The Myanmar Living Conditions Survey (MLCS) is a comprehensive assessment of the well-being of people in Myanmar. It provides reliable, accurate and up-to-date data that can be used to inform policies for the future development of the country, establish the baseline of Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan and monitor the Sustainable Development Goals within the context of the 2030 Agenda.
... See More + This Poverty Report is the second in a series of analytical reports drawing from the MLCS that are produced jointly by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), World Bank and United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The Key Indicators Report, launched in 2018, provides a snapshot of key non-monetary indicators of living standards in Myanmar. This report provides an update and a basic diagnostic of poverty in Myanmar. This report shows substantial improvements over time in consumption-based welfare in Myanmar. Between 2005 and 2017, the share of the population that is considered poor declined by almost 50 percent. However, the report demonstrates that significant spatial differences in welfare exist, with poverty becoming increasingly concentrated in rural areas and some states and regions lagging behind. Compared with regions such as Tanintharyi, Mandalay and Yangon, poverty is four times as prevalent in Chin and three times as prevalent in Rakhine. Moreover, many people remain vulnerable and at risk of falling into poverty, particularly in the face of a negative shock. Closing geographical gaps in welfare will be vital for promoting more inclusive and sustainable growth in Myanmar.
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Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) nightlights are used to model damage caused by earthquakes, floods, and typhoons in five Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam).
... See More + The data are used to examine the extent to which for each type of hazard there is a difference in nightlight intensity between affected and nonaffected cells based on (i) case studies of specific disasters, and (ii) fixed effect regression models akin to the double difference method to determine any effect that the different natural hazards might have had on the nightlight value. The results show little to no significance regardless of the methodology used, most likely due to noise in the nightlight data and the fact that the tropics have only a few days per month with no cloud cover.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS9052 OCT 31, 2019
Doing business 2020 is the 17th in a series of annual studies investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
... See More + Doing business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - and over time. Regulations affecting 12 areas of the life of a business are covered: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, employing workers, and contracting with the government. The employing workers and contracting with the government indicator sets are not included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business. Data in doing business 2020 are current as of May 1, 2019. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where, and why. This economy profile presents indicators for Myanmar; for 2020, Myanmar ranks 165.
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Myanmar's energy consumption is among the lowest in the world. About 70 percent of the population has no access to electricity, and the consumption per capita is 160 kWh per annum, twenty times less than the world average.
... See More + Most rural areas lack electricity services - only 16 percent of rural households have access to grid-based power. Access to modern fuels for cooking (such as LPG) is limited to urban areas, with the countryside relying on traditional biomass (fuel wood and animal dung), comprising about two-thirds of Myanmar's primary energy consumption. To support evidence-based development strategies for the nation’s energy sector, the World Bank has commissioned this study of the economic costs of natural gas development and distribution in the domestic market. Natural gas can be a potent catalyst for economic growth and livelihoods improvement, but as a direct energy source and feedstock for relatively low emission electric power generation. For their part, Myanmar authorities are interested to review the economic cost of supplying natural gas for domestic consumption to better prepare for the rising domestic demand for gas. An updated gas costing exercise can support effective decision-making on leading energy policy decisions, including but not limited to balancing gas export and domestic consumption, domestic gas pricing, including tariffs and/or subsidies.
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Urbanization in Myanmar is still in an early phase with slightly less than one-third of the population living in cities. This presents an enormous opportunity for the country.
... See More + Cities are engines of growth and prosperity, which facilitate industries to grow jobs, services and innovations. Cities are also fundamental to lifting people out of poverty through increased employment opportunities and incomes to citizens. No country has reached middle income status without urbanizing. That being said, the way that cities urbanize is important to growth, poverty and livability. If adequate investments are not made in basic infrastructure and services, urban planning, and in ensuring a governance and financing structure that can deliver for residents, cities instead can end up with major problems of congestion, pollution, sprawl, and inequality which can create or worsen social divisions, and potentially contribute to crime and violence. The report, Myanmar’s Urbanization: Creating Opportunities for All aims to understand urbanization in Myanmar drawing on the growing literature on the topic in Myanmar, especially for Yangon. It uses an inclusive urbanization lens and proposes a set of priority policy areas for urgent attention that will help to ensure the benefits of urbanization are widely realized given the projected growth of cities. An inclusion lens is particularly important in Myanmar as the country transitions from a complex history that has been characterized by decades of economic and political isolation, conflict, and underdevelopment. Inclusive urbanization is reliant on three keydimensions; economic, social and spatial. Economic inclusion refers to equitable access to employment and income-generating activities in a city, and resilience to shocks. Spatial inclusion refers to equitable and affordable access to land, housing, infrastructure and basic public services. Social inclusion relates to individual and group rights, equity, security and dignity. Such aspects of social inclusion and exclusion are relevant to groups who are often marginalized inday-to-day urban life.
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Urbanization in Myanmar is still in an early phase with slightly less than one-third of the population living in cities. This presents an enormous opportunity for the country.
... See More + Cities are engines of growth and prosperity, which facilitate industries to grow jobs, services and innovations. Cities are also fundamental to lifting people out of poverty through increased employment opportunities and incomes to citizens. No country has reached middle income status without urbanizing. That being said, the way that cities urbanize is important to growth, poverty and livability. If adequate investments are not made in basic infrastructure and services, urban planning, and in ensuring a governance and financing structure that can deliver for residents, cities instead can end up with major problems of congestion, pollution, sprawl, and inequality which can create or worsen social divisions, and potentially contribute to crime and violence. The report, Myanmar’s Urbanization: Creating Opportunities for All aims to understand urbanization in Myanmar drawing on the growing literature on the topic in Myanmar, especially for Yangon. It uses an inclusive urbanization lens and proposes a set of priority policy areas for urgent attention that will help to ensure the benefits of urbanization are widely realized given the projected growth of cities. An inclusion lens is particularly important in Myanmar as the country transitions from a complex history that has been characterized by decades of economic and political isolation, conflict, and underdevelopment. Inclusive urbanization is reliant on three keydimensions; economic, social and spatial. Economic inclusion refers to equitable access to employment and income-generating activities in a city, and resilience to shocks. Spatial inclusion refers to equitable and affordable access to land, housing, infrastructure and basic public services. Social inclusion relates to individual and group rights, equity, security and dignity. Such aspects of social inclusion and exclusion are relevant to groups who are often marginalized inday-to-day urban life.
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Urbanization in Myanmar is still in an early phase with slightly less than one-third of the population living in cities. This presents an enormous opportunity for the country.
... See More + Cities are engines of growth and prosperity, which facilitate industries to grow jobs, services and innovations. Cities are also fundamental to lifting people out of poverty through increased employment opportunities and incomes to citizens. No country has reached middle income status without urbanizing. That being said, the way that cities urbanize is important to growth, poverty and livability. If adequate investments are not made in basic infrastructure and services, urban planning, and in ensuring a governance and financing structure that can deliver for residents, cities instead can end up with major problems of congestion, pollution, sprawl, and inequality which can create or worsen social divisions, and potentially contribute to crime and violence. The report, Myanmar’s Urbanization: Creating Opportunities for All aims to understand urbanization in Myanmar drawing on the growing literature on the topic in Myanmar, especially for Yangon. It uses an inclusive urbanization lens and proposes a set of priority policy areas for urgent attention that will help to ensure the benefits of urbanization are widely realized given the projected growth of cities. An inclusion lens is particularly important in Myanmar as the country transitions from a complex history that has been characterized by decades of economic and political isolation, conflict, and underdevelopment. Inclusive urbanization is reliant on three keydimensions; economic, social and spatial. Economic inclusion refers to equitable access to employment and income-generating activities in a city, and resilience to shocks. Spatial inclusion refers to equitable and affordable access to land, housing, infrastructure and basic public services. Social inclusion relates to individual and group rights, equity, security and dignity. Such aspects of social inclusion and exclusion are relevant to groups who are often marginalized inday-to-day urban life.
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Urbanization in Myanmar is still in an early phase with slightly less than one-third of the population living in cities. This presents an enormous opportunity for the country.
... See More + Cities are engines of growth and prosperity, which facilitate industries to grow jobs, services and innovations. Cities are also fundamental to lifting people out of poverty through increased employment opportunities and incomes to citizens. No country has reached middle income status without urbanizing. That being said, the way that cities urbanize is important to growth, poverty and livability. If adequate investments are not made in basic infrastructure and services, urban planning, and in ensuring a governance and financing structure that can deliver for residents, cities instead can end up with major problems of congestion, pollution, sprawl, and inequality which can create or worsen social divisions, and potentially contribute to crime and violence. The report, Myanmar’s Urbanization: Creating Opportunities for All aims to understand urbanization in Myanmar drawing on the growing literature on the topic in Myanmar, especially for Yangon. It uses an inclusive urbanization lens and proposes a set of priority policy areas for urgent attention that will help to ensure the benefits of urbanization are widely realized given the projected growth of cities. An inclusion lens is particularly important in Myanmar as the country transitions from a complex history that has been characterized by decades of economic and political isolation, conflict, and underdevelopment. Inclusive urbanization is reliant on three keydimensions; economic, social and spatial. Economic inclusion refers to equitable access to employment and income-generating activities in a city, and resilience to shocks. Spatial inclusion refers to equitable and affordable access to land, housing, infrastructure and basic public services. Social inclusion relates to individual and group rights, equity, security and dignity. Such aspects of social inclusion and exclusion are relevant to groups who are often marginalized inday-to-day urban life.
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Urbanization in Myanmar is still in an early phase with slightly less than one-third of the population living in cities. This presents an enormous opportunity for the country.
... See More + Cities are engines of growth and prosperity, which facilitate industries to grow jobs, services and innovations. Cities are also fundamental to lifting people out of poverty through increased employment opportunities and incomes to citizens. No country has reached middle income status without urbanizing. That being said, the way that cities urbanize is important to growth, poverty and livability. If adequate investments are not made in basic infrastructure and services, urban planning, and in ensuring a governance and financing structure that can deliver for residents, cities instead can end up with major problems of congestion, pollution, sprawl, and inequality which can create or worsen social divisions, and potentially contribute to crime and violence. The report, Myanmar’s Urbanization: Creating Opportunities for All aims to understand urbanization in Myanmar drawing on the growing literature on the topic in Myanmar, especially for Yangon. It uses an inclusive urbanization lens and proposes a set of priority policy areas for urgent attention that will help to ensure the benefits of urbanization are widely realized given the projected growth of cities. An inclusion lens is particularly important in Myanmar as the country transitions from a complex history that has been characterized by decades of economic and political isolation, conflict, and underdevelopment. Inclusive urbanization is reliant on three keydimensions; economic, social and spatial. Economic inclusion refers to equitable access to employment and income-generating activities in a city, and resilience to shocks. Spatial inclusion refers to equitable and affordable access to land, housing, infrastructure and basic public services. Social inclusion relates to individual and group rights, equity, security and dignity. Such aspects of social inclusion and exclusion are relevant to groups who are often marginalized inday-to-day urban life.
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The work examines the state of CF (community forestry) and community forest enterprises (CFE) in Myanmar, assessing their impacts, exploring the challenges to and opportunities for their upscaling, and from these putting forward a series of recommendations to ensure that the program sustainably delivers for forest communities as well as Myanmar as a whole.
... See More + The main findings include : strong legal foundations provide significant opportunities to increase the impact of CF and CFE, significant interest and goodwill for CF and CFE among relevant stakeholders further underlines these opportunities, and from an economic perspective, CF and CFE have the potential for significant returns at community to national levels; there are already notable examples of this potential leading to results. A great deal of CF in 2019 is about its potential. There is a strong legal foundation, a growing area of forests under community management, a substantial amount of goodwill, and a growing pool of skilled and knowledgeable champions ready to pass on their learning and prospective for significant economic, environmental, and social returns based on these foundations. However, further investment is required to get over the threshold from potential to tangible and sustainable impacts.
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Fisheries and aquaculture make a significant contribution to Myanmar's economy. The fisheries sector contributes roughly 2 percent of Myanmar's gross domestic product (GDP), 50 percent of animal protein consumption, 6 percent of employment—rising to as high as 34 percent in some coastal areas—and up to 56 percent of state/regional government revenue.
... See More + Marine fisheries, freshwater fisheries, and aquaculture contribute to production in roughly equal proportions, for a total annual production of 3 million tons. Fisheries' contributions to economic output and employment in Myanmar still lag behind other countries in the region. For instance, the aquaculture sector alone contributes more to the GDP of Bangladesh and Vietnam (at more than 3 percent and more than 5 percent, respectively) than the entire fisheries sector's contribution to GDP in Myanmar. There is a scarcity of scientific data on which to base the management of Myanmar's fisheries. Official catch estimates show an inexorable rise in marine fisheries' production, but these are contradicted by stock assessment data suggesting that between 1979 and 2013 pelagic stocks fell by as much as 90 percent and demersal stocks by around 50 percent.
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Myanmar's economy is slowly picking up speed and regaining stability after a volatile 2018. Despite a challenging global environment, Myanmar's economic growth is expected to rise to 6.5 percent in 2018/19 from 6.4 percent in the Transition Period1 supported by strong performance in the manufacturing and services sectors.
... See More + Volatility that buffeted the economy in 2018 has started to ease. Inflation moderated, the kyat stabilized, and fuel prices fell in Q1 2018/19, though there have been some reversals in prices in Q2. The economic outlook looks positive, with growth expected to reach 6.7 percent in the medium-term. The recent decisions to ease trade restrictions; open the financial sector to greater foreign competition; and begin mega infrastructure projects signal a decisive and awaited uptick in reform momentum. Downside risks to the economic outlook are driven by external factors, including possible revocation of preferential trade access under the European Union Generalized System of Preferences. Slowing global and regional growth, especially in China, together with renewed escalation of global trade tensions, could also slow exports and the flow of inbound foreign investments. Insecurity in border areas, the Rakhine crisis, with violence and forced displacement of refugees, and the recent flare-up in violence involving the Arakan Army, could affect investors' sentiment. The 2020 general election is also a source of uncertainty.
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The Poverty Report is the second in a series of three analytical reports: (i) Key Indicators Report; (ii) Poverty Report; and (iii) Socio-economic Report.
... See More + It provides a basic diagnostic of poverty. The 2017 Myanmar Living Conditions Survey (MLCS) was implemented by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) in the Ministry of Planning and Finance (MOPF), with financial and technical support from the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The MLCS was conducted over a 12-month period from December 2016 to December 2017. It covered 13,730 households sampled countrywide. The MLCS had the following objectives: (i) provide updated estimates of poverty and living conditions at the national, urban/rural and state and region levels; (ii) inform national data needs and selected Sustainable Development Goal targets; (iii) construct consumption weights for the national and regional CPI baskets; and (iv) estimate private consumption expenditure for the System of National Accounts. Between 2005 and 2017, the share of the population living in poverty declined substantially. The proportion of people living below the national poverty line declined from 48.2 percent in 2005 to 24.8 percent in 2017. Despite population growth, there was a decline in the number of poor people from 18.7 million in 2005 to 11.8 million in 2017. Strong poverty reduction over this period is reflective of Myanmar's robust economic growth: between 2005 and 2017, Myanmar's annual growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was 7.8 percent – the highest among Southeast Asian countries (World Bank, 2019). Improvement was also substantial on non-monetary dimensions of well-being (CSO, UNDP and World Bank, 2018a). Changes in the poverty gap and squared poverty gap2 follow similar patterns to those observed for the poverty headcount. Poverty has a strong geographic dimension in Myanmar. The incidence of poverty is highest in Chin State, where close to six out of 10 persons (58 percent) are poor. With a poverty headcount of 41.6 percent, Rakhine State has the second highest poverty incidence. At the other end of the distribution, three Regions – Tanintharyi, Mandalay and Yangon – have the lowest poverty headcounts of 13.2, 13.2 and 13.7 percent respectively. The differences among these three are not statistically significant.
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The Poverty Report is the second in a series of three analytical reports: (i) Key Indicators Report; (ii) Poverty Report; and (iii) Socio-economic Report.
... See More + It provides a basic diagnostic of poverty. The 2017 Myanmar Living Conditions Survey (MLCS) was implemented by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) in the Ministry of Planning and Finance (MOPF), with financial and technical support from the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The MLCS was conducted over a 12-month period from December 2016 to December 2017. It covered 13,730 households sampled countrywide. The MLCS had the following objectives: (i) provide updated estimates of poverty and living conditions at the national, urban/rural and state and region levels; (ii) inform national data needs and selected Sustainable Development Goal targets; (iii) construct consumption weights for the national and regional CPI baskets; and (iv) estimate private consumption expenditure for the System of National Accounts. Between 2005 and 2017, the share of the population living in poverty declined substantially. The proportion of people living below the national poverty line declined from 48.2 percent in 2005 to 24.8 percent in 2017. Despite population growth, there was a decline in the number of poor people from 18.7 million in 2005 to 11.8 million in 2017. Strong poverty reduction over this period is reflective of Myanmar's robust economic growth: between 2005 and 2017, Myanmar's annual growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was 7.8 percent – the highest among Southeast Asian countries (World Bank, 2019). Improvement was also substantial on non-monetary dimensions of well-being (CSO, UNDP and World Bank, 2018a). Changes in the poverty gap and squared poverty gap2 follow similar patterns to those observed for the poverty headcount. Poverty has a strong geographic dimension in Myanmar. The incidence of poverty is highest in Chin State, where close to six out of 10 persons (58 percent) are poor. With a poverty headcount of 41.6 percent, Rakhine State has the second highest poverty incidence. At the other end of the distribution, three Regions – Tanintharyi, Mandalay and Yangon – have the lowest poverty headcounts of 13.2, 13.2 and 13.7 percent respectively. The differences among these three are not statistically significant.
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