BEIRUT: More than half of families in Tripoli suffer from deprivation, with the figure rising to more than four in five families in the notoriously restive Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood, according to a newly released study by a U.N. body.
The data comes as the city saw a deadly twin suicide attack over the weekend, and appears to further back up those who link the poverty and lack of opportunities that mark parts of the northern city with the high levels of violence and growing trend of extremism.
The Urban Deprivation Index, put together by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, revealed that 57 percent of Tripoli’s families are struggling to attain an acceptable standard of living, and of these, 26 percent are considered “extremely deprived.”
The index is based on four factors – economic status, accommodation, health, and education – which are each measured by three indicators.
For example, in the field of education, the indicators focused on whether both of the parents had completed their elementary education, whether children between the ages of 4 and 15 were enrolled in school and whether anyone in the family held a high school diploma.
A high score in six out of the total of 12 indicators meant the family was deprived, while high scores in eight indicated extreme deprivation.
Some 87 percent of households in the Bab al-Tabbaneh-Swayka area are considered deprived, and out of these, about 52 percent live in extreme deprivation.
The index focuses on measuring poverty by looking at more than income, and was prepared by ESCWA’s Regional Advisor Adib Nehme and the Arab Urban Development Institute, among others.
Its findings on Tripoli stem from a October 2011 survey of 1,271 families from seven major Tripoli neighborhoods: Basateen Tarablous, al-Tal-Zahreyah, the Old City, Bab al-Tabbaneh-Swayka, Qibbeh-Jabal Mohsen, Basateen al-Minaa and Mina.
In four of these neighborhoods, the percentage of households living in deprivation surpassed the city’s average, leading the researchers to conclude that “in general Tripoli is a deprived/poor city.”
Tripoli is the second-largest city in Lebanon and was an economic powerhouse before the civil war.
Its standing has deteriorated over the years, with various security-related challenges, uneven development policies and border closures having serious repercussions on the city’s industries.
The report found that the percentage deprived in terms of the economic status factor was the highest (77 percent), whereas 35 percent were deprived in terms of accommodation, 35 percent for health and 25 percent for education.
At 95 percent of its households, Bab al-Tabbaneh-Swayka ranked No. 1 among Tripoli neighborhoods for economic deprivation.
The report is likely to bolster arguments by those who say the poverty and neglect that has long marked Lebanon’s northern capital is a major contributing factor to the ongoing cycle of violence there.
Although the problems there date back to the Civil War, the situation in Tripoli has been especially turbulent since the war in neighboring Syria broke out.
The on-again-off-again clashes between residents in the mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and those in the mostly Alawite Jabal Mohsen, along with sporadic clashes by Islamist militants who appear to have found fertile ground for recruitment, have wrecked the city’s economy.
This has led to increasingly fewer jobs and opportunities and is believed to have played an important role in pushing many young men into joining extreme rebel groups, both here in Lebanon and in Syria.
Two such men were behind last Saturday’s attack, which killed at least nine and wounded 30.
Commenting on the gap between the study period and now, ESCWA’s Nehme said: “The situation now is worse than 2011.”
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