Powered by IFAD

Rural poverty in Syria

Poverty affects 11.4 per cent of all people in Syria. It is more common in rural areas, where 62 per cent of the country's poor people live, but is most severe and most widespread in the north-eastern part of the country.

The latest assessment of rural poverty in the country, conducted by IFAD, found that half of Syria's poor rural households depend on wages for their livelihood. One third of poor rural people cultivates crops and raise livestock to obtain an income. The incidence of poverty is lowest among the 20 per cent of rural people who rely on mixed, or multiple, sources of income. Half of the households in Syria own land, but 70 per cent of these smallholdings are less than three hectares.

IFAD's poverty assessment found that the availability of drinking water is a concern for many people in rural areas. Also, fewer girls than boys are enrolled in schools, and women bear a heavy workload that combines household tasks with productive activities in agriculture.

In rural areas, almost 50 per cent of the labour force is employed in agriculture. Overall, about 25 per cent of young men (20 — 24 age group) are unemployed, with the result that many Syrians migrate to Lebanon to find work.

In 2004, the livelihoods of about 56 per cent of rural poor people depended on agriculture, a sector characterized by low productivity and an irregular demand for labour. More than 77 per cent of poor rural people were landless, though they had other assets such as cattle, sheep or other animals.

Poverty is prevalent among:

• tenant farmers and small-scale farmers
• small-scale herders
• labourers with no access to land
• unemployed young people
• rural women, particularly women who are heads of households

Households headed by women are often dependent on irregular or insecure sources of income, such as money sent home by migrant family members. They are particularly vulnerable to external economic shocks. Families with large numbers of children and widows with children are more likely to be poor.

The north-eastern region is the poorest and most deprived part of Syria. Poverty rates in other parts of the country declined between 1996 and 2004, but the incidence and severity of poverty increased in rural areas of the north-eastern and coastal regions. The numbers and proportions of landless people have increased steadily over the last three decades throughout the country, but the increase is particularly high in the north-east. Poverty is most severe and most concentrated in the three economically depressed eastern provinces of Deir Ezzor, Hassaka and Raqqa.
 
The main causes of rural poverty in Syria include:

small and fragmented nature of farms
water shortages and the drying up of groundwater wells, coupled with persistent droughts
lack of access to credit and markets
lack of appropriate technology

Other causes of poverty include:

• illiteracy, which affects about 28 per cent of rural adults
• large number of landless people, whose skills are limited
• high rate of rural population growth
• large proportion of young people and the growing number of new entrants to the job market
• lack of a suitable microfinance system responding to the needs of rural poor people; this limits employment opportunities and inhibits the development of on-farm and off-farm enterprises to create new jobs
   

Source: IFAD