The coronavirus pandemic has raised poverty in Latin America to 33.7%, its highest level in 12 years

Poverty in Latin America increased in 2020 to reach the highest levels of the past 12 years, reaching a 33.7% of the region’s total population, due to the economic crisis caused by covid-19, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said on Thursday.

Despite emergency social protection measures adopted by governments in the region to stop covid-19 “Poverty and extreme poverty have reached levels in Latin America in 2020 which have not been observed in the last 12 and 20 years, respectively”, said a report on the social impact of the pandemic.

According to ECLAC, following the acute economic crisis derived from the coronavirus, which caused a 7.7% drop in GDP over 2020 as a whole in Latin America, poverty reached 209 million inhabitants, 33.7% of the region’s total population of 654 million.

As, extreme poverty affects 78 million people.

ECLAC, dependent on the United Nations, highlighted in its study the increase in social unrest in the region, what should be used to establish new models of development and well-being.

“The effects of the coronavirus disease pandemic have spread to all areas of human life, altering the way we interact, crippling economies and causing profound changes in societies”the report noted.

The impacts of the pandemic “They are aggravated by the structural problems of the region: mainly, high levels of inequality, work informality, social vulnerability, poverty and vulnerability ”.

In addition, the region has weak and fragmented health and social protection systems, as well as large marginalized urban agglomerations without access to basic services.

The effects of the pandemic on the living conditions of the population are reinforced with the progressive increase in poverty and extreme poverty and slowdown in the reduction of inequalities observed in the five-year period leading up to the coronavirus crisis.

During this time, Latin America and the Caribbean’s GDP grew on average only 0.3% per year, the Extreme poverty fell from 7.8% to 11.3% of the population and poverty rose to 33.7%.

The pandemic increased mortality in the region and could affect the life expectancy index depending on its evolution.

“Although mortality is the most dramatic outcome associated with COVID-19, the long-term health effects of people who have recovered from the disease are still unknown.”says the agency.

According to Cepal, with 8.4% of the world’s population, Latin America has recorded 27.8% of deaths from the virus.

As for education, the report notes that “Prolonged school closures can generate learning crisis and constitute a ‘generational disaster ‘” contribute to worsening inequalities, in addition to increasing the risk of dropping out of school.

At the level labor, the available data show that the crisis had an impact disproportionate compared to informal workers and women, while in the future the opportunities for the elderly may be reduced.

“It is also likely that ethnic and racial inequalities, as well as those related to territory, disability or immigration status, will increase,” he said.

(With information from Reuters and AFP)

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