News

Myanmar has suffered, along with the rest of the world, from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, it has had to contend with the instability and violence induced by the military coup of February 2021. By September 2021, the United Nations was warning of a human rights ‘catastrophe’ in the country, arising from a mix of widespread violence, food insecurity and rapidly rising poverty. Ines A. Ferreira, Vincenzo Salvucci and Finn Tarp share insights from our research in the country to identify the characteristics of households particularly vulnerable to falling into poverty – insights that can play a crucial role in the design and delivery of optimally-targeted humanitarian efforts.

By applying innovative statistical methods to Myanmar’s most recent survey data, we reveal the factors that may have made escaping poverty more or less likely for different households.