26% of Burmese Live in Poverty, MP Says

25 January 2013

A study by Burma’s Lower House planning and finance development committee found that 26 percent of the country’s population lives in poverty, while 37 percent is unemployed, Eleven Media reports. Committee chairman Soe Tha said Burma’s first countrywide socio-economic survey had analyzed data on food, clothing and shelter at household level in every state and division. Chin State was found to have the highest poverty rate at 73 percent, followed by Rakhine State at 44 percent and Shan State at 33 percent. Irrawaddy Division recorded 32 percent poverty rate, while in Rangoon 16 percent of the households lived in poverty. Soe Tha did not explain how the survey was conducted or how the poverty line was defined.