New U.N. report measures poverty in Arab countries

A new report from the UN's Development Program measures the development standards of the Arab region. The report called "Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries" uses the term "human security" when talking about basic needs.

The report from the UN gives us a few statistics of poverty inArab nations that are worth noting. We found a summary of those stats at the MEMRI Blog.

A survey of a sample representing 65% of the population indicates that the average level of poverty was the lowest in Lebanon and Syria with a rate of 28.6-30 percent, the highest in Yemen at 59.9 percent, and 41 percent in Egypt.

Based on the survey, the report estimates that 65 million people live at the poverty line.

In 2005, unemployment was estimated at 14.4% in the Arab countries, compared with 6.3 percent globally. Unemployment among youth represents the biggest social challenge.