Yemen is predominantly a rural country and poverty is by and large a rural phenomenon: 73 percent of the population, and 84 percent of the poor, live in rural areas. Between 1998 and 2005, while the percentage of poor in urban areas declined by 11.6 percentage points (from 32.2 percent to 20.7 percent)
rural poverty remained at approximately 40 percent. Poverty is estimated to have worsened since 2005. Estimates put the number of Yemeni who fell below the poverty line as a result of the food crisis, followed by the financial crisis and its impact on the real economy, by some 10 percentage points. It is estimated that now, half of the rural population is below the poverty line. This study purports to: (i) identify and analyze the livelihood strategies that poor people rely upon to cope with unfavorable environment and difficult circumstances
and (ii) understand the factors that are intricately linked with keeping rural people trapped in poverty or conversely what helps them get out of it.