North Lebanon Social Facts
According to PNUD's 1998 study, Akkar, the agricultural plain of North Lebanon, is the most disadvantaged caza; 63% of the total population lives below the poverty level whether in terms of housing, revenue, access to education, sanitation, water, or medical services.
Elsewhere, data from UNICEF indicates that Bab El Tebbaneh, the suburb of Tripoli , is among the most populated areas of Lebanon with about 50,000 inhabitants of which 15,000 children share 8,817 residential units that are mostly old and drab.
Bab El Tebbaneh and Akkar are the most needy regions of North Lebanon, which partly explains why the region's indicators are among the worst in the country: 43.8% of the population lives below the poverty level.
Illiteracy
Northern Lebanon has the youngest population in Lebanon (45.5% are under 20 years old); it is also the least educated (in Tripoli , only 55.5% have access to education whereas the national average is 66.0%). The illiteracy rate in the North is 16.7% (21.2% for women) while the national average is 11.6%. Given that Lebanon is the first Arab country to have lowered its illiteracy rate, these disparities within the country are even more unfortunate.
The major problems of the Lebanese education system lie in the lack of a rehabilitation and distribution plan for public schools (there are 10 public schools for 15,000 children) and inequality of access to education because of prohibitive costs, especially in rural regions.
Education Indicators
Illiteracy rate (%) Illiteracy rate for women (%) Schooling rate (%) Inhabitants less than 20 years old (%)