The second son of scholar Min Thu Wun, Htin Kyaw had held various positions in the education, planning and treasury ministries in prior governments.

The ethnic Mon-Bamar politician is viewed as an important ally of the National League for Democracy leader and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who is constitutionally barred from the presidency.

[7] In 1980, he was appointed as a deputy director in the Foreign Economic Relations Department, Ministry of Planning and Finance, and resigned from government service in 1992.

[1] He was arrested on 22 September 2000, and spent four months in Insein prison for assisting Aung San Suu Kyi's trip outside Yangon.

Upon his nomination, Aung San Suu Kyi said she had chosen him for his truthfulness, loyalty and respectable education.

Despite Htin Kyaw being a nominally independent leader, Aung San Suu Kyi said that she would in fact direct the actions of the president and lead the country through him.

[citation needed] On 14 February 2025, a court in Argentina, acting on a petition from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK and citing the principle of universal jurisdiction, issued arrest warrants against Htin Kyaw and other incumbent and former officials in Myanmar on charges of "genocide and crimes against humanity" against the Rohingyas during Htin Kyaw's presidency.

[17] His father was the writer, poet and scholar Min Thu Wun, who won a seat in the 1990 election.

Htin Kyaw writes under the pen name Dala Ban, a prominent title of ancient Mon commanders.