CARIBBEAN-POVERTY- UNDP says poverty on the decline in the Caribbean

EL SALVADOR, Aug 27, CMC - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says poverty is on the decline in the Caribbean and Latin American.

In launching its latest report here to complement global analysis on vulnerability and resilience that was presented in Japan, the UNDP said more than 56 million people have been lifted out of poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean in recent years.

In assessing 18 countries in the region, the report says poverty levels from 2000-2012 fell from 41.7 per cent to 25.3 percent of the population.

But despite the progress, it warned that about 200 million people, or 37.8 per cent of the population, remained vulnerable.

“In Latin America and the Caribbean, poverty has been reduced by almost half in the last decade, and the middle class rose from 22 percent of the population in 2000 to 34 percent in 2012,” said Jessica Faieta, UNDP director or Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Despite these achievements, a very high share of the population is living in constant uncertainty. They are neither classified as living in poverty, nor have they gained access to a stable middle class status.”

According to the report, people living on between four and 10 US dollars a day increased by 3.4 per cent between 2000 and 2012.

The report, however, said more than a third of people in the region remained vulnerable, like these living in a slum in Peru, according to the BBC.

The UNDP has called for more investment in social protection programmes in the region

“Clearly, if countries of the region do not reduce their vulnerabilities and strengthen their resilience to financial crises and natural disasters, we won't able to guarantee, let alone expand, progress in the social, economic and environmental realms,” Faieta warned.

She also stated that the pace of social and economic progress is slower now than it has been in the past decade, not just in Latin America and the Caribbean but in every other region of the world.