This is seemingly good news, because some ten years ago, this was about 30%. The quote for shelter, education and water went up, but the income dropped almost 9% for these people.
The South is one of the poorest regions, versus Beirut being the richest. Of these poor people, almost 40% are senior citizens, who in general have no income at all.
In 1960, only 17.8 % of the Lebanese were considered ‘poor’, and by 1975, this number had reached 22%.
A Bedouin lady smoking a cigarette while harvesting lettuce in the Beqaa Valley
What income level is considered ‘poverty level’ in 2006 is not clear in the article that can be read in Le Commerce du Levant. A study by ESCWA in 1996 stated that 28% of the Lebanese had to live on an income of $618 for a family of five. I wonder if they took the Palestinians in the camps into consideration win this study. I think it is a safe guess to assume that of the Palestinians living in camps (about 450,000 if I am correct), 85% live below the poverty level. Most Lebanese never get to see the inside of the camps. You are always warned that it is not safe there. I’ve walked through almost all of them in the course of my work; never had a problem. The situations you see there are pretty bad. 6 people to one room, two shared bathrooms on a floor with 45 people, open sewers, one running tab on a street of 45 families, I’ve seen it all. The study doesn’t mention them as a separate group, so I think they were not taken into account.
What got us in this mess is the war of 1975-1990, several invasions (or incursions, as the Israelis liked to call them) and the continuous shaky political situation afterwards. This past summer war is not going to make things any better.
With 25% poor, does that mean the other 75 are doing well? No, because although they may not score low in all four of the categories, (income, running water, education and shelter), but still do poor in one, two or even three of them.
But we are the best connected in the Middle East; 14.29 % of the population has Internet access.
1 comment:
This is a very sensible post. One thing Lebanese are shy to speak about is their poverty and inability to provide material goods for their fasmilies. My guess is that these numbers are higher.
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