Four in five households in Lebanon are struggling to afford basic necessities, with more than one in five reporting that their children had gone to bed hungry in the previous two weeks, according to a UNICEF report titled “An Enduring Nightmare” released on 30 September.
Hunger, Lost Schooling and Child Labour
The survey found that 31 per cent of households said children had gone without needed health care, mainly because families could not afford it, while 14 per cent reported at least one child working, more than double the rate recorded in January 2025. Financial pressure is also cutting into education: 46 per cent of households reported reduced education spending and 17 per cent said their children had stopped attending school altogether, with 436 schools reported damaged or destroyed. UNICEF estimates some 770,000 children have experienced psychological distress over the past six months, with 63 per cent of households reporting children who are anxious or nervous.
A Compounding Crisis
UNICEF Lebanon representative Marcoluigi Corsi said “children are missing health care and education, being pushed into work and experiencing profound psychological distress.” The agency said the findings reflect the compounding effect of conflict on a population already worn down by years of economic collapse, with youth employment data showing only 22 per cent of 18-to-25-year-olds still in school or university and 67 per cent of that age group unemployed at the time of the survey.
Why It Matters
The report’s findings suggest that Lebanon’s children are absorbing the heaviest cost of overlapping economic and security crises, with long-term consequences for health, education and psychological wellbeing that can outlast the immediate circumstances that caused them. UNICEF’s data on rising child labour and falling school attendance point to risks that, left unaddressed, could shape the prospects of an entire generation of Lebanese children well beyond the current crisis.
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