Poverty and Indigence Reduction Stalls in Most of Latin American Countries

http://www.cepal.org/en/pressreleases/poverty-and-indigence-reduction-stalls-most-latin-american-countries?utm_source=ps2014_comunicado&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=portada&utm_campaign=PS2014

(January 26, 2015) Poverty affected 28% of Latin America’s population in 2014, revealing that its decline has stalled at around that level since 2012, while indigence rose to 12.0% from 11.3% during the same two-year period in an overall context of economic deceleration, according to the projections from a study presented today by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.

The document Social Panorama of Latin America 2014 indicates that the poverty situation in the region remained stable between 2012 and 2013, when it affected 28.1% of the population. It is estimated for 2014 that in percentage terms poverty should stay at around 28%, which, given demographic growth, would translate into an increase in absolute figures to 167 million people.

Meanwhile, extreme poverty or indigence rose to 11.7% in 2013 from 11.3% in 2012, which supposes an increase of three million people that raised the total to 69 million. Projections indicate that in 2014 that figure likely increased to 12%, which means that of the 167 million people who were poor that year, 71 million suffered extreme poverty or indigence.

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Despite the lack of progress seen in the regional average, five of the 12 countries with available information through 2013 showed declines in poverty as measured by income that exceeded one percentage point per year. The countries that showed the biggest reductions were Paraguay (to 40.7% in 2013 from 49.6% in 2011), followed by El Salvador (to 40.9% in 2013 from 45.3% in 2012), Colombia (to 30.7% in 2013 from 32.9% in 2012), Peru (to 23.9% in 2013 from 25.8% in 2012) and Chile (to 7.8% in 2013 from 10.9% in 2011).


From the report:


A look at recent trends by country shows that 6 of the 12 countries with data available for 2013 posted statistically significant reductions in poverty and indigence. Paraguay showed the sharpest decline, at 4.5 percentage points per year, from 49.6% to 40.7% between 2011 and 2013; indigence fell at the same annual pace, from 28.0% down to 19.2%. In El Salvador, poverty decreased by 4.4 percentage points between 2012 and 2013 (from 45.3% to 40.9%) and indigence dropped by 1.0 percentage point (from 13.5% to 12.5%) during the same period. Colombia recorded a 2.2 percentage-point drop in poverty levels between 2012 and 2013 (from 32.9% to 30.7%) and a 1.3 percentagepoint decrease in extreme poverty (from 10.4% to 9.1%). In Peru poverty decreased by 1.9 percentage points (from 25.8% to 23.9%) and the extreme poverty rate dropped 1.3 percentage points (from 6.0% to 4.7%) between 2012 an 2013. Chile posted a 1.6 percentage point drop per year, from 10.9% in 2011 to 7.8% in 2013, and a yearly fall of 0.3 percentage point from 3.1% in 2011 to 2.5% in 2013. Poverty came down in Ecuador as well between 2011 and 2013, at a rate of 0.9 percentage point per year (from 35.4% in 2011 to 33.6% in 2013), and extreme poverty by 1.0 percentage point per year (from 13.9% in 2011 to 12.0% in 2013). In the remaining countries (Costa Rica and Uruguay), the poverty and indigence rate decreases were smaller, around 0.3 percentage points or even less (see table 1).

Brazil, meanwhile, recorded a 0.6 percentage-point drop in the poverty rate but a similar increase (0.5 percentage points) in indigence between 2012 and 2013. A similar picture —falling poverty but rising indigence— was seen in the Dominican Republic in the same period, and in Panama between 2011 and 2013, although the changes are not statistically significant. In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the poverty rate climbed by 6.7 percentage points (from 25.4% to 32.1%) and the indigence rate increased by 2.7 percentage points, from 7.1% to 9.8%, both between 2012 and 2013.