UN ranks Yemen as world’s poorest country due to coalition war

SANAA, Oct. 10 (YPA) – The United Nations on Thursday announced that the continuation of Saudi-led coalition countries’ war would make Yemen the poorest country in the world.

The poverty rate in the country rose from 47 percent in 2014 to 75 percent by end of 2019, said a report issued by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The report revealed that 79% of Yemenis live below the poverty line, of whom 65% are classified as poorer than the criteria set for UN description of what is known as “below poverty line.”

The UNDP representative in Yemen Auke Lootsma said the war in Yemen “not only caused Yemen to become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, but also plunged it into a terrible development crisis.”

Lootsma added “the ongoing crisis threatens to make Yemen’s population the poorest in the world – a burden that the country, which is already suffering, cannot afford.”

Since March 2015, Yemen has been subjected to the war by Saudi and UAE-led coalition, which killed more than 50,000 civilians and injured thousands, in addition to the destruction of infrastructure in the country.

YPA