IRAQ: Iraqis have suffered a dramatic decline in living standards, an Iraqi planning ministry survey revealed yesterday. And the situation in the oil industry, once regarded as an intellectual and economic hub of the Arab world, is rapidly deteriorating, the survey showed.
Unemployment is running at an alarming 50 per cent, with 33 per cent of Iraqis underemployed. In contrast, unemployment stood at 3.6 per cent in the 1980s, and 13.6 per cent in the 1990s.
Some 85 per cent of households suffer from erratic electricity supply, the survey revealed. Only 54 per cent of Iraqi families have access to clean water, and 37 per cent of homes are connected to a sewage network, compared to 75 per cent in the 1980s.
Two decades ago, Iraq had one of the highest medical standards in the Middle East, but hospitals now overwhelmed by bombing and shooting victims suffer from a severe lack of equipment and medicine.
The number of mothers who die during labour has reached 93 in every 100,000 births in Iraq, compared to 14 in Jordan and 32 in Saudi Arabia, according to the report.