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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in Syria in the early years of the 21st Century. Some of
these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are
unsubstantiated, misleading or even false. No attempt has been
made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of poverty are of particular interest to
you. You might be interested in
exploring the relationship between distribution of labor and per-capita GDP,
for example. Perhaps your paper could
focus on life expectancy or infant mortality.
Other factors of interest might be unemployment, literacy, access to
basic services, etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include some of the possible outgrowths of poverty
such as Human Trafficking,
Street Children,
or even Prostitution. There is a lot to the subject of
Poverty. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. *** ARCHIVES *** The World Factbook - Syria U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/sy.html [accessed 17
November 2020] World Factbook
website has moved to ---> www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/syria/ [accessed 10 January 2021] ECONOMIC OVERVIEW - Syria's economy
has deeply deteriorated amid the ongoing conflict that began in 2011,
declining by more than 70% from 2010 to 2017. GDP -
per capita (PPP): $2,900 (2015
est.) Labor
force - by occupation: agriculture:
17% industry:
16% services: 67% (2008 est.) Unemployment
rate: 50% (2017
est.) Population
below poverty line: 82.5% (2014
est.) Maternal
mortality rate: 31 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.) Infant
mortality rate: total: 16.5 deaths/1,000 live births Life
expectancy at birth: total population: 73.7 years Drinking
water source: improved: total: 99.4% of
population Physicians
density: 1.29 physicians/1,000 population (2016) Sanitation
facility access: improved: total: 99.1% of
population Electricity
access: electrification - total population: 92% (2017) The
Borgen Project - Syria borgenproject.org/category/syria/ [accessed 27 February 2021] The Borgen Project works with U.S. leaders to utilize the
United States’ platform behind efforts toward improving living conditions for
the world’s poor. It is an innovative,
national campaign that is working to make poverty a focus of U.S. foreign
policy. It believes that leaders of
the most powerful nation on earth should be doing more to address global
poverty. From ending segregation to providing women with the right to vote,
nearly every wrong ever righted in history was achieved through advocacy. The
Borgen Project addresses the big picture, operating
at the political level advancing policies and programs that improve living
conditions for those living on less than $1 per day. ~
Child Hunger In Idlib Grows Amidst Pandemic borgenproject.org/child-hunger-in-idlib-grows-amidst-pandemic/ ~
4 Initiatives To Alleviate Poverty In Syria borgenproject.org/alleviate-poverty-in-syria/ ~
How The Bread Shortage In Syria Deepened Poverty borgenproject.org/bread-shortage-in-syria/ ~
Improving Women’s Rights In Syria borgenproject.org/womens-rights-in-syria/ Conflict, climate change, and COVID-19 drive extreme hunger Oxfam, 9 July 2021 www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/conflict-climate-change-and-covid-19-drive-extreme-hunger/ [accessed 19 July 2021] The effects
of conflict, COVID-19, and climate change have intensified the global hunger
crisis. SYRIA --
An Oxfam study found that women-headed households have been hit
the hardest, reporting an extreme decline in their food consumption. Aisha
Ahmad Moussa, a farmworker in rural Aleppo, is one such woman. Moussa, a
widow, is struggling to feed her eight children on her income, which is
dwindling due to low rainfall. Before
COVID-19, Moussa, 34, says her family was doing relatively well. The farm
work was difficult, but she did not mind hard labor if it meant her children were taken care of. In those days, she could afford to buy
whatever they wanted to eat and was able to daily cook two to three meals of
nutritious food for her growing children. The
pandemic changed everything. During curfew, she had to stop working. They
lived off handouts from neighbors. Now she says the prices for food are so
high that it’s difficult to find anything to cook. A typical meal is tomato
paste sandwiches. They are down to one meal a day, if that. Hunger Hotspots - FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity - March to July 2021 outlook Food and Agriculture Org of the UN FAO, World Food Program WFP, 2021 [accessed 30 May 2021] COUNTRIES
WITH CATASTROPHIC SITUATIONS: FAMINE-LIKE CONDITIONS OR FACTORS LEADING TO A
RISK OF FAMINE -- In the Syrian Arab Republic, the economy has been rapidly
deteriorating in 2020 due to multiple shocks including mass population
displacement, damage to infrastructure ad services and a shortage of
foreign-exchange reserves. This led to a rise in the number of food insecure
people to 12.4 million, including 1.3 million severely food insecure. Among
the 12.4 million, there are also 1.7 million people reside. “We are afraid to
go to sleep at night”: a Syrian widow’s struggle to care for her children News and Press
Release, Islamic Relief, 16 March 2021 [accessed 17 March
2021] [accessed 17 March
2021] “As the
days have passed by, my children have gone without dinner because we live in
poverty.” To
support her children, Um Bashir started working for a daily wage, harvesting
crops. She has been able to use some of this money to buy school supplies for
her young daughters, who she has sent to school. She is currently working on
the olive harvest with her other daughters, telling us, “I do my best at home
and am thankful for my patient children.” THE
STRUGGLES OF WINTER -- Sadly, Um Bashir still cannot earn enough for sufficient
food or medicine, and the harsh Syrian winter makes life even more difficult. “During
the winter, I need firewood to keep my children warm. When firewood is not
available, I burn old, worn out clothes in the stove, so that my children can
stay warm. My children have asked me for winter clothes but I cannot afford
them.” Syria: Economic
decline, rising hunger and surging humanitarian needs UN News, 25 February
2021 news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1085722 [accessed 27
February 2021] DESPERATE
MEASURES -- The UN official told the Council that average household
expenses now exceed income by an estimated 20 per cent, leaving millions to
resort to “desperate measures” to survive. More
than 70 per cent of Syrians say they have taken on new debt, and are forced
to sell assets and livestock. Meanwhile, parents are eating less so they can
feed their children, who are now working instead of studying. “Those
who have run out of options are simply going hungry”, he spelled out,
flagging that more than half a million under-fives are suffering from the
effects of stunting. LOOKING
NORTH -- While these problems are visible in many parts of the
country, Mr. Lowcock drew attention to the
northwest and northeast, where nutrition data show that up to one in three
children in some areas, suffer from the irreversible
development and learning impacts of stunting. “A
doctor at a pediatrics hospital told me that of his 80 in-patient beds, half
are occupied by malnourished children”, five of whom had died due to their
condition, he said. Meanwhile,
malnutrition has become so normal that parents cannot spot the signs in their
own children, another doctor told the relief chief. Food insecurity in
Syria reaches record levels: WFP UN News, 17 February
2021 news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1084972 [accessed 27
February 2021] NEVER
BEEN WORSE -- “The
situation has never been worse. After 10 years of conflict, Syrian families
have exhausted their savings as they face a spiralling
economic crisis,” said Sean O’Brien, WFP Representative and Country Director
in Syria. Meanwhile,
the cost of basic foods to feed a family for a month – such as bread, rice,
lentils, oil and sugar – far exceeds average salaries. “It is
alarming that a simple meal is beyond the reach of families across Syria, and
this new data shows humanitarian assistance is the
difference between putting a meal on the table and going to bed hungry.
Lifesaving support has never been so crucial,” said Mr. O’Brien. WFP
further estimates that the number of Syrians who are severely food insecure,
meaning they cannot survive without food assistance, has doubled in the past
year to 1.3 million. Another 1.8
million people are at risk unless urgent action is taken, the agency warned. Action
Against Hunger - Syria www.actionagainsthunger.org/countries/middle-east/syria [accessed 21 March 2021] As the
war in Iraq ground on into the latter half of the 2000s, it created unrest across
the Arab world, sending hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees into Syria
and other neighboring countries. Unfortunately, with Syria’s unbalanced
economy, limited resources, and strained infrastructure, it quickly became
evident that it wouldn’t be able to shoulder the rising influx without the
support of the international community. The
World Bank in Syria www.worldbank.org/en/country/syria/overview [accessed 21 April 2021] To date,
the World Bank has supported over US$3 billion worth of projects in Jordan
and Lebanon to help refugees and host communities. These projects support
jobs and economic opportunities, health, education, emergency services and
social resilience, and infrastructure. Looking back a few years … Advameg, Inc., Encyclopedia of the Nations www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Syria-ECONOMY.html [accessed 10 January 2021] Development
of the state-owned oil industry and exploitation of other mineral resources,
notably phosphates, have helped to diversify Syrian industry, which was
formerly concentrated in light manufacturing and textiles. On 14
July 1998 Iraq and Syria signed a Memorandum of Understanding reopening the
Iraqi Petroleum Company (IPC) pipeline built in 1934 connecting the Kirkuk
oil fields with the Syrian port of Banias on the
Mediterranean. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT
COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Prof. Martin
Patt, "Poverty - Syria", http://gvnet.com/poverty/Syria.htm,
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