The “Capitalising Human Mobility for Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development for Myanmar” (CHIME) study aims to address the knowledge gap on labour migration and its relationship with poverty and development in four areas in Myanmar: Ayeyarwardy Region, Mandalay Region, Rakhine State and Shan State. CHIME employed a mixed-methods design, including a quantitative household survey covering a total of randomly sampled 3,116 households from 172 enumerated areas (EAs)3 and qualitative in-depth interviews of 192 individuals who were purposely sampled from lower-economic strata households, collected in two rounds in 2017.
The household survey identified growing levels of out-migration from rural households in all surveyed regions and states, with approximately a quarter of all households surveyed having at least one migrant. Migrants were also typically younger (in their 20s), moving primarily for work, and that there was a low incidence of return, in addition to a number of other findings.
