REPORT | Acaps: Crisis Updates – Venezuela
Acaps | December 17, 2021
The deepening political and socioeconomic crisis in Venezuela has led to the collapse of basic services, deterioration of living conditions, and one of the largest international displacements ever recorded in Latin America.
Inside Venezuela, hyperinflation has reduced access to food, medicines, and other basic goods, while the general availability of goods is hampered by import restrictions. Pregnant women, children, and people living in impoverished parts of the country are at risk of malnutrition and food insecurity. According to food security and malnutrition indicators in the country, about 14% of all children under five in Venezuela suffer from global acute malnutrition. 57% of pregnant women are malnourished, and about 32.6% of the total population experiences acute food insecurity.
After four years, hyperinflation has decreased to below 50% since early 2021, going from 46% in January to 9.7% in September. The population, however, has become increasingly poor, with more people falling below the poverty line. According to the 2021 Living Conditions National Assessment conducted on 17,402 households, around 94.5% of the total population in Venezuela is poor (a 0.4 percentage points increase from 2020), and 76.6% of Venezuelan households live in extreme poverty (an increase of over 8 percentage points from 2020). Multidimensional poverty has led to the deprivation or deterioration of education, housing, overall access to public services, income, and employment.
The health system is affected by shortages of medical supplies and medicines and the departure of medical personnel. The incidence of vector-borne diseases has risen, and preventable diseases such as measles have re-emerged. Access to clean water is increasingly difficult after the collapse of basic services, aggravating water and sanitation problems. Only 13.6% of the population in cities has regular water supply, and four out of ten households suffer daily electricity outages. The current crisis has also led to an increase in repression and human rights abuses. At least 620 arbitrary arrests for political reasons have been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic. INFORM measures Venezuela’s risk of humanitarian crisis at 4.5/10 in 2021.
To download the complex crisis update, please click here.
To download the Venezuela regional crisis update, please click here.