, leaving more than 37 million people exposed to overlapping pressures. It adds that deficits in health and living standards account for more than 80% of multidimensional poverty, including poor access to healthcare, housing, clean water, sanitation and other basic services, especially in conflict-affected areas.

UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Kanni Wignaraja says the depth of poverty is eroding human development itself, while repeated shocks continue to worsen deprivation. The agency also says poverty patterns vary by region, with conflict, displacement and restricted services driving hardship in some areas, and long-standing gaps in livelihoods, education, infrastructure and public services weighing on others.

Rakhine state remains one of the most severe hotspots, where more than two-thirds of the population is multidimensionally poor and nearly one-third is severely poor. The report notes that deprivation among some stateless and displaced groups, including Rohingya communities, may be understated because phone-based data collection has limitations.

Conflict, disasters and migration strain recovery prospects

The findings come as Myanmar remains engulfed in civil war following the military's seizure of power in February 2021, while also facing macroeconomic instability, recurrent disasters and the lasting effects of the March 2025 earthquake.

UNDP says the data challenges the view that poverty is mainly rural. Although Yangon has lower poverty rates than many conflict-affected states, it also contains one of the largest concentrations of multidimensionally poor people, reflecting mounting pressure on urban and peri-urban households.

Climate risks are adding to those strains, with roughly one in five households exposed to floods, cyclones, droughts and landslides. The report says these shocks are expected to intensify with the coming El Niño weather pattern, and notes that by the end of August about 600,000 people had been affected by flooding.

External economic pressures, including higher fuel prices linked to the Gulf crisis, inflation and rising food costs, are also squeezing households. Nearly half of families dependent on casual labour are multidimensionally poor, while migrants and households in conflict zones face some of the highest poverty levels.

The report also warns of a longer-term economic cost as young people come of age amid insecurity and shrinking opportunity. UNDP says at least one million young people may have left Myanmar since 2021, calling it one of the country's largest recent losses of human capital at a time when the population is ageing.

In our earlier article on the Philippines’ Accelerated Water and Sanitation Project, we covered the first-phase investment plan to expand clean water access and upgrade sanitation services in Bohol, Siargao, and Jolo, alongside reforms to improve utility performance. We also noted that outcomes depend not just on funding commitments, but on execution capacity, coordination across agencies and local governments, and adapting “best practices” to local institutional realities—factors that ultimately shape household well-being and resilience.

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