The re-election plans of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad do not seem to have been affected by the grim picture painted by the UN's recent economic report on Syria. According to the report, "Squandering Humanity", covering the last two quarters of last year, Syria has become a country of poor people, with more than half the population (54.3 percent) unable to secure the most basic food and non-food items required for their survival. Some 20 percent face hunger, malnutrition and starvation.
After three years of conflict, the country has witnessed catastrophic population movements, with almost half of the nation's population fleeing their original place of residence. Around 1.5 million persons have departed the country as migrants, while another 2.35 million people have fled the country as refugees. By the end of 2013, refugees from Syria had become the largest refugee population in the world.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/05/elections-syria-assad-20145311867284207.html