Food Security in Numbers - Refugees in Jordan Q1 2023

Key Findings

Overall, food security of refugees has improved in the past one year and returned slightly above pre-COVID level; however, certain household groups (female-headed, unemployed, with members with a disability etc.) remain more vulnerable and more likely to resort to coping strategies that negatively impact their long-term capacity to meet essential needs.

A 25 percent increase over one year in the average amount of debt has been observed among refugees both in host communities and camps over one year. Alarmingly, the dominant usage of the debts is not for livelihood or business investment. Instead, food purchase, rent, health expenses consume most of them.
Overall, refugees in camps are more dependent on assistance compared to the refugees living in the communities. For in-camp refugee households, an average of 57 percent of their monthly income is sourced from assistance, highlighting the importance of continuing WFP assistance for the beneciaries' welfare. Comparatively, assistance consists of 20 percent of the total monthly income for out-of-camp refugee households.

To meet their essential needs including housing, health care, and education, these households have been increasingly using unsustainable nancial means such as debt and remittances in the absence of sucient livelihood activities.

Relatedly, a spike in severe food insecurity among the most vulnerable refugees living in communities was observed as a result of WFP transfer value reduction from September to November 2022. All indicate the importance of a targeted approach to ensure the households of dierent levels of needs receive the adequate support.

While work opportunities have been observed to contribute to better food security, refugees still face the bottleneck of nding sustainable, longer-term jobs. 55 percent of refugee adults in the host communities remain unemployed and 70 percent in the camps in Q1 2023. Support for building self-reliance pathways is essential to realizing economic self-suciency and increasing resilience to shocks among refugees.