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Poverty in South America
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Poverty in South America
Poverty in South America is prevalent in most of its countries. Those that have the highest rates of poverty per population are Suriname, Bolivia and Venezuela. Recent political shifts in the region have led to improvements in some of these countries.[example needed] In general, most South American economies[which?] have attempted to tackle poverty with stronger economic regulations, foreign direct investments and implementation of microeconomic policies to reduce poverty.[citation needed]
Argentina is one of two countries that has seen an upward shift in its poverty population in 2017. Its poverty population was recorded at 27.5% and 32% in 2018. Critics of the official INDEC survey charge that both the inflation rate used to measure poverty and the official baseline household budgets themselves are understated. The official income poverty line also increased 150% between 2001 and early 2010; but most private surveys of household conditions in Argentina estimate it at half again as much as the official threshold, and the effective poverty rate at around 25% of the population. Absolute poverty estimates, as measured by the inability to meet a minimum nutritional budget, also differ: this condition includes 3.5% of the population officially, and around 10% per private estimates.
Poverty in Argentina varies widely according to region, and provinces in the north have historically shouldered the nation's highest poverty rates. Estimates of income poverty in this region ranged from around 20% officially, to over 40% in private estimates; substandard living conditions affected around 30% of this region's population in the 2001 Census. The city of Buenos Aires proper, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego Provinces benefit from the nation's lowest poverty rates (around 7 to 14%, depending on the measurement). The majority of Argentina's public social programs, aside from those related to health, are administered by the National Social Security Administration (ANSES). Argentines in the labor force earning less than 4,800 pesos (US$1,230) monthly, are entitled to benefits upon marriage, birth or adoption of a child, for maternity leave or prenatal care, and for a disability in a child, as well as to a modest unemployment insurance benefit for up to 6 months. The most important poverty relief program administered by the ANSES is the Universal Childhood Entitlement. The benefit, of 180 pesos (US$46) a month per child, is assigned to 3.7 million children under age 18 (30% of the nation's total), and includes the deposit of 20% of the check in a savings account accessible only upon certification of the child's enrollment in school.
The health needs of the poor in Argentina (and of a sizable proportion of the working class) is attended to by the public hospital system, which received funding of around US$8 billion in 2009, and whose quality of care typically falls short of the systems relied on by the nation's middle and upper classes (health cooperatives and private health insurance); health care for poor (and most non-poor) senior citizens is overseen by PAMI. The National Housing Fund (FONAVI) and its successors, the Provincial Housing Institutes, have also benefited the poor by facilitating access to affordable housing, and since 1976, has completed over a million housing units. The socio-economic crisis at the time prompted the enactment of the Program for Unemployed Heads of Households in early 2002, and at its height in 2003, around 2 million beneficiaries received debit cards worth 150 pesos (US$50) for part-time work; by 2010, the plan's impact on employment had become negligible.
Birth control among the poor, especially access to contraceptives, has long been discouraged by a succession of Argentine governments. Government policy instead rewards large families with subsidies that rise disproportionately with the seventh child, Argentine women have long had among Latin America's lowest birth rates (averaging 2.3 births per woman in recent years).
Poverty in Argentina increased dramatically in 2024 as Javier Milei deregulated large parts of the Argentinian economy, removing price controls, subsidies, and cutting tens of thousands of government jobs in an attempt to stabilize the Argentine peso. This has led to a surge in poverty, with poverty rates reaching a all time high of 57.4% in February, 2024 and being 51.8% in April 2024. Food inflation was particularity hard hit, with most soup kitchens being unable to maintain adequate supply. According to UNICEF Argentina's child poverty was on track to reach 70% with growing austerity, Argentina's economy is set to shrink by 2.5% in 2024.
Bolivia was one of the poorest countries in South America, but between 2006 and 2014, GDP per capita doubled and the extreme poverty rate declined from 38 to 18%. This represents a great improvement in comparison to the situation by 2005, diminishing poverty from 59.6% to 38.6% in a decade. These changes are mainly attributed to the socialist government of Evo Morales,[citation needed] who came to power in 2005. This government introduced a number of measures to combat poverty:
Brazil is the largest country in South America and has a low to moderate poverty rate.[citation needed] Poverty in Brazil is concentrated in the north-eastern region of the country, with 60% of the country's poorest. The majority of those in poverty are of Afro-Brazilian heritage. Over 8.9 million Brazilians live on less than $2 a day.
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Poverty in South America
Poverty in South America is prevalent in most of its countries. Those that have the highest rates of poverty per population are Suriname, Bolivia and Venezuela. Recent political shifts in the region have led to improvements in some of these countries.[example needed] In general, most South American economies[which?] have attempted to tackle poverty with stronger economic regulations, foreign direct investments and implementation of microeconomic policies to reduce poverty.[citation needed]
Argentina is one of two countries that has seen an upward shift in its poverty population in 2017. Its poverty population was recorded at 27.5% and 32% in 2018. Critics of the official INDEC survey charge that both the inflation rate used to measure poverty and the official baseline household budgets themselves are understated. The official income poverty line also increased 150% between 2001 and early 2010; but most private surveys of household conditions in Argentina estimate it at half again as much as the official threshold, and the effective poverty rate at around 25% of the population. Absolute poverty estimates, as measured by the inability to meet a minimum nutritional budget, also differ: this condition includes 3.5% of the population officially, and around 10% per private estimates.
Poverty in Argentina varies widely according to region, and provinces in the north have historically shouldered the nation's highest poverty rates. Estimates of income poverty in this region ranged from around 20% officially, to over 40% in private estimates; substandard living conditions affected around 30% of this region's population in the 2001 Census. The city of Buenos Aires proper, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego Provinces benefit from the nation's lowest poverty rates (around 7 to 14%, depending on the measurement). The majority of Argentina's public social programs, aside from those related to health, are administered by the National Social Security Administration (ANSES). Argentines in the labor force earning less than 4,800 pesos (US$1,230) monthly, are entitled to benefits upon marriage, birth or adoption of a child, for maternity leave or prenatal care, and for a disability in a child, as well as to a modest unemployment insurance benefit for up to 6 months. The most important poverty relief program administered by the ANSES is the Universal Childhood Entitlement. The benefit, of 180 pesos (US$46) a month per child, is assigned to 3.7 million children under age 18 (30% of the nation's total), and includes the deposit of 20% of the check in a savings account accessible only upon certification of the child's enrollment in school.
The health needs of the poor in Argentina (and of a sizable proportion of the working class) is attended to by the public hospital system, which received funding of around US$8 billion in 2009, and whose quality of care typically falls short of the systems relied on by the nation's middle and upper classes (health cooperatives and private health insurance); health care for poor (and most non-poor) senior citizens is overseen by PAMI. The National Housing Fund (FONAVI) and its successors, the Provincial Housing Institutes, have also benefited the poor by facilitating access to affordable housing, and since 1976, has completed over a million housing units. The socio-economic crisis at the time prompted the enactment of the Program for Unemployed Heads of Households in early 2002, and at its height in 2003, around 2 million beneficiaries received debit cards worth 150 pesos (US$50) for part-time work; by 2010, the plan's impact on employment had become negligible.
Birth control among the poor, especially access to contraceptives, has long been discouraged by a succession of Argentine governments. Government policy instead rewards large families with subsidies that rise disproportionately with the seventh child, Argentine women have long had among Latin America's lowest birth rates (averaging 2.3 births per woman in recent years).
Poverty in Argentina increased dramatically in 2024 as Javier Milei deregulated large parts of the Argentinian economy, removing price controls, subsidies, and cutting tens of thousands of government jobs in an attempt to stabilize the Argentine peso. This has led to a surge in poverty, with poverty rates reaching a all time high of 57.4% in February, 2024 and being 51.8% in April 2024. Food inflation was particularity hard hit, with most soup kitchens being unable to maintain adequate supply. According to UNICEF Argentina's child poverty was on track to reach 70% with growing austerity, Argentina's economy is set to shrink by 2.5% in 2024.
Bolivia was one of the poorest countries in South America, but between 2006 and 2014, GDP per capita doubled and the extreme poverty rate declined from 38 to 18%. This represents a great improvement in comparison to the situation by 2005, diminishing poverty from 59.6% to 38.6% in a decade. These changes are mainly attributed to the socialist government of Evo Morales,[citation needed] who came to power in 2005. This government introduced a number of measures to combat poverty:
Brazil is the largest country in South America and has a low to moderate poverty rate.[citation needed] Poverty in Brazil is concentrated in the north-eastern region of the country, with 60% of the country's poorest. The majority of those in poverty are of Afro-Brazilian heritage. Over 8.9 million Brazilians live on less than $2 a day.