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Preventing Crisis, Enabling Recovery: BCPR Annual Report 2011

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Millennium Development Goals in Yemen

Despite advancements on many development fronts, Yemen continues to face considerable development challenges. It ranks 133 out of 177 countries in the 2010 UNDP Human Development Index (0.439). Progress in human and other development indicators, while steady, has been too slow to assure attainment of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 as indicated in the second Millennium Development Goals Report for Yemen (2010). However, the possibility of reaching the MDG on universal primary education, under-5 child mortality, and malaria and tuberculosis has not been ruled out.

Yemen faces long-term challenges; among which, high fertility rates and rapid population growth; lack of access to livelihood opportunities for the rural population, which counts 76% of the total population; and lack of basic infrastructure, such as schools, water scheme, health facilities, access roads and markets in many rural areas. The country is also facing a critical challenge related growing imbalances between the available water resources and consumption that will lead to further depletion of groundwater reserves. Furthermore, the 3% annual population is putting unprecedented pressure on basic social service infrastructures, notably on water, health and education. Considering that the oil reserves are depleting, Yemen’ oil-based economy is growing at a rate between 3 to 4%, which is almost totally offset by the growth of its population. At the same time, unemployment is increasing especially among youth and women.

According to the latest Poverty Assessment (2007), 34.8% of the Yemeni population live under the national poverty line; however the national poverty line is estimated to have risen-up to 42.8% due to the fuel, food and financial crises of 2008. The net enrolment rate for class 1-6 reached 85% in 2008; under-5 mortality rate 78.2 (2006); maternal mortality rates 365 per 100,000 births (2003); and the percentage of population without clean drinking water 52% (2006).

Yemen has received limited aid for the past 17 years, and it was below international averages for LDCs. The last Donor Consultative Group Meeting in London 2006 resulted in US $ 5.779 billion in pledges for the period 2007-2010, of which over half of the resources came from the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. As per the second Millennium Development Goals Report for Yemen (2010), out of the US $ 5.779 billion only US $ 3.677 billion has been committed with signed agreements, on which US $ 906.3 million has been disbursed. This is a reflection of weak absorption capacity to attain donors’ loans and grants. However, the Government of Yemen is working hard to address this bottleneck.

A Fast Track MDG Initiative paper for Yemen was prepared and approved by Cabinet in February 2011 with the aim of addressing key development bottlenecks and accelerating progress towards some of the MDGs such as education, health, poverty and environment. The initiative is also addressing capacities at all levels to manage programmes and projects related to the initiative. However, this US $ 2.6 billion initiative is mainly dependent on external financing that has not yet been secured.. Moreover, the Government of Yemen has also formulated an MDG-based 4th National Development Plan for Poverty Reduction, which will also support acceleration to meet some of the MDGs by 2015.

*Source: Millennium Development Goals in Yemen - 2010