The conflict in Syria has transformed the country from being one of the few Arab nations to surpass the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to one of the world’s poorest performing countries.

It’s doing better than just one other state; Somalia.

That’s the opinion of a senior economist at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

The MDGs are eight goals set by world leaders in 2000 to, among other things, eradicate extreme poverty, achieve universal primary care, improve people’s health and promote gender equality by 2015.

ESCWA on Wednesday launched its report on the Middle Eastern country, entitled “The conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic: The impact at the Macroeconomic Level and the Obstacles on the Way to the Millennium Development Goals.”

May Yacoub began by asking Dr Abdalla Dardari, Senior Economist and Head of the Economic Development and Globalization Division at ESCWA about the economic cost of the conflict in Syria.

Duration: 2’43”