Livelihood Disruptions and Recovery in Lebanon’s Displacement Crisis

Executive Summary:

Roughly 1.2 million people in Lebanon were displaced by widespread fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024 and, following large-scale returns after the November 2024 ceasefire, over 1 million were displaced when hostilities broke out in March 2026. This report, based on a survey of 321 households conducted in late July 2026, examines how repeated displacement between 2023 and 2026 has affected livelihoods in the governorates of South Lebanon, Nabatieh, Baalbek-Hermel, and Mount Lebanon (specifically the Southern Suburbs of Beirut). 

Displaced households have had little time between shocks to rebuild assets, savings, or income, which remain far below pre-conflict levels. The share of surveyed households earning 300 US dollars or more per month fell by more than half between the pre-displacement period and July 2026. About two in five displaced households now report no income; this share is highest among respondent households from South Lebanon and Nabatieh. Asset-dependent livelihoods such as agriculture and self-employment have recovered more slowly than wage labor, which has returned in more precarious, lower-paid forms. About a third of surveyed households permanently lost their primary pre-displacement income source; fewer than a quarter regained it.

Productive asset losses have been severe. Among surveyed households, 82% of livestock owners, 69% of tree and orchard owners, and over half of land owners reported that their productive assets were destroyed, with respondents in South Lebanon and Nabatieh hardest hit. Few affected returnees have fully restored such assets, and 20% do not expect they will. Nearly all respondent households reported no savings – suggesting that debt is sustaining consumption rather than funding recovery – and 91% rated their economic situation as bad or very bad.

Rather than a temporary setback, these findings point to a structural downgrading of livelihoods. This suggests that consumption-focused support should shift to targeted livelihood recovery – focusing on asset replacement, debt relief, and employment support – tailored to displacement status and household type.