Publication: Social Safety Nets in Iraq: Reform in a Time of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence
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2016-11
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2016-11-16
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Iraq, once a relatively skilled and economically prosperous society, has seen its development thwarted by decades of conflict and economic decline. Today it is an upper middle-income, resource-rich, yet fragile and conflict-riven country. Progress on the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity is inevitably an uphill struggle in such a context. Indeed, there has been no overall movement towards either poverty reduction or reduced income equality in Iraq since 2007; headcount poverty measured in 2014 has remained virtually unchanged at 22.5 percent. What limited gains in poverty reduction were achieved through 2012 had been reversed by 2014, as a result of a resurgence in violence and the worsening of the economic environment. More than four million Iraqis have been displaced by the country’s various conflicts.
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“Alkhoja, Ghassan; Neman, Ramzi; Hariz, Sara. 2016. Social Safety Nets in Iraq: Reform in a Time of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence. MENA Knowledge and Learning Quick Notes Series;No. 161. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25342 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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