Economic Status and Old-Age Health in Poverty-Stricken Myanmar

We examine the association between poverty, economic inequality, and health among elderly in Myanmar.

We analyze 2012 data from Myanmar's first representative survey of older adults to investigate how health indicators vary across wealth quintiles as measured by household possessions and housing quality.

Poverty and poor health are pervasive. Self-assessed health, sensory impairment, and functional limitation consistently improve with higher wealth levels regardless of socio-demographic controls. Differentials in self-rated health and sensory impairment between the bottom and second quintiles are clearly evident, suggesting that relative economic inequality matters even among very poor elders and that a small difference in wealth can matter in an extreme poverty setting.

Findings support a global theory of economic gradients in health regardless of level of societal poverty. Modest efforts to improve the standard of living among elderly may improve not only their material well-being but also their health.