Economy: Poverty rate continues to fall in Latin America

The poverty rate in Latin America continued to decline in 2024 to reach a historic low, but more than a quarter of the population is still affected, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said on Tuesday.

Poverty affects 26.8% of the population of Latin America (-0.5% compared to 2023), or 170 million people. Among them, 66 million are affected by extreme poverty (10.4% of the regional population), their income level not meeting their basic needs, detailed ECLAC in its report presented Tuesday at a press conference. in Santiago, where this United Nations agency is based.

“Latin America has recorded slow progress in reducing poverty over the last ten years,” after a spectacular decline between 1990 and 2014, going from 51.2% of the population to 27.7%, notes the report.

“Strong inequalities”

According to ECLAC, this slow decline is due to “low capacity (of regional economies) to grow” and “high inequalities, low social mobility and low social cohesion”. According to the agency, economic growth in Latin America will be 1.8% in 2024, held back by high inflation and key rates.

In 2023, the reduction in regional poverty was 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year (28.8%), mainly due to the evolution of Brazilian indicators, the largest country in Latin America and leading regional economy. “The number of people who have escaped poverty in this country is equivalent to 80% of the variation in the indicator at the Latin American level,” the report states.

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