13 year war: 5.7 million or over 1 in 4 people 'extremely poor' in Syria, reports World Bank
Syria war and its fallout
About 5.7 million Syrians live in extreme poverty, reported the World Bank on Saturday (May 25).
As per two new reports published by the World Bank on Syria, 13 years into the devastating civil war that has battered the economy and impoverished millions, more than a quarter of people are living in extreme poverty condition. Before the conflict, extreme poverty was "virtually non-existent" said one report.
"Extreme poverty, while virtually non-existent before the conflict, affected more than one in four Syrians in 2022" and might have further deteriorated after a deadly earthquake last year, it said, as reported by AFP. Last year's earthquake killed about 6,000 people.
Poverty and Syria
Even as the war ravages the economy, infrastructure, and industry in Syria, Lebanon's economic meltdown in late 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have all contributed to the erosion of the welfare of Syrian households in recent years, says the report.
"Continued funding shortfalls and limited access to humanitarian assistance," have further strained poor Syrians, already coping with "soaring prices, reduced access to essential services and rising unemployment," said the World Bank.
In 2023,Syria's GDP wasestimated at around $6.2 billion. In 2024, it isprojected to contract by 1.5 per cent, "extending the 1.2 per cent decline in 2023," said the report.
Previously, the United Nations estimated that about 90 per cent of Syrians live in poverty. It also estimates that around two million live in extreme poverty conditions after more than a decade of the war.
In a conversation with AFP, the international agency said that its humanitarian 2024 response plan in Syria requires over $4 billion, but is only six per cent funded.
The dwindling aid and lack of opportunities, as per the World Bank, have pushed many Syrians to rely on money/remittances sent by relatives from abroad. As per the World Bank's estimates, in "2022, the total value of remittances received by Syrian households reached about $1.05 billion".
(With inputs from agencies)
