Analytical Study for the Economic and Social Factors Affecting Rural Poverty at Household Level in Lattakia Governorate/Syria

Abstract

This research was conducted in the year 2021, and targeted rural areas in Lattakia Governorate, with the aim of measuring the level of rural poverty, its depth, intensity, and factors affecting it, especially in the conditions of the suffocating economic crisis that Syria suffers from, which reflected in the low living conditions. The research relied on preliminary data collected during the month of September by a field questionnaire targeting a random sample of rural Households (HHs) of 383 HHs. The data is descriptive and quantitatively using the discriminatory analysis method to determine the factors that distinguish poor HHs from non -poor HHs

The value of the nutrition poverty line was estimated at the equivalent of 41320 SP/individual per month, based on the value of the basic food basket components in Syria during the data collection period. Where the results showed a significant increase in the percentage of poor HHs in the study sample, estimated at 43.5%. However, the poverty gap and its intensity are a low valuable record (0.089 and 0.008 each in a row), which indicates that poverty in the region is relatively deep, that is, a practical strategy can be followed with less resources in order to reduce the poverty rate in the region. Where the resources needed to raise all the poor above the poverty line were estimated at about 15.6 million SP at the level of the study sample, with an average of 93175.5 SP per month for the HH and 18635 SP per month per person.

Results of discriminatory analysis have shown the existence of six indicators that distinguish between poor and non -poor HHs. Poor HHs included four types: large HHs, HHs whose basic income depends on agriculture, HHs whose basic income depends on free business and HHs whose basic income depends on jobs. As for non -poor HHs, they include two types: HHs that are located in the upper quarters of the compound wealth index, which consists of different types of capital (human, natural, Physical), in addition to HHs that have savings and are a natural result related to the presence of sufficient income for these HHs.