Cesar Villalona, a prestigious international economist, gives us a breakdown of the reports done by CEPAL (Economic Commission for Latin American, of the United Nations) covering the social panorama in Latin America for 2010.
The report discusses the changing rates of poverty in Latin America, the factors leading to these changes, and the economic effects these changes are having. The growing inequality between countries is one of the biggest findings in this report. As one will notice, graph 1.2 (p. 4) shows the variation in the cost of food increase, which has been relatively low for El Salvador, and relatively high in countries like Bolivia and Chile. However, when we compare the rates of poverty change from 2002 to 2009 on graph 1.3 (p. 9), countries like Chile, Bolivia, but especially those of Argentina and Venezuela have been able to decrease their poverty levels by large percentages. In 2002, Argentina's poverty rates were about 45%, whereas now in 2009 they are at a low of only about 11%.
El Salvador, on the other hand, has only decreased its poverty rates by 1% (48.9% in 2002 to 47.9% in 2009); the lowest change in all of Latina America! So we can see that, even though the cost of food has not increased dramatically in El Salvador, the rates of poverty are also not changing, but are in fact staying relatively high in comparison to other countries.
To read the report and for more information please click HERE
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