PHA-Exchange> LATIN AMERICA'S PROGRESS ON POVERTY STAGNATES, ACCOR DING TO NEW UN REPORT

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From: "Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)" <ruglucia at PAHO.ORG>

LATIN AMERICA'S PROGRESS ON POVERTY STAGNATES, ACCORDING 
TO NEW UN REPORT

ECLAC Web site:  <http://www.eclac.cl/> http://www.eclac.cl

".......In 2002, the number of Latin Americans living in poverty
reached 220
million people (43.4 per cent), of which 95 million (18.8 per cent)
were
indigents.  These are among the estimates presented today by the
Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in its advance
version of the study, Social Panorama of Latin America 2002-2003.


Progress toward overcoming poverty ground to a halt in the past five
years,
with poverty and indigence rates remaining practically constant since
1997.
The sole exception was 2000, when better economic performance brought
with
it a reduction in the volume of poverty by more than 4 million people.


At the country level, trends for these indicators from 1999 to 2002
also
revealed rather slight changes.  Exceptions included Argentina and, to
a
lesser degree, Uruguay, both of which suffered serious declines in
living
conditions.  In Argentina's urban areas, poverty rates almost doubled,
going
from 23.7 per cent to 45.4 per cent, while indigence grew threefold,
from
6.7 per cent to 20.9 per cent.

In contrast, Mexico and Ecuador (urban areas) were the only countries
studied that posted measurable declines in poverty and indigence during
this
period.

The ECLAC projections for 2003 indicate that these regional rates will
rise
yet again, due mainly to the lack of growth in per capita gross
domestic
product (GDP).  Living conditions in most countries should remain
without
significant changes in most countries, except Venezuela, where poverty
could
rise significantly, and Argentina, where it is likely that reactivated
economic growth should reduce poverty rates.


Magnitude of Hunger in Region


Almost 55 million people of Latin America and the Caribbean were
offering
from some degree of malnutrition toward the end of the past decade.  In
a
special chapter on hunger, prepared in cooperation with the World Food
Programme (WFP), ECLAC estimates that 11 per cent of the population is
undernourished.  Almost 9 per cent of children under five years suffer
from
acute malnutrition (low weight-for-age) and 19.4 per cent from chronic
malnutrition (low height-for-age).  This last is particularly grave,
because
these negative effects are irreversible.


The ECLAC report provides information for 18 Latin American countries
on
public social expenditure and focuses on the impact of slowing economic
growth.  In the past decade, social expenditure per person rose to an
average of 58 per cent in the region.  The study concludes that despite a 
significant slowdown in the expansion of social expenditure posted by virtually 
all countries from 1990 to 1997, the higher priority assigned to social areas 
within GDP prevented larger declines in per capita spending as did the 
preference for expenditure on "human capital" (education and health care) over 
other items, particularly social security.  This, according to ECLAC, also 
improved redistributive impact.

Women Now Have More Education But Remain Poorer

In terms of gender and poverty, the study found that in Latin America
more
women than men live in poverty.  Female household heads have less
monetary
income than men for poor and high-income households.  Single parent
households, mostly headed by women, also suffer from additional
disadvantages associated with the lack of unremunerated domestic
labour.

Latin American women have higher educational levels than men, and women
in
the workforce average more years of education.  They nonetheless suffer
from
more severe unemployment, wage discrimination and restricted working
hours
than men.  During the 1990s, women's participation in the workforce
rose
more quickly than men's.  But while male unemployment rates rose by 2.9
per
cent percentage points from 1990 to 1999, women's rose by 6.1 per cent.

The ECLAC rated progress in women's political participation and
management
positions as still "too slow", except in countries where affirmative
action
policies have been implemented.

An examination of household surveys makes it possible to estimate
female
poverty from the income perspective.  The percentage of women over 15
years
of age earning no income was much higher than men.  In urban areas, 45
per
cent of women versus 21 per cent of men lacked their own income.

The last chapter, on the Social Agenda, reviews labour conditions and
employment policies in Latin America.  All governments have ratified
the
fundamental international charters on non-discrimination in employment.
This is not the case with children's labour and regulations governing
the
minimum working age in the region, which contradict international
standards
and reveal enormous contradictions among and within countries.

>From 1998 to 2003, collective labour laws were reformed in Colombia, as
were
Chile's and Guatemala's labour codes, and laws governing collective
bargaining in Cuba.  In Mexico and the Dominican Republic, social
security
laws were changed.  However, the problem of incompliance with
legislation
remains.

To palliate the effects of changing modes of employment and rising job
insecurity, governments have implemented a range of policies.  Passive
types
include unemployment insurance, while active ones include credits to
small
businesses (PYMEs) and intermediation in job searches.  In Latin
America,
just six countries, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay and
Venezuela, have unemployment insurance.

For more information on this study, please contact Arturo León, of the
Social Development Division; tel.:  (56-2) 210 2594 or e-mail:
<mailto:aleon at eclac.cl> aleon at eclac.cl