WEST BANK (Dispatches) – About 27.8 percent of households in the Israeli-occupied territories – 2,627,000 people – live in poverty, a report published by Latet NGO has revealed.
Latet, which is the largest anti-poverty NGO in the occupied territories, found that at least 1,176,000 of the poor are children, adding that a total of 830,000 households are reported to be in economic distress – 131,000 more families than before the Covid pandemic.
The report shows that 680,475 families – 21.1 percent of the population – live in nutritional insecurity. Of them, 312,825 live in severe nutritional insecurity.
According to the reported data, over 75 percent of people who are of pension age live in de facto poverty.
It also stated that the high cost of living remains one of the main issues.
Over the last 12 months, property prices in the occupied territories increased by almost 20 percent, while inflation rose to 5.1 percent with food prices seeing the most significant surge.
The report found, according to Arab48, that Arab residents of the occupied territories are the most affected by the rising poverty rates.
People living in poverty also face job insecurity, with 29.7% of those supported reporting that there was a high or very high chance that they would lose their jobs. 56.5% of those supported stated that a health condition kept them from working or improving their work status.
80.8% of those supported were left without any moneymakers in the family or had their income harmed during the coronavirus crisis. Nearly half of supported families were left without any moneymaker in the household during the pandemic.