The Government Debt-GDP ratio declined in Egypt and Lebanon (see table 26), and public sector employment also declined, especially in Egypt. While it is difficult to offer reliable statistics, widely accepted estimates put the overall ESCWA unemployment rate in 2008 at 13 per cent, while youth unemployment stands at between 25 and 30 per cent. These figures are approximately twice as high as the international average. In conflict areas such as Iraq and Palestine, unemployment rates in 2004 were 27 and 29 per cent respectively.34 Worse still, in 2005 youth unemployment rates in Jordan and Egypt were 3.6 and 5.9 times higher than adult unemployment rates, respectively.