This paper briefly describes the general
poverty situation in Myanmar, factors that partly constitute
poverty in Myanmar, and social work and poverty in
Myanmar. Myanmar with a population of over 60 million
and at 676,578 km2 (Burma) is the largest country of
mainland Southeast Asian Region, and second largest overall
in size after Indonesia. It is a country that is rich in natural
resources including precious stones, oil, and natural gas,
however, Myanmar is still one of the poorest countries and
majority of its citizens are still living in poverty and do not
enjoy the benefit of their rich natural resources even under
the newly introduced political reforms. There are differences
in urban and rural poverty. The urban people have more
money than the rural people but rural people on subsistence
agriculture have more food but no hard cash. It is argued in
this paper that poverty in Myanmar is mainly caused by the
mismanagement of resources and inefficiency of governance,
corruption and dishonesty in resource allocations,
insecurities of social and economic conditions to the people.
The 2008 Myanmar Constitution describes the protection
and rights of the citizens for property ownership, education
and health. The newly adopted pro-market reforms have led
to cases of land seizures from farmers for mining and
industrial development, decline in wages in real terms for
factory workers with resultant social problems in many areas
in the country. The challenge for the future leaders and
policy makers is whether it is the constitution that needs to be
changed or improved or improve the enforcement of the
current one to improve the poverty situation for the people of
Myanmar.