Myanmar

Life in Myanmar

Myanmar is currently ranked 149 out of 191 countries and territories in the Human Development Index (HDI).  Over one quarter of the population is living in poverty and nearly a third of children under five have stunted growth.  It is one of the top three countries in the world affected by natural disasters and suffers frequently from extreme weather events. Livelihoods, sanitation, health and nutrition all suffer as a result. Around 91,889 children in Myanmar currently out of school.

Myanmar has struggled to recover from the effects of multiple crises in recent years. In 2015, Cyclonic Storm Komen – an unusual tropical cyclone that originated near the southern coast of Bangladesh and later struck Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India – devastated the country, displacing 1.7 million people.

Also in 2015, tens of thousands of Rohingya people were forcibly displaced from their communities and IDP camps in Rakhine State due to violence. Since the latest outbreak of conflict, in August 2017, this number has risen into the hundreds of thousands and over one million people have been forcibly displaced.

The country has been in fresh turmoil since 2021, with political instability and huge pro-democracy protests often resulting in violent clashes with the current junta.