Half of Syria living in poverty: UN

7.9m people have become poor since 2011; economic devastation wrought by war could be felt for years to come

Image Credit: Reuters A Free Syrian Army fighter starts a fire to make coffee in the old city of Aleppo on Thursday. Economic devastation wrought by the conflict could be felt for years to come, according to a report commissioned by UN agencies.

 

Damascus: Syria’s war has destroyed livelihoods and collapsed the economy, leaving more than half the country’s population in poverty, according to a report commissioned by UN agencies this month.

Some 115,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the war broke out in 2011, and the report warned that the economic devastation wrought by the conflict could be felt for years to come.

“More than half the population now live in poverty, with 7.9 million people becoming poor since the beginning of the crisis, of whom 4.4 million now live in extreme poverty,” the report said.

Unemployment has soared to 48.6 per cent, education in Syria “is in the midst of a silent disaster” with 49 per cent of children out of school, and the health sector faces “significant collapse,” it warned.