Poverty in South America

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Poverty in Uruguay
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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.[1] Recent political shifts in the region have led to improvements in some of these countries.[

which?] have attempted to tackle poverty with stronger economic regulations, foreign direct investments and implementation of microeconomic policies to reduce poverty.[citation needed
]

Conditions by nation

Argentina

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.

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,[3] and the effective poverty rate at around 25% of the population.[4][5] 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.[4]

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,

Tierra del Fuego Provinces benefit from the nation's lowest poverty rates (around 7 to 14%, depending on the measurement).[7][5]
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
unemployment insurance benefit for up to 6 months.[8] 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.[9]

The health needs of the poor in Argentina (and of a sizable proportion of the working class) is attended to by the

senior citizens is overseen by PAMI.[10] The National Housing Fund (FONAVI) and its successors, the Provincial Housing Institutes, have also benefited the poor by facilitating access to affordable housing,[11] and since 1976, has completed over a million housing units.[12] 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;[13] by 2010, the plan's impact on employment had become negligible.[14]

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,[15]
Argentine women have long had among Latin America's lowest birth rates (averaging 2.3 births per woman in recent years).

Bolivia

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%.[16] This represents a great improvement in comparison to the situation by 2005, diminishing poverty from 59.6% to 38.6% in a decade.[17] 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:

  • The Bono Juancito Pinto gives school children grants of approximately US$29 (200 bolivianos) a year as an incentive to continue education to the 6th grade of primary school. It was introduced in 2006.
  • The Renta Dignidad was introduced in 2008 to prevent extreme poverty amongst the elderly. It gives all citizens over 60 a grant of US$258 (1800 bolivianos) or $344 (2400 bolivianos) to those not receiving social security payments.
  • The Bono Juana Azurduy provides new mothers with small financial incentives to seek pre and post natal medical care with the aim of reducing child mortality rates. It began in May 2009.

Brazil