Women and children wait to register for food aid in Thonyor, Leer State, South Sudan—a stark reminder of the country’s deepening poverty and dependence on humanitarian relief.
In just a few short years since gaining independence, South Sudan has sunk faster and deeper into poverty, as it emerges that 92 percent of its population lives below two dollars a day – a 55.4 percent rise from the poverty levels 14 years ago when the country broke off from Sudan.
During this time, conflict, humanitarian crises, natural catastrophes, political and socio-economic strife in the world’s youngest nation have turned its people into cynics who dispute this figure as grossly understated.
