Myanmar

Myanmar is currently ranked 147 out of 189 countries 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.

Life in Myanmar

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 sectarian violence. Since the latest outbreak of violence, in August 2017, this number has risen into the hundreds of thousands and over one million have been forcibly displaced.

In February 2021, democratically elected members of Myanmar's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw – the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar –  in a coup d'état. The country has been in turmoil ever since, with huge pro-democracy protests often resulting in violent clashes with the junta.