Latin America is home to 86 million extreme poor

According to Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), extreme poverty would have reached 86 million people in Latin America in 2021.

This reality dragged 5 million citizens into this situation, considering that during the first year of the pandemic the region had 81 million extremely poor people.

Alicia Barcena, ECLAC’s executive secretary, argued that 27 years had gone back with the rise in extreme poverty despite last year’s economic recovery and the decrease in the total number of poor (see infographic).

“Argentina, Colombia and Peru reached the highest levels, especially in extreme poverty”, Barcena added.

The Peruvian case

During 2020, extreme poverty in Peru went from 2.9% to 5.1%, throwing 1,664,000 Peruvians into this condition; however, this increase has a relatively minor impact when compared to the rise from 20% to 30.1% of poverty (9.9 million), and according to the research director of the Research Institute for Development (IRD ), Javier Herrera, there is the greatest difference between the two forms of incidence.

“The extreme poverty it increased relatively little because it affected rural areas less than urban areas, unlike total poverty. In addition to the fact that those who were out of poverty – read, vulnerable – were not mapped and now comprise up to a third of the population”, he emphasized.

Herrera maintains that, despite the higher ratio left by 2020 with 13.7% of extreme rural poverty compared to 2.9% of urban poverty, since there are fewer inhabitants in the countryside, it is the large cities that concentrate extreme poorest.

The specialist considers it crucial to bet on the modernization of the markets and encourage social protection against droughts or rains, as well as greater connectivity so as not to leave any home on the sidelines despite the distance.

While in the urban area, he asks not to unprotect the quality or generation of employment, and protect households from inflation with targeted bonuses.

For his part, the president of the Roundtable for the Fight against Poverty, Federico Arnillas, believes that despite the good performance of the Peruvian economy in 2021, this will not guarantee an improvement in the quality of life.

Arnillas specifies that the closest data to measure poverty are those of informal employment. In this sense, according to the latest INEI report at the national level -as of the third quarter of 2021-, informal employment reaches 9 million 516,900 citizens, 22.9% more than the same period in 2020.

The data

Risk. Currently, there are 11 million Peruvians who are in a situation of vulnerability and could fall into monetary poverty as a result of the COVID-19.

reactions

Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC Executive Secretary

“In 2021 there is supposed to be a great economic recovery of 6.2% of GDP (in the region), but there was a setback of 27 years. We went from 81 million to 86 million people in extreme poverty.”

Federico Arnillas, president of the MCLCP

“There is a greater need for social protection in the face of inflation because it affects access to essential consumer goods. More than focused, it must be diversified to meet the different needs”.