14 June 2016: Millions of people in Latin America and the Caribbean risk falling back into poverty, due to an economic slowdown as well as the limits of labor and fiscal expansions, and the large number of informal jobs, according to the 2016 Human Development Report (HDR) for the region, titled ‘Multidimensional Progress: Well-being beyond income.’The report, published by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), states that more than a third of those who have left poverty since 2003 risk falling back into it, the majority of which are youth and women who work in the service sector. They are part of the over 220 million people (approximately 38% of the population) who are not “officially” poor but have been unable to rise to the middle class. While about 72 million people were lifted from poverty and 94 million rose to the middle classes between 2003 and 2013, the region has experienced a recent slowdown and reversal of poverty reduction rates.

The HDR explains that the factors driving people from poverty, such as labor markets and education, differ from those that prevent them from falling back into poverty, including social protection, care systems (particularly for children and the elderly), physical and financial assets (which act as “cushions” in times of crisis) and labor skills, which the HDR refers to as the “resilience basket.” It contends that these factors enable people to absorb shocks, particularly during economic slowdowns.

In order to halt the reversal and continue development in a sustainable manner, the HDR highlights key policy recommendations, urges rethinking the region’s progress in a multidimensional manner in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and calls for using new metrics to measure development that go beyond per capita income, economic growth rates and gross domestic product.

The report stresses the need for a multidimensional concept of progress, which does not diminish the rights of people and communities nor jeopardize the environmental sustainability of the planet. Policies that reflect this concept could: protect past achievements; counter exclusion that goes beyond the poverty line, such as gender, race and ethnicity, and sexual orientation; and reinforce social protection throughout the life cycle and citizen participation. [UNDP Press Release] [Publication: Regional Human Development Report for Latin America and the Caribbean: Multidimensional Progress: Well-being beyond income]