Monitoring money-metric poverty

Background

Regardless of how it is measured, poverty in Arab countries was on the rise before the outbreak of COVID-19. Rising poverty coupled with the high concentration of wealth in the region highlight the importance of this initiative, which aims to lift marginalized people out of poverty.

The ESCWA poverty team continuously monitors the status of and trends in in money-metric poverty and inequality over time, and across countries. The results for income, consumption and wealth distributions are compared, especially in the years leading up to the COVID-19 crisis, and the years during and after the crisis. Updated results are to be produced periodically.

Our approach

Our partners

League of Arab States, UNDP and the Economic Research Forum

Our activities

A series of activities and deliverables have been presented to support the ESCWA mandate in this regard, including papers, reports, projects and expert group meetings.

Focus areas