Lebanon Poverty Crisis Deepens Amid Collapse
Recent Developments
01May 23, 2024: The World Bank said poverty in Lebanon had more than tripled over the past decade, reaching 44% of the population in surveyed areas and 33% among Lebanese nationals.
022024: The World Bank reported that Lebanon’s economy kept contracting, with cumulative real GDP down 27% from 2019 to 2023 and inflation remaining in triple digits since 2021.
03October 2024: The EUAA said the war between Israel and Hezbollah further destabilized Lebanon’s economy and amplified losses across key sectors, including food security, healthcare, and education.
Interventions
- World Bank-backed social safety net and poverty policy support, including the Lebanon Poverty and Equity Assessment 2024 and related reform recommendations to strengthen protection and job creation.
- UN and humanitarian assistance focused on food, health, and basic needs for vulnerable households, including support responding to rising food insecurity and service shortages noted by the World Bank and humanitarian assessments.
What Works
- Expanded social safety nets and targeted cash support, which the World Bank identifies as necessary to reduce poverty and inequality in Lebanon’s prolonged crisis.
- Job creation and labor-market recovery measures, because the World Bank links Lebanon’s poverty rise to weak growth and shows poverty would have fallen with steady economic growth instead of contraction.
How to Help
- Donate to organizations providing food assistance, cash aid, healthcare support, and household relief in Lebanon.
- Support reputable local and international NGOs working on poverty, food insecurity, and basic services in Lebanon.
- Advocate for humanitarian funding, debt and economic reform, and social protection policies through elected representatives.
Make an Impact
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Verified Organizations
Organizations Helping(4)
WFP addresses Niger’s food insecurity through emergency food assistance, nutrition treatment and prevention, school meals, and resilience-building programs. Its Niger work includes support for children under 2, pregnant and nursing women, and young girls; treatment of moderate acute malnutrition; micronutrient support; food-for-assets activities that help communities rebuild ponds and other assets; and homegrown school meals with Niger’s Ministry of Education.
Oxfam has worked in Lebanon since 1993 and combines humanitarian assistance with longer-term poverty reduction work. In Lebanon it provides support to vulnerable people affected by conflict and crisis, and its program areas include inclusive economic development, good governance, and gender justice. Oxfam also says that since 2019 it has implemented feasible, durable, and green solutions in response to rising poverty and worsening services, which indicates an approach that blends immediate relief with resilience-building and local development.
IRC works in Lebanon by delivering health services, mental health support, protection services, education, and livelihoods programming. In its Lebanon response, it says it has worked in the country since 2012 and reached more than 180,000 people in 2025, with a focus on helping people access essential health care and protection, especially children, women, and survivors of violence. This addresses poverty by reducing households’ out-of-pocket costs, supporting basic service access, and helping families stabilize income and well-being.
Caritas Lebanon works to reduce poverty and social exclusion through social, medical, economic, development, and emergency programs. In the Lebanon context, this means serving marginalized communities with a mix of immediate relief and longer-term support. That approach helps households cope with the crisis by improving access to basic services, emergency support, and community-based assistance.
