Read this story in Burmese.

A quarter (24.1 percent) of people living in eight of Yangon's poorest townships have often not had any income in the last 12 months, a new UNDP report shows.  

This is forcing people to adopt coping strategies that threaten their health and wellbeing, including cutting down on how much they eat and consuming less nutritious food, selling assets, such as vehicles, and forgoing medical treatment. 

These insights come from a survey of 3,000 people in Yangon, two-thirds of which are from eight townships where a new joint initiative between UNDP, UN Women and UN-Habitat will work to improve the wellbeing of the most economically marginalized. The report found people living in these eight areas are worse on every economic and social indicator when compared to the rest of Yangon.  

The collapse of the economy in 2021 and only very modest growth last year has had a devastating impact on Yangon's urban poor. Foreign investors pulling out of Myanmar, leading to the closure of businesses and factories, has severely reduced both working hours and employment opportunities, while rising food and fuel prices have further squeezed people's spending. 

Coping strategies in Myanmar as incomes fall 

With incomes reduced, 27.5 percent of respondents to the survey from the eight urban resilience project townships reported that in the last 12 months there was a time when someone in their household could not eat nutritious food due to lack of money and more than a third (35.7 percent) said they were eating less. 

With the public healthcare system weakened, the survey found that people are now reliant on more expensive private hospitals and clinics to meet their medical needs. Yet, with incomes squeezed, many people in Yangon are simply forgoing healthcare. Over a quarter of all respondents (26.6 percent) said they or their family often or sometimes go without treatment or medication, and three-quarters said it is the higher charges that makes accessing healthcare more difficult. 

More than two-fifths (43.4 percent) of respondents from the eight townships reported selling assets in the last 12 months. When these assets are used to generate income, such as vehicles, it can make it even more difficult to earn money and recover. 

One of the most extreme coping mechanisms was how families interrupted their children's education in order to work, cited by a quarter of households in the eight surveyed townships who had reported taking their children out of school since March 2020. These lost years of education will impact their ability to seek better employment in adulthood. 

"Urban poverty in Yangon has dramatically escalated, and at the heart of this is a loss of jobs and reduced incomes. Supporting people to earn more money through stable employment is a long-term and sustainable way to improve people's health and wellbeing," said Titon Mitra, Resident Representative at UNDP Myanmar. 

How can we help Yangon's urban poor? 

The new UNDP Urban Resilience Project will aim to improve people's income and employment opportunities, with a focus on vocational training for young people, support to micro and small enterprises, and improved access to healthcare services and clean drinking water. 

Pilot activities in Yangon's Hlaingtharya township over the last year saw significant success. Together with the Step-in Step-up Academy (SISU), UNDP supported 400 students to complete vocational training programmes in areas such as hospitality, healthcare and office work. All the students who graduated have now secured full-time employment.