A drastic increase in internal conflict has pushed Myanmar into the top three on the IRC’s 2025 Emergency Watchlist of countries most at risk of worsening humanitarian needs in the coming year.
Myanmar (Burma) has surged into the top three of the 2025 Emergency Watchlist, propelled by an increase in conflict in the climate-vulnerable country.
Violence in the Southeastern Asian country has worsened since the military seized power in 2021, prompting many long-standing insurgencies to spread and merge, engulfing the country in conflict. Millions are now in humanitarian need, even in previously stable areas, and the number of people who have fled their homes to find safety has risen rapidly, surpassing 3 million in 2024.
Hospitals and water infrastructure are increasingly under attack, leading to disease outbreaks the country’s shattered health system can’t cope with. Climate disasters in the form of cyclones and floods continue to pose a constant threat. Violence against aid workers and extreme bureaucratic hurdles make meeting humanitarian needs even more challenging.
Read on to learn more about why Myanmar ranks third on the IRC’s 2025 Emergency Watchlist.
Myanmar has faced a worsening humanitarian crisis fueled by political instability since the military took power in February 2021. In 2024, nearly 900,000 people were forced to flee their homes to find safety, a 37% increase from 2023. Showing unprecedented unity, non-state armed groups now contest control of many previously stable areas.
A short-lived ceasefire between the State Administration Council (SAC) and an alliance of non-state armed groups in January 2024 temporarily reduced fighting in some parts of the country, but conflict ramped up elsewhere. According to the U.N., the number of civilians killed since the SAC took power reached 5,350 in June 2024, nearly doubling between April 2023 and June 2024, when the ceasefire failed. The U.N. also reports that sexual and gender-based violence against civilians has “increased dramatically” across the country since 2021.
The conflict is being fought on multiple fronts with drones and airstrikes having a devastating impact on civilian infrastructure. The result is that hospitals and water infrastructure are under attack, and medical staff face regular threats. Since 2021, over 1,500 attacks on health care have been recorded, including 418 in 2023 alone, the last year on record.
Health facilities and water treatment plants, critical for disease prevention, will face new challenges in 2025 as domestic gas and electricity production plummets. Communities in areas outside SAC control already have limited access to health care and clean water. A widespread cholera outbreak threatens to further overwhelm the system, with over 6,000 new cases confirmed between January and October 2024.
Cyclones and floods are constant threats in Myanmar. In September 2024, flooding linked to Typhoon Yagi affected over 1 million people in Myanmar, destroying homes and causing soaring food prices due to damaged crops.
Although Myanmar is highly vulnerable to the climate crisis and contributes very little to it due to its low carbon emissions, an IRC analysis shows that Myanmar receives only 0.25% of global climate adaptation and mitigation funding. Little of this funding will benefit communities in non-SAC controlled areas, who are largely cut off from development projects.
Myanmar is already one of the most complex countries in the world for humanitarians, with violence against aid workers and extreme bureaucratic hurdles complicating and undermining aid delivery. These extreme barriers to humanitarian action are poised to worsen as conflict spreads.
The conflict shows no signs of easing, and the priorities of warring parties continue to overshadow humanitarian needs. With shortfalls in humanitarian funding and shifting frontlines, only a fraction of the 19.9 million people in need will receive help in 2025.
In 2008, the IRC initiated an emergency response and early recovery efforts to aid communities affected by Cyclone Nargis. In the years since, the IRC has expanded its range of activities in Myanmar. We deliver programming focused on improving health, protection, and water, sanitation and hygiene outcomes. Additionally, the IRC runs shelter programs that help displaced, crisis-affected and vulnerable communities to survive, recover and gain control of their futures.
The IRC’s current programming in Myanmar strongly focuses on supporting people affected by the escalating conflict that has spread across the country since February 2021. We also continue to support marginalized and stateless communities, as well as people who were internally displaced before the 2021 escalation. Our services are tailored to provide specialized support to women, children, and marginalized communities in Myanmar.
In addition to direct service provision, a critical component of the IRC’s program strategy involves delivering support to and through local partners. The IRC currently works across multiple sectors, with a range of local partners, in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayah and Kayin States.
Learn more about the IRC’s Myanmar response.
Donate now to support the IRC's life-changing work in Myanmar and worldwide. We are on the front lines, providing critical aid to crisis-affected people in more than 40 countries, including places on the 2025 Emergency Watchlist.
Read more about the top 10 crises the world can’t ignore in 2025 and download the full 2025 Emergency Watchlist report for profiles of all 20 crisis countries on the IRC's list.
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