The life of people, rapidly affected

The sanctions made it impossible to buy any product which could be adapted for military purposes («dual-use»), so that no spare parts or basic consumer products entered the country. Daily life became extremely difficult. Comparing reports by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) over the first decade of sanctions, from 1990 to 1999, Iraq dropped from being in the category of countries with average development to being 42nd out of the 77 poorest countries in the world, even though Iraq had the second largest oil reserves on the planet.

Estimated GNP losses over the first five years of sanctions (1990 to 1995) reach 166.6 billion dollars in non-oil sectors and 98.7 billion dollars in the oil industry. Inflation hit 4 digits.

The per capita income in Iraq was 3,508 dollars in 1989. In the early years of the 21st century, the UN humanitarian programme (known as «oil for food», in place since January 1997) allotted 252 dollars a year to each Iraqi, according to the calculations of Hans von Sponeck, UN humanitarian coordinator in Baghdad at the time, who quit his post in February 2000 in protest over the sanctions and their effect on the population.