São Paulo – A report by the UN disclosed this Wednesday (28th) shows that three out of four Syrians are living in poverty and roughly 54.3% of the population lives below the poverty threshold, with no conditions of obtaining basic food and non-food items. The report “Squandering humanity” was compiled by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa), the United Nations Development Programme and the Syrian Centre for Policy Research.
According to the report, since the beginning of the conflict between president Bashar al Assad’s government forces and the opposition, in 2011, over 2.5 million people have become unemployed. Economic loss due to the conflict reached US$ 143.8 billion by the end of 2013. The report also stresses that the conflict in the Arab country is fostering a favorable environment for informal economic activities.
According to the report, by the end of 2013 there were 2.35 million Syrian refugees. A total of 36.5% fled to Lebanon, 24.5% to Jordan, 23.8% to Turkey and 8.9% to Iraq, out of the countries which received most conflict victims. The document states that political instability has led to the closing of factories and markets and that government services now account for 50% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
