According to the Multidimensional Poverty Index, 15.4 percent of Egyptians live under the poverty line, surviving on US$2 a day, of which 42 percent reside in Upper Egypt.
The index monitors data from over a hundred developing countries, including Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and some countries in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
It focuses on education, health and the standard of living. Those categories includes monitoring the year of enrollment in education, child mortality and nutrition, with regards to health, and the availability of electricity, water, sanitation and fuel for the standard of living.
In a related context, the British Financial Times newspaper reported that spending on health care in Egypt did not exceed 5 percent of the GDP in 2013.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
