Poverty rises sharply in Afghanistan since departure of NATO combat troops in 2014 – survey

Poverty has risen sharply in Afghanistan since the departure of NATO combat troops in 2014, with more than half of the population now living below the poverty line, a national survey shows. Around 55 percent of Afghans did not have $1 a day in 2016-17 to cover food, clothing, shelter, or education, according to the results of the Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS) of 21,000 households, conducted by the Afghan statistics bureau. In 2011-2012, the figure stood at 38 percent, while in 2007-2008, it was as low as 34 percent, AFP said. “The high poverty rates represent the combined effect of stagnating economic growth, increasing demographic pressures, and a deteriorating security situation,” the World Bank’s representative in Afghanistan, Shubham Chaudhuri, wrote.