IFPRI ISSUE BRIEF | JULY 2019 1 In late 2017, a surge of Myanmar nationals feeing violence in their country entered Bangladesh. This wave of more than 600,000 Rohingya added to earlier infows, so that by early 2018 there were an estimated 800,000 to one million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (FDMN) residing in Cox’s Bazar District of Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh. This brief describes initial results from an October– November 2018 survey of FDMN and host-community households, along with a simulation analysis of potential effects on the local economy. Survey results show that 99 percent of Rohingya households in the camps were receiving World Food Programme (WFP) assistance, and 47 percent were earning additional income through wage labor, farm work, or nonfarm enterprises. Expenditures among host-community households were notably higher than among Rohingya households, and expenditures of the Rohingya who arrived in earlier waves were higher than those of newer arrivals. Although child stunting and global acute malnutrition had decreased among Rohingya children aged 6–59 months in the previous year, stunting and malnutrition rates remain high at 33 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Nonetheless, further nutrition interventions for children and pregnant women should be prioritized. A long-term, politically acceptable solution to the low employment Key Messages • International efforts to assist forcibly displaced Rohingya have averted a humanitarian catastrophe. Food assistance reaches virtually all Rohingya now living in camps in Bangladesh. • Despite these efforts, the Rohingya are at best surviving, not thriving. Malnutrition remains unacceptably high, and in the absence of employment opportunities, many Rohingya are forced to rely on negative coping strategies such as borrowing money to buy food. • In the short term, prioritized nutrition interventions for women and children will improve the wellbeing of the Rohingya. • In the longer term, policies and investments are needed that provide the Rohingya access to income-generating activities without harming the host community. Humanitarian efforts have opened a window of opportunity to consider such longer-term solutions—but that window will not be open forever. The Rohingya: Displacement, Deprivation, and Policy Paul Dorosh, Mateusz Filipski, John Hoddinott, Mainul Hoque, Zabid Iqbal, Golam Nabi Mozumder, Gracie Rosenbach, Binayak Sen, Ernesto Tiburcio, Riaz Uddin, and Mohammad Yunus