Higher wages, increased government spending help drive the changes
BOGOTA (AlertNet) - The numbers of people living in poverty and extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean are at their lowest in 20 years, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The overall poverty rate in the region has dropped by 17 percent - from 48.4 percent to 31.4 percent - over the last 20 years, while the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by 10.3 percent from 22.6 percent to 12.3 percent, ECLAC’s latest report on poverty in the region says.
In Latin American and the Caribbean, 174 million people remain poor, of which 73 million live in extreme poverty, ECLAC said in its report.
Higher wages, and to a lesser extent, increased government social spending were the main factors behind the fall in poverty rates, the report said.
“Poverty and inequality continue to decline in the region, which is good news, particularly in the midst of an international economic crisis,” head of ECLAC, Alicia Barcena, said earlier this week during a presentation of the report in the Chilean capital, Santiago.
“However, this progress is threatened by the yawning gaps in the productive structure in the region and by labour markets which generate employment in low-productivity sectors, without social protection” Barcena said.
The report also showed that only four in 10 workers in the region contribute to the social security system.
Countries in the Andean region, including Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, along with Argentina and Uruguay had made the most significant reduction in their poverty rates, the report noted.
In Argentina, for example, the percentage of inhabitants living in poverty had fallen from 45 percent of the country’s total population in 2002 to 11 percent in 2009.
The number of poor people living in the Central American nation of Honduras and Mexico had increased by 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively, the report said.
Honduras has the highest poverty rates in the region, with 67 percent of its population living in poverty in 2010, followed by Paraguay with nearly 55 percent.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
