Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – A new joint report between the World Bank and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees revealed that the Corona pandemic has doubled poverty levels among Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan, Lebanon and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The report, published on Thursday, stated that there are about 4.4 million people in the host communities, a million Syrian refugees and 180,000 Iraqi internally displaced people who have recently fallen into poverty since the beginning of the crisis, noting that families who depend on the informal labor market are suffering from Lack of resources, and much debt, were particularly hard hit.
The study estimates that the Corona pandemic has increased poverty rates in Jordan among hosts by about 38%, and among refugees who were living below the poverty line before the pandemic, by about 18%. Whereas, poverty rates in Lebanon, which suffers from inflation, increased by about 33% among the Lebanese, and by about 56% among the Syrian refugees, where about 90% of the Syrian refugees are unable to secure what is considered the minimum survival, according to data from the United Nations. In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, host communities witnessed a 24% increase in poverty rates, while refugees and displaced persons witnessed increases in poverty rates of 21% and 28%, respectively.
The report is based on its findings on a scenario that expects a second wave of the pandemic in Jordan, while in Lebanon and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq it relies on the first wave of infections only.
According to expectations, the increase in poverty levels will continue for a short period of time in 2021, even based on the effects of the first wave of the pandemic only.
Ayman Gharaibeh, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said that the Corona crisis “has had tremendous negative effects on people’s well-being and their future prospects. While we also hear about an increase in the level of child labor, “he said, adding that the most needy groups must be helped through the provision of immediate humanitarian aid and support to the host countries.
It is noteworthy that the Syrians today constitute the largest group of refugees in the world, where about 5.6 million registered Syrian refugees live in countries neighboring Syria, of whom about 1.8 million are hosted by Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
