Somali Poverty Profile, June 2017

Abstract

Somalia is emerging from 25 years of political instability and economic difficulty but hard data islacking for evidence-based planning. The civil war and ongoing conflict that started in 1991 fragmented the country, undermined political institutions, and created widespread vulnerability. The conflict has eroded the statistical infrastructure and capacity, leaving policy makers and donors to operate in a statistical vacuum due to the lack of reliable data. In the absence of representative household surveys not much was known about poverty. The lack of information poses a threat to the design and implementation of policies and programs needed to support economic resilience and development as well as assistance in the event of shocks.