Myanmar

Economy & income

Currency

• Myanmar kyat (MMK, K/Ks)
• official CBM reference ~2,100 per USD, parallel/market ~4,500–5,000 per USD (2025–26) — a wide dual-rate gap

GDP per capita

• ~$1,200–1,500 nominal (2024–25, IMF WEO/Worldometer)
• ~$6,000 PPP (2024, World Bank)

Average salary

• ~$263 net/mo (Numbeo, 2025–26; thin data)
• gross ~450,000 MMK/mo ≈ $100–215 depending on FX rate used

Median salary

• n/a — no reliable official median
• wage statistics badly disrupted since the 2021 coup

Minimum wage

• 7,800 MMK/day (base 4,800 + allowances), effective 1 Oct 2025 ≈ $3.7/day (~$95–100/mo)
• applies only to firms with 10+ workers

Cost of living

• Low — Numbeo: single person ~$489/mo excl. rent (2026)
• ~46% below US
• data thin & volatile due to currency instability

Digital landscape

Population

54.7 million (Jan 2025)

Internet users

61.1% (~33.4M users, Jan 2025)

Social media users

35.9% (~19.6M identities, Jan 2025)

Mobile connections

63.3M cellular connections = 116% of pop

Devices

mobile ~58.6% / desktop ~40.5% / tablet ~0.9% (StatCounter, Jun 2026) — desktop share unusually high for a Tier-3 market

Ad spend

• n/a — DataReportal does not publish Myanmar ad-spend figures
• market small & informal
• Influencer spend est. high-teens $M USD (2024), projected mid-$20sM by 2028 (industry est.)

Top social platforms

TikTok ~19.6M ad reach 18+; #1 by reach, +16% YoY

Facebook ~13.1M; officially blocked since 2021 coup, accessed via VPN

Messenger ~8.5M; chat-to-buy commerce

LinkedIn ~1.0M

Instagram ~0.9M

• YouTube — very high reach, near-universal among internet users

Messengers

• Viber (~15M; historically the #1 chat app, ~38% penetration)
• Messenger (~8.5M; commerce/chat-to-sale)
• Telegram (#1 on Play Store Feb 2025; community/group selling, fast-growing)
• WhatsApp (lower usage)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Cash / Cash-on-Delivery (COD) — dominant; the default for most online purchases
• KBZPay (~19M users; leading mobile wallet, KBZ Bank)
• Wave Money / WavePay (largest agent network, strongest rural reach; Yoma)
• Bank transfer (KBZ, AYA, CB Bank)
• AYA Pay / CB Pay / MPT Money (bank & telecom wallets)

E-wallets

• KBZPay
• WavePay (Wave Money)
• AYA Pay
• CB Pay
• OnePay
• MPT Money

Cash on delivery

• Very high — COD is the primary (often only) accepted method for most e-commerce buyers
• prepayment trust is low

E-commerce

• Low–moderate
• market est. ~$4.5B by end-2025
• social commerce (Facebook/TikTok live-selling + chat) outweighs formal marketplaces

Notes

• CBM launched MyanmarPay MMQR national QR standard (Feb 2025) enabling wallet interoperability
• card penetration very low
• diaspora remittances via AYA Pay / Wave Money

Audience & culture

Languages

• Burmese (official, lingua franca, ~65% first language)
• Shan (~7%)
• Karen (~6%)
• Rakhine, Mon, Kachin, Chin (regional)
• English (business/urban)
• Chinese (~2%)

Religion

• Buddhist ~88% (2014 census; ~91% per 2024 junta census)
• Christian ~6.2%
• Muslim ~4.3%
• Hindu ~0.5%
• Animist ~0.8%

Median age

~30–31 years (DataReportal 30.1; World Population Review 31.4, 2025–26)

Key seasons

• Thingyan / Myanmar New Year (water festival, mid-April) — biggest holiday & spending peak
• Thadingyut (Festival of Lights, October) — gifting & shopping
• Tazaungdaing (Nov, lights & balloon festival)
• Buddhist Lent (~Jul–Oct) — weddings/parties paused, quieter commerce
• Christmas & year-end (Christian/urban pockets)

Cultural notes

• Facebook-/chat-first commerce (live-selling, comment-to-order, DM negotiation)
• high price sensitivity
• COD-trust buying behavior
• conservative Buddhist norms on adult/alcohol
• acute political sensitivity under military rule
• strong ethnic/linguistic diversity

Where to find creators

• Facebook (via VPN)
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Telegram/Viber groups

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Celebrities

Wutt Hmone Shwe Yi ~2M Instagram

Actress & model — Myanmar's highest-paid actress

Paing Takhon ~1M Instagram (~6M+ Facebook)

Model, actor & singer; regional fame (Thailand); ex-political detainee

Sai Sai Kham Leng huge national fanbase (Facebook/YouTube); IG smaller

Singer-songwriter, actor & entrepreneur — top Burmese hip-hop star

Eaindra Kyaw Zin major Facebook following; IG smaller

Three-time Academy Award-winning actress & model

N

Nay Toe large Facebook following

Actor & comedian — 4× Best Actor (Myanmar Academy Awards)

Ah Moon ~hundreds of K Instagram

Pop singer ('Myanmar's Rihanna'), Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• Mobile games & gaming top-ups
• COD e-commerce (gadgets, beauty, nutra)
• iGaming/betting (grey, via VPN)
• Sweepstakes/lead-gen
• Dating (grey)
• Loan/finance apps (grey)

Active networks

• Global/SEA CPA networks (MaxBounty, ClickDealer, Mobidea, AdCombo, Indoleads, Involve Asia)
• Grey iGaming partner programs (1xBet/Melbet/Mostbet affiliates)
• In-house app/e-commerce COD programs

Payouts

• Tier-3 — low CPMs & payouts
• COD nutra/gadget CPA ~$3–8
• CPL cheap
• iGaming CPA higher but grey/risky
• USD settlement complicated by capital controls

Competition

• Underdeveloped formal affiliate scene
• grey-market heavy
• moderate competition but high operational risk (censorship, VPN blocks, payout friction)

Seasonality

• Thingyan (April) spending peak
• Thadingyut (Oct) & year-end lift
• Buddhist Lent quieter

Traffic sources

• Facebook (via VPN)
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Telegram & Viber groups
• In-app / push
• Messenger chat funnels

Good to know

Capital

Naypyidaw

Major cities

• Yangon (largest, commercial hub)
• Mandalay
• Naypyidaw
• Bago
• Mawlamyine
• Taunggyi

Time zones

Single zone — Myanmar Standard Time UTC+6:30 (390 min), no DST

Android vs iOS

81% 20%

Android 81% iOS 20%

Phone brands

• Xiaomi (~33%)
• Apple (~19%)
• OPPO (~11%)
• vivo (~7%)
• Samsung (~6%)

Top e-commerce

• Facebook/TikTok live-selling (dominant social commerce)
• Shop.com.mm
• Rgo47
• oway shop
• KBZPay in-app marketplace

Peak activity

Evenings ~7–10pm local (UTC+6:30); high mobile usage after work/dinner

Creative taboos

Military/junta & civil war, Aung San Suu Kyi, Rohingya, anti-Muslim tensions, alcohol/adult content (Buddhist norms), currency/economic criticism

Also worth knowing

1. Facebook officially blocked since the 2021 coup yet still heavily used via VPN — VPN/Facebook cat-and-mouse disrupts ad delivery & targeting.
2. COD + chat-commerce (Messenger/Viber/Telegram) dominate — direct-response offers need COD funnels, not card checkout.
3. Dual exchange rate + capital controls make USD payouts/settlement hard; TikTok is now the #1 platform by reach, overtaking Facebook.