The MDGs in Latin America and the Caribbean: employment remains a challenge for poverty reduction.

• Author: Machinea, Jose Luis
• Position: Millennium Development Goals

There is no doubt that Latin America is on track to meeting its commitment to halve the 1990 extreme poverty rate by the 2015 target deadline. The most recent estimates by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) show that some 14 million Latin Americans escaped from poverty in 2006 and another 10 million are no longer destitute. The number of poor people stands at 36 per cent of the population (194 million) and those living in indigent conditions at 13.4 per cent (71 million); during 2007, these figures are likely to drop to 190 million and 69 million, respectively. For the first time since 1990, the total number of people living in poverty in the region has dropped below 200 million.

However, these figures merit further careful analysis. On average, Latin America is 87 per cent on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG 1) of reducing by half the 1990 extreme poverty rate by 2015. But poverty levels are high when viewed in terms of the potential of Latin America, which has only recently returned to the levels it registered prior to the debt crisis that shook the region during the 1980s. Furthermore, the rate of progress differs greatly from country to country. Of the 17 countries for which ECLAC has data, only four--Brazil, Chile, Ecuador (urban areas only) and Mexico--have met the MDG target; five-- Colombia, El Salvador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela--are on track; and eight--Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay--lag behind.

Fulfilment of the MDG targets for hunger and undernutrition across Latin America and the Caribbean demonstrate a similar pattern. Progress in combatting undernourishment--48 per cent of the target goal--since 2001 has been seen, but region-wide figures mask the considerable disparities among countries and do not provide a basis for accurate assessment of individual progress. Five countries currently surpass the target for 2015 and eight have progressed beyond the mid-term target. However, the remaining countries show less progress than anticipated, and to achieve the targets they must increase food supply and improve accessibility at significantly faster rates than in the past. The region as a whole appears likely to meet the target regarding the number of underweight children under the age of five. Its rate of weighted average progress stands at 54 per cent, but the situation among and within countries varies greatly. Five...