Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, 2022
Lebanon, 2022
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Reference ID
UNHCR_LBN_2022_VASYR_v2.1
Producer(s)
UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF
Metadata
Created on
Mar 14, 2023
Last modified
Jun 12, 2023
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Identification
Survey ID Number
UNHCR_LBN_2022_VASYR_v2.1
Title
Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, 2022
Abbreviation or Acronym
VASyR 2022
Country
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Lebanon | LBN |
Abstract
Eleven years into the Syrian conflict, Lebanon ranks the highest in per capita population of refugees in the world, with over 1.5 million displaced Syrians within its borders. Specifically, the Syrian refugee population in Lebanon remains one of the largest concentrations of refugees per capita in the world. A series of overlapping political, economic and social crises in Lebanon has underpinned the vastly growing level of need across populations in the country. On the macroeconomic front, at the beginning of July 2022 the World Bank downgraded Lebanon to a lower-middle-income country for the first time in 27 years, after Lebanon’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had decreased from $55 billion in 2018 to $20.5 billion in 2021.1 The Lebanese lira has continued to lose value in 2022, reaching exchange rates close to LBP 43,000 to the United States dollar in the informal market in December 2022. The country depends heavily on imports, paid for in dollars; fluctuations in exchange rates thus have significant impacts on the prices of goods and services in the country. Inflation is still on the rise: between October 2019 and the time of data collection in June 2022 the Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change of prices over time, rose by 1,066 per cent. In addition to these factors, the COVID-19 and more recent Cholera outbreaks have stretched the country’s health sector and resources to breaking point. As a result, Lebanon’s financial and humanitarian situation ranks among the most severe crises in the world today.
The 2022 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR) is the tenth annual representative survey assessing the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with the aim to identify changes and trends in their vulnerabilities. Since its first round of data collection and assessment, the VASyR has become an essential tool for planning, shaping decision-making and the design of needs-based programmes. The results of the VASyR are used by the 10 sectors in partnership under the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP), in order to understand the situational changes in Lebanon and advocate for funding. The VASyR has also been used to build targeting models, for instance to predict socioeconomic vulnerability and allocate assistance accordingly. Furthermore, the results of the VASyR reveal the geographical differences in vulnerabilities at governorate and district levels, which then feed into the situation analysis.
The 2022 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR) is the tenth annual representative survey assessing the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with the aim to identify changes and trends in their vulnerabilities. Since its first round of data collection and assessment, the VASyR has become an essential tool for planning, shaping decision-making and the design of needs-based programmes. The results of the VASyR are used by the 10 sectors in partnership under the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP), in order to understand the situational changes in Lebanon and advocate for funding. The VASyR has also been used to build targeting models, for instance to predict socioeconomic vulnerability and allocate assistance accordingly. Furthermore, the results of the VASyR reveal the geographical differences in vulnerabilities at governorate and district levels, which then feed into the situation analysis.
Kind of Data
Sample survey data [ssd]
Unit of Analysis
Household
Version
Version Description
v2.1: Edited, cleaned and anonymised data.
Scope
Notes
The scope includes:
- key indicators on household demographics
- safety and security
- accomodation
- health
- food security
- livelihoods
- expenditures
- food consumption
- coping strategies and assistance
- education
- key indicators on household demographics
- safety and security
- accomodation
- health
- food security
- livelihoods
- expenditures
- food consumption
- coping strategies and assistance
- education
Topics
| Topic |
|---|
| Food security |
| Livelihood and Social cohesion |
| Basic Needs |
Producers and sponsors
Primary investigators
| Name |
|---|
| UNHCR |
| WFP |
| UNICEF |
Sampling
Sampling Procedure
Sampling for the VASyR follows a two-stage cluster approach, keeping with the methodology of previous years. UNHCR database of known Syrian refugees as of 2022 served as the sample frame. Cases with missing addresses were excluded. Sampling was based on a 30 x 7 two-stage cluster scheme initially developed by the World Health Organization. This method outlines a sample size of 30 clusters per geographical area and seven households per cluster which provides a precision of +/- 10 percentage points. Districts were considered as the geographical level within which 30 clusters were selected. There are 26 districts in Lebanon, where Beirut and Akkar each represent a district and a governorate. As such, to ensure similar representativeness with other governorates, an additional two cluster samples were considered for each, yielding 90 cluster selections for each. The governorate of Baalbek Hermel is made up of only two districts, as such, and to ensure an adequate sample in that governorate, one additional cluster sample was considered.
The primary sampling unit was defined as the village level (i.e. cluster) and UNHCR cases served as the secondary sampling unit. A case was defined as a group of people who are identified together as one unit (usually immediate family/household) under UNHCR databases. Using Emergency Nutrition Assesment (ENA) software, villages were selected using probability proportionate to size where villages with a larger concentration of refugees was more likely to be selected and 30 clusters/villages were selected with four replacement clusters, per district.
In order to estimate the sample size needed to generate results that are representative on a district, governorate and national level, the following assumptions were used:
- 50% estimated prevalence
- 10% precision
- 1.5 design effect
- 5% margin of error
Using the above parameters, 165 cases per district/cluster selection was required, leading to a target of 5,000 cases nationally. Due to the known high level of mobility of the Syrian refugee population and based on experience in previous rounds of VASyR and other household level surveys, a 40% non-response rate was considered.
The primary sampling unit was defined as the village level (i.e. cluster) and UNHCR cases served as the secondary sampling unit. A case was defined as a group of people who are identified together as one unit (usually immediate family/household) under UNHCR databases. Using Emergency Nutrition Assesment (ENA) software, villages were selected using probability proportionate to size where villages with a larger concentration of refugees was more likely to be selected and 30 clusters/villages were selected with four replacement clusters, per district.
In order to estimate the sample size needed to generate results that are representative on a district, governorate and national level, the following assumptions were used:
- 50% estimated prevalence
- 10% precision
- 1.5 design effect
- 5% margin of error
Using the above parameters, 165 cases per district/cluster selection was required, leading to a target of 5,000 cases nationally. Due to the known high level of mobility of the Syrian refugee population and based on experience in previous rounds of VASyR and other household level surveys, a 40% non-response rate was considered.
Weighting
Data collected through this assessment was weighted at the district level based on the population of refugees in each district. Weighting was necessary to ensure that the geographical distribution of the population was reflected in the analysis and to compensate for the unequal probabilities of a household being included in the sample. The normalized weight was calculated for each district using the following formula:
Normalised weight = (total sample frame of the district/ total national sample frame) / (total number of households visited in the district / total number of households visited)
Normalised weight = (total sample frame of the district/ total national sample frame) / (total number of households visited in the district / total number of households visited)
Data Collection
Dates of Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2022-06-06 | 2022-07-07 |
Data Collection Mode
Face-to-face [f2f]
Data Collectors
| Name |
|---|
| Caritas |
| World Vision International |
| Makhzoumi Foundation |
| SHIELD |
Questionnaires
Questionnaires
The 2021 VASyR questionnaire collected data at the household level and individual level including demographics, legal documentation, safety and security, shelter, WASH, health, food security, livelihoods, expenditures, food consumption, debt, coping strategies and assistance, as well as questions specifically relating to women, children and people with disabilities.
Access policy
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Curation team | UNHCR | microdata@unhcr.org |
Citation requirements
UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF (2022). Lebanon: Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, 2022. Accessed from: https://microdata.unhcr.org
Metadata production
DDI Document ID
UNHCR_LBN_2022_VASYR_v2.1
Producers
| Name |
|---|
| UNHCR |
Date of Metadata Production
2023-03-13