The Algerian Channel III station of national radio has claimed that there are 14 million poor in Algeria. Government sources denied that the rate is so high and claimed that the World Bank standard of US$1 a day is not a useful indicator of poverty.
The radio station claimed that in Ramadan, the Algerian state distributed about AD2 billion of food packages for the poor and Algerian website Algerie DZ claimed that there are well over one million cases of social security but acknowledged that this statistic is not considered reliable.
There have been no detailed studies of poverty in Algeria's vast rural desert areas and it is accepted that the way of life is so radically different in these areas from the city that comparative levels of income are not a useful gauge of poverty. (menareport.com)
