Teshreen: Poverty rate in Syria is less than 9%

The rate of poverty in Syria reached less than 9%, Teshreen Arabic daily said on Tuesday asserting that the real number is less than that.

Central Bureau of Statistics in cooperation with the State Planning Board and UN Development Program (UNDP) recently finished a study on the rate of poverty in Syria, the daily said.

The daily pointed out that the average of poverty in Egypt was 26%, in Jordan 15% and in Lebanon 30%.

The study is considered a real exploration of the living standards in all the Syrian governorates and its connection with the unemployment average and the level of education. It includes detailed information on the living costs and incomes, the paper stressed.

As to the poverty criterion, the daily said "the study adopted international standards," pointing out that poverty is not a mere financial problem but there are standards connected with human development like offering health services and the level of prosperity.

But the main standard the study adopted is over "Food expenditures," and living expenses in general, the daily indicated.

Teshreen stressed that the study will be presented during the forthcoming period describing it as the first study of its kind in Syria.