Make poverty history in the Middle East

We had got Africa sussed. We accepted our interdependence; we made the links between trade and development; we put collective pressure on the G8 leaders to come up with more than the usual mean-spirited stagger towards social justice; we felt good.
And then, it appears, Middle Eastern terrorists hit London. O.n a glorious summer's morning at the G8 summit in the Scottish Highlands, reality returned with a vengeance; and the thought occurred that we have hardly given a thought - in this year of; taking Poverty History
- to the poverty and deprivation of the Middle East. This omission is no longer viable. We need to educate ourselves.
For a start, we need to see beyond oil and our assumption that all Arabs are rich because of it. The Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) has countries with oil and without; the former are three times richer than the latter. On the United Nations Development Programme's ranking of 177 countries, we have Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar at 40th, 44th and 47th - but Iran, Syria, Sudan and Yemen at 101st, 106th, 139th
and 149th. Saudi Arabia comes 77th, giving ample evidence that its vast oil wealth has not been distributed equitably.
The Middle East has a huge young generation and not enough jobs. In 2000,37 per cent of the population was under 15 and 58 per cent under 25, according to International Labour Organisation figures. In 2003, the MENA youth unemployment rate stood at 25.6 per cent, the highest in the world.
Overall unemployment has stuck around 12 per cent for a decade. Annual per capita incomes fell by 1 per cent in the
1980s and grew by a measly 1 per cent in the 1990s - better only than sub-Saharan Africa.
Due to low growth and high unemployment, the Middle East has a monumental debt problem. In 1999, the combined bud get deficit of the Arab countries was more than $30bn (£18bn) or 5.7 per cent of their combined GNP. As in Africa, the need to service these debts forced governments to slash investment in education, health and social security, leaving the unemployed youth of the region not only disheartened but destabilised.
If we are ever going to react intelligently to the violent inanity of terrorist attacks, we are going to have to learn about the needs and complexities of the Middle East and try to help, even while we defend ourselves.
Circle of deprivation: a young population and high levels of unemployment are helping to destabilise many Middle Eastern countries