Latin America Key facts

Although progress towards reducing poverty in Latin America is good – the number of people living in poverty fell from 48.3% in 1990 to 39.8% in 2006 - 4 out of 10 men, women and children still live below minimum living standards and 88 million live in extreme poverty (ECLA 2005).
The Latin American region has made important progress towards achieving the MDGs by 2015. However, according to the UN, the region is not likely to achieve the goals for extreme poverty reduction (MDG 1) and for the reduction of maternal mortality (MDG 5) - economic growth is needed to accelerate progress on all poverty-related goals.
Growth in Latin America is predicted to be between 0.3% and 1.1% this year – compared to a 5.3% average since 2004. The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that will mean an extra 13 million people in poverty, living on less than two dollars a day.
Latin America has the most unequal income distribution in the world, and high rates of extreme poverty exist. The richest tenth among Latin Americans earns 48% of total income in the region, while the poorest tenth earns just 1.6% (World Bank study ‘Breaking with History’ 2003).
Nicaragua is the poorest country in Latin America, followed by Bolivia (where 60% of the population is classified poor, of which two-thirds are of indigenous origin).
If Latin America had a more normal distribution of income there would be half the number of poor people there.
Substantial pockets of the region’s population, and particularly indigenous groups, have limited access to health care, poor educational outcomes, poor working conditions, and lack political representation.
Statistics suggest that only 20% of Latin Americans trust political parties and that 29% trust Congresses (2007 Latino-barometro poll).
The HIV and AIDS epidemic in Latin America is concentrated in socially marginalised groups, including sex workers, injecting drug users and transgender people.
1.7 million people were living with HIV in 2007 and 63,000 people died of AIDS in the same year (International HIV/AIDS Alliance 2008).
The region is still far from providing full access to HIV antiretroviral therapy; some countries still have coverage of less than 30%. Brazil’s achievements in expanding access remain unique, leading to a 50% decrease in AIDS mortality rates between 1996 and 2002.
The impacts of climate change are already being felt in Latin America – the frequency of tropical storms is increasing, glaciers are melting in the Andes, and temperatures are rising in the Amazon (WWF 2008).

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