130 mln Arab population in poverty: UN

One-third of the population of the Arab region, excluding the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Libya, suffers from poverty, according to a poll released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Friday.

According to the report, “Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the Arab Region,” 130 million people in Arab countries now live in poverty as determined by national poverty lines.

According to the report, poverty will increase over the following two years, reaching 36 percent of the population in 2024.

The survey also revealed that the Arab region had the highest unemployment rate in the world in 2022, at 12 percent, with a possible very little decline to 11.7 percent in 2023 due to measures made to revive the economy after COVID-19. It projects that the economy of the area will expand by 3.4 percent in 2024 and 4.5 percent in 2023.

The GCC and other oil-exporting nations will continue to profit from higher energy prices, according to the survey’s lead author, Ahmed Moummi, while oil-importing nations will experience a number of socioeconomic hardships, such as rising energy costs, a shortage of food supplies, and a decline in foreign aid and tourism inflows.

Arab nations that export oil should diversify their economy away from the energy industry, according to Moummi, by funding initiatives that lead to equitable growth and sustainable development.

This article has been posted by a News Hour Correspondent. For queries, please contact through [email protected]
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