Poverty and social welfare in Lebanon

Abstract

Poverty in Lebanon is due to many geographical and socio-economic inequalities. Poverty analysis stated that most of the poor are those working as servants and farmers.Poverty is not only caused by low income but it is associated with malnutrition, high numbers of child mortality, illiteracy, and poor living conditions. In Lebanon, regional disparities is the most striking, like the North governorates is way behind the rest of the country, it has very high poverty rates compared to other governorates.Around 28 percent of the Lebanese population cannot meet their basic needs and 8 percent cannot meet their basic food needs (they are extremely poor). Concerning the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, Lebanon has a high chance in meeting this target. By doing so, it might reduce the disparities in poverty. Many Policies are introduced to reduce poverty in Lebanon such as promoting growth and development and granting easier access to education.