Myanmar's Human Development Index

Current Status Report

In Myanmar, originally know as Burma, the current overall HDI (Human Development Index) for this year is .483 (UNDP 2011). Out of the three factors of human development, Health stands as the highest factor in Myanmar, the lowest of the three being Income. For the past 30 years, Myanmar's HDI trend has been steadily rising between 1980 and 2010. Despite the slight drop in 1990, placing the country below the line of Low Human Development, the trend picks back up five years later. Finally, Myanmar's development ends up just barely over the Low Human Development line.

Although improving, Myanmar is still facing challenges that prevent an increase in the rate of its growth. According to the CIA fact book, Myanmar “suffers from pervasive government controls, inefficient economic policies, corruption, and rural poverty”(CIA 2010-11). Myanmar is a valued exporter of natural gas, making a little over eight and a half billion according to a 2010 estimate by the CIA fact book. However, Myanmar's public population lives in poverty as military, political, and business leaders exploit the resources and assets of the country. This is caused by inefficient economic policies and inability to handle finances. More developed countries have placed financial and economic sanctions on Myanmar as well as travel bans for military and civilian leaders and others connected to the Burmese government (CIA 2011).

Myanmar does seem to be a country that depends heavily on foreign trade, receiving grants of “technical assistance (mostly from Asia), limited humanitarian aid and debt relief from Japan and China, and concessional loans from China and India” (State 2011). Looking at the aid provided, it seems that Myanmar is more of a li...

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Millennium Development Goals: Myanmar. (n.d.). Index Mundi - Country Facts. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.indexmundi.com/burma/millennium-development-goals.html

Myanmar and Birth Spacing: An Overview. (n.d.). Searo. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/Family_Planning_Fact_Sheets_Myanmar.pdf

Myanmar Millenium Development Goals. (n.d.). Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development. Retrieved December 4, 2011, from www.mnped.gov.mm/MDG06.pdf

UNDP Myanmar. (n.d.). UNDP Myanmar. Retrieved December 6, 2011, from http://www.mm.undp.org/enviroment/UNDP_MMR_Enviroment.html

Xinhuanet. (2011, April 29). Myanmar-China border trade fair launched in Muse . English.Xinhuanet.com. Retrieved December 4, 2011, from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-04/29/c_13851770.htm