YANGON, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of Myanmar people who suffered poverty has registered at 11.8 million, or 24.8 percent of the total population, dropping from 48.2 percent in 2015, Myanmar Minister of Planning and Finance U Soe Win said Thursday.
The minister cited the figures from a living conditions survey jointly carried out by Myanmar's Central Statistical Organization (CSO), World Bank and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2017.
According to the survey, the poverty rate of rural people in Myanmar stood high, especially those working in farms with no land owned.
The drop was attributed to the amendment of farmland policy, the acquirement of increased investment for enhancing agricultural production through modern technical know-how and the building of rural infrastructures such as education, health, transport and communication, electricity and safe water availability for the rural people's socio-economic development, U Soe Win added.
The survey has been submitted to the President's Office, U San Myint, director-general of Myanmar CSO, told the media.
