No Report Has Been Issued Indicating That There Are 36 Million Algerians Living in Poverty
The Claim
According to a recent report, 36 million Algerians are considered to be living in extreme poverty.
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Emerging story
Users on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter have recently circulated news claiming that Algeria has 36 million people living in poverty and attributed it to a report without indicating its source.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating claim and discovered that it was false, as no recent report indicating the presence of 36 million impoverished Algerians had been issued. Misbar found that the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights issued a report in January 2019, in which it found that the number of Algerians living below the poverty line jumped to 15 million, or about 38 percent of Algerians, which means that there is one in every three Algerians living in extreme poverty.
Photo Description: Screenshot of 2019 Article on Algeria’s Poverty Statistics.
In a statement to the local newspaper Al-Shorouk at the time, Noureddine Ben Issaad, the head of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, stated that poverty and poor people in Algeria are on the rise, with an estimated 38 percent of the population living in poverty in 2015, up from a previous estimate of 24 percent in 2014. According to the report, it was confirmed in a 2016 report published by the association that a quarter of Algerians live below the poverty line.
It is noteworthy that the Algerian authorities announced the country's population last July, which amounted to 45 million people.
Misbar did not find official Algerian data on indicators and rates of poverty in the country. Official statistics do not confirm the existence of 36 million Algerians living in poverty.
