A 7-year-old report conducted by the Central Administration of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank showed that, in 2012, the poverty line in Lebanon was 13,000 LBP per day for a single individual.
This was equivalent to 1.3 million LBP per month for a family of 5.
Today, a family of 5 making 4.1 million pounds or less is considered poor, according to recent estimates by the Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation.
The estimates indicate that the food poverty line currently equates to 2.8 million LBP for such a family.
In other words, a family of 5 is considered to be suffering from food poverty if it is generally incapable of spending more than a monthly sum of 2.8 million LBP on food items.
On the other hand, the non-food poverty line, which includes basic non-food needs such as health, housing, education, and clothing, stands at nearly 1.23 million LBP per month for a family of the same size.
Poverty became more widespread in Lebanon as the debilitating economic crisis manifested and progressed over the past year, causing many to suffer salary cuts and even unemployment as companies and businesses responded to the meltdown.
The purchasing power of the Lebanese plummeted to all-time lows as the Lebanese pound lost more than 80% of its value against the U.S. dollar, which has become a rare and invaluable asset after having been widely available in the local market for many years.
In its recent Lebanon Economic Monitor report, the World Bank said that poverty was likely to grow and affect more than half of the Lebanese population by the upcoming year.