Lebanon soon to face a social crisis related to marriage and fertility || Newspapers (Arabic)

Al Diyar newspaper published an article by its editor Charles Ayoub on what he calls a deep social crisis related to marriage and fertility and which may well explode within the coming three years.  The author notes that according to a study carried out by a bank involved in human development (the name of which is not revealed by the author), some 70% of women in Lebanon are now not married compared to only 30% of men.

Ayoub traces the reason of non-marriage amongst women to the rising trend of men traveling abroad (the author estimated that 250000 Lebanese men have traveled abroad for work), limited income of employees in Lebanon, absence of investment in Lebanon because of the previous wars, high price of accommodation (despite the contribution of the Central Bank and the Housing Bank) as well as the ways I which women perceive men and vice versa.

Ayoub goes further in his review so as to propose solutions at the level of the state such as setting up a fund for 10 billion Lebanese Pounds to be used for low interest rate (2%) loans repayable over 30 years which would help young unemployed couples to purchase and furnish their homes.  Ayoub used the example of the German government that decided to allocate 15 billion dollars for unemployed citizens wishing to marry and who were provided with the possibility to borrow up to half a million dollar per citizen provided they show intent to work.
Source: Al-Diyar 5 February 2013