News > ‘Hard for ordinary people’: High prices, poverty forces thousands in Myanmar to illegally cross into Thailand

‘Hard for ordinary people’: High prices, poverty forces thousands in Myanmar to illegally cross into Thailand

In the days before the pandemic, a little more than two million Myanmar people lived and worked in the kingdom.

The spike in arrivals was due to the economic crisis in Myanmar after the coup, which saw inflation soar and job opportunities disappear. After the borders were closed in March 2020, migrants had no choice but to travel illegally.