poverty in yemen essay

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A Roadmap to Recovery: Addressing Poverty in Yemen’s Ongoing Conflict

By Abdo Seif

February 26, 2024

A laborer in Yemen.

Prior to the escalation of armed conflict in 2015, development in Yemen was strained. As a country of 30 million people, it ranked 153rd on the Human Development Index (HDI), 138th in extreme poverty, 147th in life expectancy, 72nd in educational attainment, and was in the World Bank low-middle income category. Yemen did not achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals and it is likely that it will not achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 due to the adverse impact of the ongoing crisis.

The ongoing conflict has further reduced the pace of development and exacerbated poverty and hunger. The impacts of conflict in Yemen are devastating – with nearly 250,000 people killed directly by fighting and indirectly through lack of access to food, health services and infrastructure. Of the dead, 60% are children under the age of 5. The long-term impacts of conflict are both vast and devastating and place it among the most destructive conflicts since the end of the Cold War. The conflict has already set back human development by more than 20 years, as measured by the HDI.

End of conflict in 2019, 2022 and 2030 and impact on the Human Development Index

Access to facilities and basic services is critical for Yemenis

Most of Yemen’s population is poor. The United Nations Development Programme and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative’s (OPHI) forthcoming report on measuring multidimensional poverty in Yemen indicates (based on 2021 data provided by the World Bank’s Yemen Human Development Survey) that 82.7% of people were living in multidimensional poverty in Yemen. The intensity of poverty, or the average number of deprivations faced by multidimensionally poor people is 46.7%. Deprivations in years of schooling and sanitation are two of the highest deprivations, with more than 70% of the population deprived in these indicators.

The Yemen Human Development Survey (YHDS) 2021 is composed of six questionnaires (education, health, child and maternal health, services, living standards, and employment). The national MPI includes dimensions and indicators that capture deprivations for individuals and households.

The indicators are computed at the household level, assuming that all household members share achievements and deprivations equally. Statistical tests were performed to validate the measure’s robustness and significance of the findings at the national level and for governorates. 

The YHDS included a sample of 1,681 households. It was the first face-to-face, representative household survey collected since the onset of conflict. It aims to provide a detailed overview of welfare, food security and human development indicators in Yemen, enabling intra-household analysis. Data were collected between April and September 2021, including information on education, health, employment status and living conditions of the Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) (or Southern Yemen). The survey provides regionally representative data in Al Bayda, Ta’iz, Hadramawt, Shabwah, Aden, Lahj, Ma’rib, Al Maharah and Ad Dali’ governorates.

The percentage of people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived in each MPI indicator in Yemen

Results indicate that the percentage of people living in multidimensional poverty in Yemen was 82.7%. That is, more than eight in every ten people in the country (in the regions the surveys were collected) were living in multidimensional poverty.

The percentage of people living in multidimensional poverty in Yemen was 82.7%.

The intensity of poverty, or the average number of deprivations faced by multidimensionally poor people, was 46.7%. This means that, on average, a poor person experienced more than 45% of the possible weighted deprivations. The national MPI, which is the product of the incidence (percentage of people living in multidimensional poverty) and intensity (average number of deprivations faced by poor people) of multidimensional poverty, was 0.386; therefore, multidimensional poor people face on average 38.6% of all possible deprivation in Yemen, if all individuals were multidimensionally poor and deprived in all indicators.

Poverty tended to be higher in rural areas (89.4%) than urban areas (68.9%). Ad Dali’ and Al Bayda had the highest incidence of multidimensional poverty. Given the large population in Ta’iz governorate, it is estimated that 40% of multidimensionally poor people live in this region. 

Nationally, years of schooling and sanitation are the two indicators with the largest censored headcount ratios (the percentage of people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived in each indicator), with more than 70% of the population being deprived in these indicators and multidimensionally poor. In terms of the percentage contribution of each of the 17 indicators to the national MPI, the largest contributors to national poverty are years of schooling (17.1%), followed by cooking fuel (9.1%) and sanitation (8.1%).

In addition, female-headed households have a lower incidence of multidimensional poverty compared with male headed households. However, these differences are not significant. 

In terms of the marital status of the household head, the results reveal that households where the head is divorced have a lower incidence of multidimensional poverty, compared to other households. By contrast, households whose head is married with more than one wife have higher levels of people living in multidimensional poverty, and the intensity of their poverty is higher.

In addition, the incidence of poverty of people living in smaller households is 64.4%, compared to 86.4% and 91.1% for people living in households with five to nine members or more than nine members, respectively. 

Finally, the results reveal that households with members with disabilities have higher levels of multidimensional poverty than households without members with disabilities (86.4% versus 81.2%).

Conclusion and Recommendations

The internal conflict of Yemen has had a negative impact on the living standards of individuals and households in the country. This analysis has revealed that the country faces high levels of poverty and deprivation, and that there are several challenges to guarantee access to basic services and opportunities.

Deprivations in years of schooling and sanitation are two of the highest deprivations, with more than 70% of the population deprived in these indicators.

In addition, there are important differences between rural and urban areas and governorates. This reflects that some areas are more affected by the ongoing conflict, and that there are areas where people face higher barriers to access services, or where services are not available.

The report recommends putting in place a poverty reduction strategy that addresses the issues of inadequate access to basic services and enhances economic opportunities. 

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Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in Yemen

This report represents a significant contribution to measuring and monitoring Yemen’s progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically the first goal and target 1.2, on reducing “at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions” by 2030.

The report is Yemen´s first on the calculation of the sub-national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) based on the 2021 Yemen Human Development Survey. It covers the sub-national level (representative regions), urban and rural areas of Al Bayda, Ta’iz, Hadramawt, Shabwah, Aden, Lahj, Ma’rib, Al Maharah and Ad Dali’ governorates. A detailed breakdown by MPI indicators for each group makes the report a powerful policy tool to benchmark progress and inform planning and policy design.

Multidimensional poverty

The national MPI for Yemen is based on the Alkire-Foster method of multidimensional poverty measurement. It uses the results of the 2021 Yemen Human Development Survey (YHDS) and comprises six dimensions (education, health, child and maternal health, services, living standards and employment) and 17 indicators.

The dimensions and indicators capture deprivations for individuals and households. Indicators were computed at the household level, assuming that all household members equally share achievements and deprivations. Statistical tests were performed to validate the measure’s robustness and the significance of findings at the national level and for governorates.

The YHDS included a sample of 1,681 households. It was the first face-to-face, representative household survey since the onset of conflict in Yemen. It aimed to provide a detailed overview of welfare, food security and human development indicators, and to enable intrahousehold analysis. Data were collected between April and September 2021, including on education, health, employment status and living conditions in areas under the Internationally Recognized Government (Southern Yemen). The survey provided regionally representative data on Al Bayda, Ta’iz, Hadramawt, Shabwah, Aden, Lahj, Ma’rib, Al Maharah and Ad Dali’ governorates.

Results indicated that 82.7 percent of people were living in multidimensional poverty, or more than 8 in every 10 people based on the regions surveyed. The intensity of poverty, or the average number of deprivations faced by multidimensionally poor people, was 46.7 per cent. On average, a poor person experienced more than 45 percent of possible weighted deprivations. The national MPI, which is the product of the incidence (percentage of people living in multidimensional poverty) and intensity (average number of deprivations faced by poor people) of multidimensional poverty, was 0.386. Multidimensionally poor people faced on average 38.6 percent of all possible deprivations, if all individuals were multidimensionally poor and deprived on all indicators.

Poverty tended to be higher in rural areas (89.4 percent) than urban areas (68.9 percent). Ad Dali’ and Al Bayda had the highest incidence of multidimensional poverty. An estimated 40 percent of multidimensionally poor people lived in Ta’iz governorate, which has a large population.

Nationally, years of schooling and sanitation were the two indicators with the largest censored headcount ratios ( 1) with more than 70 percent of the population deprived on these indicators and multidimensionally poor. In terms of the percentage contribution of each of the 17 indicators to the national MPI, the largest contributors were years of schooling (17.1 percent), followed by cooking fuel (9.1 percent) and sanitation (8.1 percent).

Female-headed households had a lower incidence of multidimensional poverty than male-headed households but the difference was not significant. Households where the head was divorced had a lower incidence of multidimensional poverty compared to other households. By contrast, households where the male head was married to more than one wife had higher levels. The intensity of their poverty was also greater. The incidence of poverty among people living in smaller households was 64.4 percent, compared to 86.4 percent and 91.1 percent for people living in households with five to nine members or more than nine members, respectively. Finally households with members with disabilities had higher levels of multidimensional poverty than households without members with disabilities (86.4 percent compared to 81.2 percent).

Conclusion and recommendations

Yemen’s internal conflict has had a deeply negative impact on the living standards of individuals and households. The country faces high levels of poverty and deprivation, and multiple challenges in guaranteeing access to basic services and opportunities. Deprivations in years of schooling and sanitation are among the worst, with more than 70 percent of the population deprived on these indicators. Important differences between rural and urban areas and governorates reflect how some areas are more affected by ongoing conflict, higher barriers to services or a lack of services altogether. This report recommends establishing a poverty reduction strategy that addresses inadequate access to basic services and enhances economic opportunities.

(1) The percentage of people who are deprived on each indicator and are multidimensionally poor.

Source: UNDP Yemen

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Conflict and Poverty in Yemen

Yemen’s Civil War

The seeds of Yemen’s conflict began because of the disorganized power transitions that the 2011 Arab Spring prompted. However, 2015 marks the descent into a foreign-backed civil war . Since then, fighting between the Northern rebel Houthis have continued to decimate civilian communities and exacerbate poverty. Iran has backed this fighting, because of Shia religious interests, along with the remaining Yemeni government. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-majority countries trying to curtail Iranian influence have also supported it.

The 2019 UNDP report outlines poverty rates in both conflict and no conflict trajectories and shows that without conflict, Yemen’s poverty rate could drop dramatically. Though the country’s poverty rate started rising in 1998 due to poor economic growth, the conflict that began in 2015 increased the depth of poverty by 600% showing the relationship between conflict and poverty in Yemen. The amount of Yemen’s population that now lives in poverty, defined as less than $3.10 a day, hovers around 75%. UNDP projections suggest that 65% of that number could live in extreme poverty by 2022, meaning that they would exist on less than $1.90 a day.

Already struggling with poverty before the conflict, fighting in Yemen compounds the problem by destroying critical infrastructures, like hospitals. On top of that, the pre-2015 economy flatlined. However, the most harmful effect has been on the food supply. As Yemen relies on imports for more than 90% of its food products, the war’s blockades and bombings prevent stable food transportation from ports. Oxfam International reports that two-thirds of Yemen’s population cannot predict where their next meal will come from.

Future Projections

Many say that Yemen suffers the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and such suffering will only increase with continued conflict. For example:

• By 2022, the UNDP report projected that 12.4 million Yemenis could live in poverty and that 15.8 million Yemenis could live in extreme poverty if the conflict persists.
• It also suggested that the depth of poverty could increase to 6,000% by 2030 compared to the rate of poverty in pre-war Yemen.

However, if the conflict ends soon, Yemen would stand 8% closer to the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education and gender equality than it did in 2014. If the conflict ends, the total projected poverty in 2030 would underperform 2014 levels by 3.1 million.

Foreign Aid to Address Poverty

To address poverty in Yemen as well as poverty in other war-torn states, organizations have recently implemented academic findings on the relationship between poverty and conflict.

Borany Penh, founder of the international data science and research firm, Dev-Analytics, and a researcher at the USAID Learning Lab says that “ cross contributions from academic fields are beginning to clarify the kinds of solutions to poverty and conflict possible through institutional partnerships.” Penh has argued that fixing the disconnect between academic literature and on the ground efforts would remedy less successful poverty reduction efforts in fragile states. Recent USAID funding acknowledges this point and now incentivizes partnerships among such fields.

For example, to better address poverty in Yemen, USAID currently funds the Yemen Communities Stronger Together (YCST) grant which supports projects and institutions that focus on social cohesion in poverty-reduction efforts. Scholars, organizations and businesses qualify for YCST. This variable grant allows the intersection of academia, nonprofit organizations and businesses to combat poverty while capitalizing on stabilization opportunities. So far, YCST gave out two $30 million awards and plans to report on its impact after the three-year implementation period ends.

On the Ground

In addition to coalition forming efforts like YCST, decreasing poverty in Yemen requires logistic strategies for navigating conflict and fighting poverty. Many nonprofits help via basic aid services, but to do so, they must create solutions to disperse aid while circumventing war zones. The World Food Programme (WFP) found great success in this arena.

Understanding the limitations of transportation in Yemen, WFP attempted to spread food imports as widely and directly as possible. Through the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service and partner organization, Logistics Cluster, food aid reaches four major cities including Aden, Hodeidah, Sana’a and Djibouti, via air and sea routes. Each month 12 million Yemenis now access WFP food rations because of reimagined delivery systems.

However, in areas with viable markets, WFP works to provide cash assistance which, while fighting hunger, also bolsters the economy. The WFP provides food to school children too. Targeting devastated areas of Yemen, the WPF incentivizes education while addressing childhood malnutrition with a school lunch program that provides small meals to 680,000 students. This reflects the new nonprofit focus on sustainable poverty recovery rather than long-term reliance on service distribution.

Many other organizations have devised new ways of bringing aid to Yemen as conflict persists. However, as Penh argues and the institutions highlighted above actualize, linking nascent poverty and conflict studies to field practices is the most hopeful strategy for fighting poverty in Yemen and other fragile states. By ending the conflict which causes such extreme poverty, countries should not face dire projections that place their populations at risk.

– Rory Davis Photo: Flickr

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