Statistics show that upto one in two people worldwide, suffered losses in income due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Low income countries in particular were more affected, with employees experiencing pay cuts or job losses.
These findings are based on a survey conducted by US polling company Gallup. The survey studied 300,000 people across 117 countries and discovered that half of those with jobs earned less, due to disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Numerically this translates to 1.6 billion adults globally.
Women in particular have suffered major losses to their income. According to a study conducted by the international charity Oxfam, it was revealed that the pandemic had cost women around the world, $800 billion in lost income.
The survey by Gallup also revealed the following:
- worldwide, percentages (in income losses) ranged from 76% in Thailand to 10% in Switzerland
- in Bolivia, Indonesia, Ecuador, Uganda, Myanmar, Honduras and Kenya, more than 70% people polled said they took home less than before the crisis hit.Figures in the US stood at 34%.
- in 57 countries including India, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Kenya, Bangladesh, El Salvador, more than 65% of participants said they stopped working for a time.
- more than half of those surveyed said they temporarily stopped working at their job or business. This amounts to about 1.7 billion adults globally.
- one in three people surveyed lost their job or business due to the pandemic (around over one billion people globally).
- Lower income countries were more hard hit: in countries such as the Philippines, Kenya and Zimbabwe more than 60% of respondents lost their jobs or businesses, compared to 13% in the United States and 3% in Switzerland.
