COVID-19, Coup d'Etat and Poverty: Compounding Negative Shocks and Their Impact on Human Development in Myanmar

This report presents UNDP research findings and analysis of data collected prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar on the socio-economic impacts of the compounded negative shocks of COVID-19 and the ongoing coup d’état. The study warns that, if unchecked, the combined effect of these two crises could push up to 12 million people into poverty. That could result in as much as 25 million people - nearly half of Myanmar’s population - living below the national poverty line by early 2022, a level of impoverishment not seen in the country since 2005. Without rapid corrective actions on economic, social, political and human rights protection policies, these scenarios will put Myanmar’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 well out of reach. As a dire and complex situation unfolds - characterized not only in humanitarian terms but also as a deep crisis in development, democratization, and human rights - and circumstances worsen, international support will play an important role in safeguarding the well-being of the Myanmar population.