ESCWA warns: more than half of Lebanon’s population trapped in poverty
▻https://www.unescwa.org/news/Lebanon-poverty-2020
Hit by a cataclysmic blast and daily spikes in COVID-19 cases, Lebanon is crippled by the impact of multiple shocks which have exhausted its economy and caused an unprecedented increase in its headcount poverty rate. Estimates reveal that more than 55% of the country’s population is now trapped in poverty and struggling for bare necessities, i.e., almost double last year’s rate which was 28%. Extreme poverty has registered a threefold increase from 8% in 2019 to 23% in 2020. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) today sounds the alarm in a new policy brief entitled “Poverty in Lebanon: Impact of Multiple Shocks and Call for Solidarity.”