Getting better.

Economic growth in Latin America has been a good thing for millions of people. A study conducted by the Economic Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) last year shows that 13 million Latin Americans have left the ranks of the officially poor since 2003. That's good news, but there is still a lot of work to do: Poverty affects 213 million people in the region, 40.6% of the population, of which 88 million live in extreme poverty. It seems, though, that things are getting better. "Forecasts for 2005 indicate that both poverty and extreme poverty will be lower than when ECLAC began these studies in 1980," says Xavier Mancero, an ECLAC statistician in Santiago, Chile.

Remittances from workers living abroad, too, helped 2.5 million Latin Americans rise above the poverty line by 2002. In 2004, remittances flowing into the region hit an estimated US$45.80 billion, a level similar to what foreign direct investment brought into the region.

Getting Better

% of population US$ billions

                            poverty

'01                           43.2%

'02                           44.0%

'03                           44.3%

'04                           41.7%

'05                           40.6%

SOURCE: ECLAC, IADB