Assessing the development-displacement nexus in Lebanon : working paper
Résumé
This paper focuses on Lebanon, a country which covers some 10,450 km2 and has received the largest influx of refugees from Syria in proportion to its own nationals. In 2015, Syrian refugees represented about a quarter of the Lebanese population, according to data from the United Nations High Com-missioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers Lebanon to be an upper-middle income country and estimated its average per capita income to be US $15,077 in 2014. However, high income inequality and poverty rates are also widely acknowledged (UNDP, 2008; Ham-dan and Bou Khater, 2015). No recent poverty assessments are available for Lebanon. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2008) found that 28.5% of the Lebanese population was poor, measured as living on less than $4 a day. Data released by the Central Administration for Statistics (CAS) based on a 2011-2012 household budget survey are similar, indicating that 27% of the Lebanese popu-lation were poor. Regional disparities are stark. Poverty is particularly pervasive in Bekaa and the North governorates, and these are also the main areas of arrival of Syrian refugees (Table 1 and 2 in Annex).