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UN: LATIN AMERICA’S EXTREME POVERTY ON THE RISE

UN: LATIN AMERICA’S EXTREME POVERTY ON THE RISE
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Avellon Williams

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO- The UN Economic Commission for Latin America estimates that 82 million people will be in extreme poverty in 2022 as a result of a slow pandemic recovery and high inflation.

Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs /Image, CEPAL/

According to Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), “it has not been possible to reverse the impacts of the pandemic in terms of poverty and extreme poverty.” 

This is an increase from 12.9 percent in 2021, which represented 13.1 percent of the region’s population.

/Image, TI/

Approximately 12 million more people live in extreme poverty since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world.

According to Salazar-Xirinachs, a “cascade of external shocks” has struck, including a slowdown in economic growth, weak job growth, and rising inflation.

UNICEF, which has its headquarters in Santiago, said the extreme poverty figures were a “setback of a quarter century” for the region.

/Image, AAUK/

According to the agency, regional growth was expected to be 3.2 percent in October. A projected growth of 1.2 percent is expected in 2023, however, halving the current rate.

Moreover, the UN body emphasized that the pandemic significantly affected education in Latin America and the Caribbean with an average of 70 weeks of school closures versus 41 weeks worldwide.

/Image, GPE/

Youths aged 18-24 who are not studying or working rose from 22.3 percent in 2019 to 28.7 percent in 2020.

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Avellon Williams

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