World Bank: Yemen Among Poorest Country in the World

Millions of Yemenis suffer from economic shocks and food insecurity. (United Nations)
Millions of Yemenis suffer from economic shocks and food insecurity. (United Nations)
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World Bank: Yemen Among Poorest Country in the World

Millions of Yemenis suffer from economic shocks and food insecurity. (United Nations)
Millions of Yemenis suffer from economic shocks and food insecurity. (United Nations)

Yemen is one of the most food insecure, and possibly poorest countries in the world, a recent World Bank report showed.

The report, Poverty and Equity Assessment 2024, placed Yemen in the company of Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and the Sahel countries, each among the poorest 15 percent of countries worldwide.

Yemen was a poor country before war broke out, and ten subsequent years of conflict and crisis have had dire effects on living conditions with many millions of Yemenis suffer from hunger and poverty.

But according to World Bank experts, a lack of data makes it hard to estimate exactly how many people are poor, or to analyze the main drivers of poverty.

It said Poverty Assessment synthesizes multiple novel data sources to assess how the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) poorest country likely became one of the most impoverished countries worldwide; and how ordinary Yemenis cope—or attempt to cope—with multiple, overlapping deprivations.

The World Bank said a decade ago, Yemen was already a low-income country and 49 percent of Yemenis lived below the national poverty line.

Given the significant deterioration in economic conditions over the course of the war, it concluded that poverty has risen in the intervening years—particularly through ten years of war.

Also, efforts to end the complex, internationalized conflict, have been repeatedly spurned.

It said cautious optimism that an informal, but enduring, truce could be converted into a permanent ceasefire in 2023 has diminished.

As the report was being completed, many World Bank observers warned that the country could be significantly impacted by the Middle East conflict and local repercussions. This is not an eventuality that ordinary Yemenis can afford.

The report found that unreliability of income, livelihoods and food on the one hand, and the vulnerability of ordinary Yemenis to the many economic shocks experienced since the start of the war have been the main drivers of poverty.

By August 2015, after just a few months of war, 48 percent of Yemenis had a poor food consumption score, a more than four-fold increase from the year before, in line with a broader collapse in economic output.

It also showed that food insecurity reached its lowest point in 2018 when the war’s physical and economic dimensions intersected.

But after improvements in 2019 and 2020, in part due to a huge influx of aid, the situation deteriorated due to several major shocks: the Houthi militias’ military campaign in Marib, the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and accompanying price shocks.

The World Bank report admitted that food insecurity has improved since a truce was announced in 2022, but said that Yemen remains among the countries with the most hunger in the world, with around half of the population suffering poor or inadequate food consumption.

It said the food security crisis is fundamentally one of access—people’s ability to pay for goods in local markets—but with some caveats.

While basic food items continue to be imported and provided through humanitarian assistance, the World Bank said food prices have risen sharply over the course of the conflict and household incomes have failed to keep pace with inflation.

On the other hand, food supply has fallen over the course of the conflict, particularly as domestic agricultural productivity weakened, while Yemen’s population has grown by an estimated 18 percent since 2015.

The report said economic conflict has become an important factor in driving food insecurity.

During the first few years of the war, it said Houthi-controlled areas demonstrated the worst food security outcomes.

It added that in 2019, the Houthi ban on new banknotes drove a surge in the price of basic goods and hence food security.

In Yemen, the report said access to water, sanitation, electricity, education, and healthcare have all become much more limited since the beginning of the war, despite some gains made just before the conflict started.

In particular, access to electricity through the public network has deteriorated significantly, as 15 percent of Yemenis are connected to the grid in 2023, compared to 78 percent in 2014.

Meanwhile, the report said that given significant data-gathering constraints, the poverty estimate in Yemen cannot be considered definitive.

Data-gathering constraints make it impossible to calculate monetary poverty levels using conventional methods, the World Bank noted, warning that data gaps and a lack of reliable information from the ground are a significant barrier to poverty and other forms of economic analysis.

There have been several attempts to estimate poverty in Yemen, but these rely on outdated data and several assumptions.

For example, the report said statistical modelling conducted for the last World Bank Country Economic Memorandum for Yemen extrapolates a headcount poverty rate as high as 74 percent in 2022, which could reach between 62 and 74 percent by 2030, depending on the trajectory of the conflict and various scenarios of either continued conflict or recovery.

The report also showed that in dire humanitarian emergencies such as Yemen’s, monetary poverty often converges with measures of food access, as a greater share of available income is used to cover basic nutrition.

It added that there is also a strong and nearly universal pattern of the share of food expenditure increasing as income declines. Food security data is also among the highest-quality and most uniformly and frequently gathered in Yemen, the report noted.



Zarif Warns of All-Out Civil War in Syria, Proposes Initiative for Regional Dialogue

Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs and former Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iranian Presidency)
Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs and former Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iranian Presidency)
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Zarif Warns of All-Out Civil War in Syria, Proposes Initiative for Regional Dialogue

Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs and former Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iranian Presidency)
Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs and former Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iranian Presidency)

Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs and former Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, warned on Tuesday of an all-out civil war in Syria.
His comments came in an initiative calling for dialogue between countries in the region, including the new government in Syria.
In an op-ed in The Economist on Monday, republished by the Iranian IRNA news agency, the Vice President outlined an approach to regional security and economic development through the creation of the Muslim West Asian Dialogue Association (MWADA), meaning “amity” in Arabic, with the aim to foster peaceful coexistence and equitable partnerships.
He said the initiative’s key priority is the establishment of immediate sustainable, permanent ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
Iran's influence in the Middle East has suffered setbacks following Israeli attacks on its Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah allies, and the subsequent fall of President Bashar Assad's regime in Syria.
Zarif’s initiative comes amid heightened expectations in Tehran over US President-elect Donald Trump's policy towards Iran as he prepares to take office in the White House.
Syria’s Challenge
Zarif said MWADA invites all core Muslim countries in West Asia, including the future government of Syria to engage in comprehensive negotiations.
This initiative should be grounded in the sublime values of our common religion, Islam, and on the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-intervention and collective security,” he wrote.
Iran has spent billions of dollars supporting Bashar Assad during the war in Syria, and has deployed Revolutionary Guard troops in the country to keep its ally in power since the civil war erupted in 2011.
Lately, Ahmad al-Sharaa, head of the new Syrian government, made statements criticizing the role Iran has played in Syria over the past years.
In his op-ed, Zarif said, “post-Assad Syria presents a major challenge to us all.”
He said that unbridled Israeli aggression disregarding Syrian sovereignty, foreign interference undermining Syrian territorial integrity, horrifying scenes of violence and brutality reminiscent of ISIS savagery, and ethnic and sectarian violence—which may lead to an all-out civil war—require the immediate attention of the proposed MWADA.
The Iranian official added that a proposed MWADA Development Fund can finance critical infrastructure projects, particularly in devastated post-conflict areas.
Additionally, he said, governance reforms in Syria—as a basis for economic assistance—will promote accountability and lay the groundwork for a safe and stable country where women and minorities can thrive.
Concerning Palestine, Zarif said the humanitarian disaster also remains critical for regional stability.
“MWADA must prioritize Palestinian self-determination and support just solutions while fully respecting the aspirations of the people. This involves not just political solutions but also economic opportunities and the recognition of Palestinian rights,” he wrote.
Security of Navigation
Concerning relations with Saudi Arabia, Zarif said partnership between Tehran and Riyadh, two of the region’s most influential powers—will play a crucial role.
“By fostering unity and brotherhood among Shiite and Sunni Muslims, we can counter the extremism and sectarian strife that have historically destabilized the region,” he said.
Zarif also suggested a new regional cooperation on freedom of navigation, including joint maritime-security patrols.
He said the region is home to strategic chokepoints including the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
“Iran, given its location and security expertise, is uniquely positioned to contribute to the security of waterways like the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote, adding that others can play a leading role in securing Suez and Bab al-Mandab.
He then recalled the Hormuz Peace Endeavor or HOPE, which he suggested in 2019. The initiative came amid escalation of tensions in regional waters, after Iran responded to US sanctions by seizing foreign oil tankers.
Zarif’s initiative also called on working towards a region free from nuclear weapons and reviving the Iran nuclear deal (the JCPOA).
Iran’s Role
Speaking about Iran’s role, Zarif said like other participants, Tehran would play an indispensable role.
“Over the past 45 years, my country has demonstrated remarkable resilience and self-sufficiency in security and defense, managing to survive and even thrive; not just without foreign assistance, but in spite of pressure from extra-regional powers,” he wrote.
The widely believed perception of Iran losing its arms in the region stems from a wrong assumption that Iran has had proxy-patron relationships with resistance forces, he added.
Zarif said that trying to attribute it to Iran may serve a public relations campaign but will obstruct any resolution.
MWADA challenges us to re-imagine the region not as a battleground but as a hub of MWADA, amity and empathy, characterized by the pursuit of shared opportunities and collective prosperity, he noted.
“Transforming West Asia into a beacon of peace and collaboration is not just an idealistic aspiration; it is both a strategic imperative and an achievable goal that requires only commitment, dialogue and a shared vision,” the Iranian official said.
In a video message delivered in English on the occasion of Christmas, the Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs warned that the escalating tensions in the Middle East could lead to an uncontrollable global crisis.