Figure 9
MPI score by employment types of household head
Figure 9. MPI score by employment type of household head
MPI score by employment category compared with the national level
MPI score (H × A)
0.228
National MPI: 0.150
0.127
0.098
0.085
Casual worker
Own-account
Employee
Employer
Source: PPS 2025 (UNDP)
Education as a structural divider
Education of the household head strongly differentiates poverty outcomes. Figure 7 shows no
formal education and primary education as distinct groups, though their poverty levels are nearly
identical: both record headcounts close to 44 percent and a score of around 0.211, more than
double that of households headed by someone with higher education (MPI score 0.089). This nearequivalence suggests that even one level of formal schooling provides little protective effect against
multidimensional poverty when it remains at primary level only. Figure 10 illustrates the gradient
directly: the MPI score drops sharply
only from middle education onward.
Households headed by someone with only
Poverty declines markedly with middle
primary education are nearly as likely to
education (MPI score 0.123). Education's
role is structural: it shapes livelihood
be multidimensionally poor as those with
options, access to information and
no education at all. One level of schooling,
services, and capacity to navigate shocks
without further investment, provides almost
across generations. Where educational
attainment is low, the structural trap is
no protection against poverty in Myanmar
hardest to escape.
today.
32
LAYERS OF DEP RIVATION : Mu ltid im e n s io n a l Pov er t y i n M y a n m a r
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