Children attending a class in a temporary shelter at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Demoso township in Myanmar's Kayah state in October 2021. / AFP
The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) surpassed 1.8 million in war-ravaged Myanmar on June 12, 2023, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Prior to the February 2021 military coup, the estimated number of internally displaced people was 328,000. They were in Kachin, Rakhine, Karen, Shan and Chin states.
Between February 2021 and June 2023, another 1.5 million people in seven states and four regions were displaced by the civil war.
They account for 82 percent of the more than 1.8 million internally displaced people in Myanmar.
Sagaing Region has the highest number of IDPs.
UNHCR reports that 41 percent (765,200) of the 1.8 million IDPs in Myanmar are from Sagaing Region.
Junta troops have incinerated at least 53,816 homes in resistance strongholds in the region in 25 months (from the beginning of May 2021 to end-May 2023).
UNHCR reports that 13 percent of the country’s IDPs are from Rakhine State, 11 percent from Magwe Region, 6 percent each are from Kachin and Karen states, 5 percent each are from Bago Region, and Kayah and Shan states, 3 percent each are from Chin State and Tanintharyi Region, and 2 percent from Mon State.
