In 2015, civil war broke out in Yemen, swiftly followed by military intervention by a Saudi-led coalition intended to restore to power the deposed but legitimate government. Yemen was already the poorest country in the Middle East before the start of the fighting, with high levels of food insecurity, infant mortality and child malnutrition, and during the past two years, macroeconomic conditions have severely deteriorated. The majority of Yemenis live in rural areas, yet policy-oriented research and media reporting on the current conflict tend to focus on the situation in major cities
