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Djibouti Poverty Rate Continues to Fall

Djibouti, a small country wedged in the horn of Africa has had a long history of economic instability and poverty. In the last decade, the country boasted some of its highest poverty rates, however, after 2007, the Djibouti poverty rate finally started to decline.

In 2007, when the Djibouti poverty rate saw its first significant spike downwards, it was recorded at 42 percent. Now, with the buffer from aid organizations and economic help from foreign financing and foreign direct investments, Djibouti has successfully lowered its poverty rate to about 18.8 percent. This rate is a tremendous achievement as the last two decades the poverty rate has fallen about 30 percent.

Following its 2007 rate, the Djibouti poverty rate had dropped to 23 percent by 2013 and then to about 18.8 percent currently.

In 2011, Djibouti’s population reached 820,000. Unfortunately, most of the population were living in extreme poverty. The common causes of poverty in the country were consecutive years of drought, loss of livestock, destruction of crops, malnutrition and unemployment.

The little resources the natives did have were stretched thin for the influx of refugees from neighboring Somalia, where refugees were estimated at 15,000 and growing.

With resources quickly being depleted and food and fuel prices rising, organizations such as the U.N., the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation raised approximately $20 million for food, drought relief, water rehabilitation and mobile health units.

With poverty rates falling, Djibouti has seen increases in its GDP, industrial production growth rate and labor force. The GDP in 2016 was reported at $3.34 billion, an increase of $200 million from 2015, while the industrial production growth rate rose to 4.7 percent in 2016, ranking it 40 in the world.

Although the country still experiences a relatively high percentage of poverty and unemployment, the Djibouti poverty rate has successfully fallen and will continue to fall with help from foreign countries.

– Amira Wynn

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Luxembourg Poverty Rate

Luxembourg Poverty RateWhile Luxembourg is a wealthy European country, some of its people still live in poverty. In 2015, one in five citizens – 19 percent – lived under the threat of poverty. Unfortunately, there has been an uptick in the Luxembourg poverty rate since 2003, when the rate was 15.8 percent. This was at least partly due to the financial crisis.

The European definition of poverty, which is used to determine the Luxembourg poverty rate, includes people whose income, including social benefits, amounts to less than 60 percent of the country’s median income and therefore are unable to afford basic necessities like rent and transportation.

There is, however, good news when it comes to jobs. The unemployment rate in Luxembourg is 5.7 percent. This is the fourth-best in Europe after Germany, Austria and Malta. The European average is 10.4 percent, making Luxembourg‘s rate quite low in comparison.

The average household available income in Luxembourg is $40,914 U.S., much higher than $29,016 – the average of member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD). While income inequality has increased in Luxembourg since the financial crisis, it is still below the average of all OECD countries.

According to a study by EurWORK, about 12 percent of workers in Luxembourg are paid minimum wage. However, it is much more common for younger workers to be working for minimum wage than older workers. Unfortunately, nearly half of workers between the ages of 18 and 24 make so little that they fall below the poverty line.

Address Luxembourg’s Poverty Rate

Nevertheless, the government has introduced plans to help the working poor. The minimum wage is tied to the rate of inflation, so people with resources less than the legal limits are now given a guaranteed minimum income so they are able to support themselves. In 2009, the government also introduced childcare vouchers for families at risk of poverty to help them pay for daycare or after-school babysitting. Employers generally support these reforms.

Though poverty remains an issue in Luxembourg, the government has a history of implementing proactive solutions which gives citizens reason to be hopeful about their country’s poverty rate being reduced in the near future.

– Brock Hall