The September 21 coup turned two-thirds of Yemen's population into poverty

English - Thursday 22 September 2022 الساعة 04:28 pm
Sana'a - NewsYemen, special:

Yemen has reached very poor standards of living, and the coup of Iran's arm against the state on September 21, 2014, and the country's slide into a protracted war, was a major cause of the country's poverty.

The number of Yemen's population now living in poverty, defined as less than $3.10 a day, is about 78%, according to the World Bank.

Iran's arm has destroyed the economy, stopped paying salaries, and 50 percent of civil servants still don't get paid, and when they get it, they don't receive it in full.

According to the Yemeni Business Climate Survey issued by the Small and Micro Enterprise Development Agency in cooperation with the GIZ, it was noted that 41% of the enterprises laid off about 55% of their employees on average. 

Many of them are now extending their hands to people, forced by the need and the absence of job opportunities to do so. In the same context, one of the imams of mosques in the city of Sana’a says that begging in mosques has become a phenomenon that needs to be addressed and has become annoying to worshipers.

He added, "After each prayer, at least three or four people stand in front of the worshipers and ask for help, and most of them say that the lack of income, job opportunities, or family support to meet their needs forced them to stand, and they do not want money, but rather they want some food to satisfy their hunger."

An estimated 40% of households have lost their main source of income. Welfare analysis indicates that conflict, and its associated factors, have increased the overall poverty rate, while fisheries have been severely affected and agricultural entrepreneurs, in particular.

The World Bank Group Country Engagement Note on Yemen 2020-2021 emphasized that the expansion of poverty, food insecurity, and disease will affect human capital development in the long term.

It explained that the human capital index shows that the productivity of a child born today in Yemen will reach 37% when he grows up, compared to a full productivity rate if he enjoys a full amount of education and good health.

The report of the United Nations Development Program published on September 26, 2019, confirmed that without any change in the status quo, Yemen will become the poorest country in the world by 2022.

 Besides, the average per capita income of GDP contracted between 2014-2021, with a cumulative decline rate of 63%, the real value of that income was eroded by the continuous rise of inflation, causing millions of people to fall into extreme poverty.

The results of a public opinion poll conducted by the Yemen Information Center for Research and Media, mid-September 2021, on poverty in Yemen, indicate that poverty is a major reason for the increase in beggary rates in the country.

Eighty-seven percent of all respondents said that the increase in the phenomenon of begging in Yemen is caused by poverty, while four percent of the respondents believed that the reason for the increase in the phenomenon of beggary is an artificial process.

The International Labor Organization says that there is a strong link between disability and poverty, the poor are more at risk of injury, become disabled due to a lack of adequate housing, food, clean and basic water, sanitation and safe working environments, considering begging as a last resort for people who find themselves in a cycle of poverty and adversity.  .