UN Report: War Has Set Back Yemen More Than 20 Years

A new report from the UN Development Program has reported that Yemen, which came into the Saudi invasion as the poorest country in the Middle East, has been set back more than 20 years by the current war.

The economic losses caused so far are around $88.8 billion, and that’s just assuming the war ends now. If it lasts until 2030, they estimate losses of $657 billion, and 84 percent of the population chronically malnourished.

Yemen’s extreme poverty made it easy to underestimate just how far and fast they could fall economically in such a bloody war. The report concluded that even with immediate peace, it would take decades just to get Yemen back to the impoverished ex-ante situation.

Which is not great, but a lot better than what Yemen is now, with its food shortages and outbreaks of cholera. Even when they’re back where they were, trying to catch up on the lost time to grow and modernize is another matter.