UN: Yemen to become the poorest country in the world amid Saudi war

The United Nations said in an official report that if the ongoing civil war in Yemen continues till 2022 then it would become the poorest country in the world. The percentage of poverty in the year 2014 was 47, and it is expected to reach 75 per cent by the end of this year due to the war. The United Nations Development Program published a report on September 26 which discussed the current scenario of Yemen. The report quoted the UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner who said that the war has made Yemen the 'largest humanitarian crisis in the world'.

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The poorest country in the Arab region

Yemen is currently among the poorest countries in the Middle-Eastern region and its condition deteriorated even more after the Saudi-led intervention in 2015. The UN report says, "If fighting continues through 2022, Yemen will rank as the poorest country in the world, with 79 per cent of the population living under the poverty line and 65 per cent classified as extremely poor". The report further said, "the intensity of poverty has also surged, with Yemen projected by 2022 to have the largest poverty gap—the distance between average income and the poverty line—in the world". As per the UN reports, the war-ravaged country now cannot take a chance to wait and must act quickly.

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The UNDP Administrator also tweeted on October 9 about a campaign at the Brussels Airport and metro stations to highlight the work done by the UN to restore livelihood and aid development in Yemen.

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The Saudi-led intervention 

The crisis going on in Yemen had played the biggest role to make the Yemenis poorest in the world. The Saudi Arabia intervention in 2015 took place with a coalition of nine countries from the Arabian peninsula and African region. The Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi approached these countries for armed support when he was forced out of his position following the Houthi movement. He fled to Saudi Arabia after that and since then Yemen is in crisis. The Yemeni civil war has directly or indirectly killed millions of civilians. The UNDP report says, "if the war continues for the next decade. If fighting continues through 2030, 78 per cent of Yemenis will live in extreme poverty, 95 per cent will be malnourished, and 84 per cent of children will be stunted".

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(With inputs from agencies)