Migration and urban vulnerability Migrant households record an MPI headcount of 50.2 percent and a score of 0.241, placing them among the most deprived groups nationally. Around half of migrant households (50.7%) are conflictinduced migrants16, highlighting the intersection of migration and conflict-related vulnerabilities. This share has risen substantially since 2023, which recorded 18 percent conflict-driven migration using data collected before the October 2023 conflict escalation and the February 2024 activation of the conscription law.17 Deprivation among migrants reflects not only income insecurity but also institutional and access barriers: documentation gaps, informal settlement, reliance on precarious work and weaker social networks that constrain coping capacity. Lost documents and burdensome recovery procedures18 further limit employment and education options beyond the informal sector. These findings are consistent with the concentration of migrant and displaced populations in peri-urban Yangon, the primary destination for 31 percent of all internal migrants,19 where informal employment, housing precarity and limited access to social protection in these peri-urban areas generate particularly acute deprivation among migrant households.20 Health shocks as an acute poverty trigger Health shocks, namely serious illness or accident of a household member, appear in Figure 7 as a distinct group positioned in the upper-right quadrant, with an MPI headcount of around 46.6 percent and a score of 0.220. Unlike structural disadvantages that develop gradually, health shocks trigger immediate income loss, asset depletion and increased out-of-pocket expenditure simultaneously. For households already operating with thin margins, such as low income, casual employment, and limited savings, a single health event can push them across the poverty threshold rapidly and durably. Health shocks thus function as an acute amplifier that intersects with and deepens structural vulnerability, particularly among households that lack formal social protection or health insurance. 4.4 Gender: Depth Over Incidence Gender differences in multidimensional poverty are expressed more in the depth of deprivation than in incidence. As Figure 7 shows, woman-headed households record a slightly lower MPI headcount (31.0%) than man-headed households (33.0%). However, their Woman-headed households are slightly less likely deprivation intensity is higher (47.2% to be multidimensionally poor than man-headed compared with 45.9%), resulting in a marginally lower MPI score (0.146 households. But among those who are poor, versus 0.151). Although fewer womanwomen experience deeper and more overlapping headed households are classified as deprivations. Counting who is poor understates multidimensionally poor, those who are poor experience deeper and more what women in poverty are living through. overlapping deprivations. 16 “Conflict-induced migrants” refers to households that self-reported conflict or displacement as their primary reason for migration in PPS 2025. This is a behavioural category based on self-reported migration reason, not a legal status. It is distinct from economic migrants (households that moved primarily for livelihood or employment reasons), Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs, a legal/humanitarian status under the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement), and refugees (persons who have crossed an international border and hold formal protection status under UNHCR). 17 UNDP (2024). Moving to Cope: Migration in Myanmar. 18 According to the 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census and related analyses, almost one-third of the population (approximately 17–18 million people) did not possess any form of identity documentation such as an NRC card. The census counted over 9 million internal migrants (about 18–20 % of the population) and nearly 2.9 million Myanmar nationals living abroad. 19 UNDP (2024). Moving to Cope: Migration in Myanmar. 20 UNDP (2025). Urban Poverty: Unpacking Yangon. 34 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