Overcoming Child Poverty in Myanmar
Investing in Human Capital, Responding to COVID-19
Highlights
The purpose of this report is to provide the Government of Myanmar, development partners and other stakeholders with a framework for an effective socio-economic response to COVID-19, with a clear focus on children.
The report highlights the pre-existing vulnerabilities and risks faced by children in Myanmar. It relies on a rapid change monitoring exercise and an analysis of public finances and their allocation, and it presents simulated and forecasted changes, to advocate for specific policy reforms to protect children and support the country’s development.
The work outlined in this report precedes and prepares for further more in-depth empirical research yet to be undertaken, which will require additional investment in the coming months and years. Child poverty is a new indicator in Myanmar. While monetary household poverty in Myanmar has been measured frequently over the past decades, the number of children aged under 18 years living in poor households was first officially published in the Myanmar Living Conditions Survey (MLCS) – Socio Economic Report, published in February 2020, just a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Myanmar.
