Latin America’s poverty rate will remain above pre-pandemic levels in 2022, ECLAC warns
The Social Panorama 2022 report predicts that 201 million people (32.1% of the region’s total population) live in poverty, of which 82 million (13.1%) are in extreme poverty. The regional organization is calling for urgent action to address the silent crisis in education to avoid the risk of a lost generation.
Despite a slight decline recorded in 2021, poverty and extreme poverty rates in Latin America and the Caribbean are projected to remain above pre-pandemic levels in 2022, the report said. The Economic Commission for the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned in its Latin American Social Panorama. The Americas and the Caribbean 2022 Report, released today in Santiago, Chile, places education as a central issue, along with its role in discussions of regional recovery policies.
“After a sharp increase in poverty and a slight widening of income inequality in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme poverty and poverty rates will decline in 2021, and middle-income groups will increase. However, it was not enough to completely reverse the “adverse effects of the pandemic,” the publication explains. Thus, in 2021, the poverty rate in Latin America reached 32.3% of the region’s total population (down 0.5 percentage points from 2020), and the extreme poverty rate was 12.9% (down 0.2 percentage points from 2020).
ECLAC predicts that by the end of 2022, the poverty rate will reach 32.1% of the population (equivalent to 201 million people) and the extreme poverty rate will reach 13.1% (82 million people). Increase in extreme poverty compared to 2021 due to the combined effects of economic growth, labor market trends, and inflation. These figures mean 15 million more people are living in poverty compared to the pre-pandemic situation and 12 million more people are in extreme poverty than in 2019.
Regional groups stress that extreme poverty levels projected for 2022 represent the region’s first setback in 25 years.
As in previous years, ECLAC shows that the incidence of poverty is high in some population groups in the region. More than 45% of the child and adolescent population lives in poverty, and the poverty rate for women between the ages of 20 and 59 is higher than for men in all countries in the region. Similarly, poverty rates are significantly higher for indigenous peoples and people of African descent.
Income inequality in Latin America (measured by the Gini index) in 2021 decreased slightly compared to 2020, reaching 0.458, similar to the 2019 level.
Meanwhile, the projected unemployment rate in 2022 has been in decline for 22 years, with women particularly affected, with the unemployment rate expected to rise from 9.5% in 2019 to 11.6% in 2022.
“A series of external shocks, slowing economic growth, a weak recovery in employment and rising inflation have deepened and prolonged the social crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said José Manuel Salazar, ECLAC Executive Director.・Mr. Sirinax emphasized this in his presentation. Of the document. “The impact of the pandemic on poverty and extreme poverty cannot be reversed, and countries face a silent crisis in education that will affect the future of a new generation,” a senior official warned, urging countries to Let’s invest decisively and turn this crisis into an opportunity to transform our education system.
Latin America and the Caribbean experienced the longest education blackout in the world (average closure of educational institutions for 70 weeks, compared to 41 weeks in other parts of the world) and existing inequalities related to access, inclusion and quality of education. became even worse. During this period, one of the main constraints to continuing education was unequal access to connectivity, equipment, and digital skills. In 2021, in eight of the region’s 12 countries, more than 60% of poor people under the age of 18 had no family ties.
If we don’t act now, we risk permanently scarring the educational and labor trajectories of the region’s youngest generations, ECLAC says. Learning loss in the Caribbean has already been measured, with the proportion of young people aged 18 to 24 not studying or in paid work in Latin America increasing by 2019, up from 22.3% in 2019, according to the United Nations regional agency. increased. In 2020, it was 28.7% and particularly affects young women (36% of women were in this situation compared to 22% of men).
Furthermore, there are still large gender disparities in terms of performance and education. Female students perform worse on average in mathematics and science during basic education, and the gap is even wider in the lowest income quartile. Furthermore, in most countries in the region, women do not make up more than 40% of graduates in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.
Despite advances in access and inclusion in education at all levels, from early childhood to higher education, in recent decades, even before the pandemic crisis, countries in the region were still struggling in terms of equity and quality of education. He had serious concerns. This is hindering efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 by 2030. Coinciding with this year’s United Nations Education Transformation Summit, this document provides a number of policy recommendations to turn this crisis into an opportunity for change.
ECLAC endorses in Social Panorama 2022 that social institutional frameworks are a key element for the effectiveness of social policies and a cross-cutting element for achieving inclusive social development.
In Latin America, social spending by central governments amounted to 13% of GDP in 2021, below the 2020 level but far above levels recorded over the past two decades. In Caribbean countries, social spending reached 14.1% of GDP in 2021, a historic high.
In 2021, education spending in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 4.1% of GDP (30.5% of total social spending). “Public spending on education in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries averaged 4.9% of GDP in 2019, similar to the average for the region (4% of GDP in 2019), but “Per capita spending is six times higher than in Latin American and Caribbean countries in primary education in the OECD, 5.7 times higher in primary education, 5.3 times higher in secondary education, and 6.1 times higher in tertiary education,” the publication states. There is.
“We are facing a series of crises that are exacerbating inequalities and scarcity in the region. Now is not the time for incremental change, but for transformative and ambitious policies,” said ECLAC Executive Director. reiterated José Manuel Salazar Sirinax. “Cross-sector public policy efforts are needed to link education provision to health, work and social protection, enabling the establishment of mechanisms that guarantee a level of well-being and income in times of instability and uncertainty. It is necessary,” the official said. It calls on countries to build “a new social compact with a fiscal contract to advance the strengthening of democracy and social cohesion and ensure the financial sustainability of social protection systems in the region.” I asked for it.