Draft first regional report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development

Chapter III
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
4. Living conditions and overlapping inequalities
The axes of what is a persistent matrix of social inequality in the region are gender, the life cycle, ethnic-racial
status and territory. These factors are overlapping and mutually reinforcing, which is why priority measure
93 of the Montevideo Consensus is to address gender, racial, ethnic and intergenerational inequalities, bearing
in mind the way these dimensions overlap in situations of discrimination affecting women, especially young
Afrodescendent women. Likewise, priority measure 97 is to raise the living standards of Afrodescendent
women and priority measure 95 is to ensure that Afrodescendent persons, in particular Afrodescendent girls,
adolescents and women, can exercise the right to health, especially the right to sexual health and reproductive
health. This section will provide a <strong>regional</strong> overview of these issues based on a recent study by ECLAC (2017b).
Although the region has succeeded in significantly bringing down poverty levels, they remain much higher
among Afrodescendent populations, although the information available is fragmentary. In the four countries
for which figures are available, as presented in figure III.35, it can be seen that in 2014 the proportion of poor
Afrodescendants was almost three times as great as the proportion of poor non-Afrodescendants in Uruguay,
over twice as great in Brazil and about 50% greater in Ecuador and Peru. In the case of these four countries, it can
also be seen that vulnerability to poverty is greater among the Afrodescendent population. The 2010 census round
revealed that figures for serious deprivations in respect of housing, water and sanitary services were similarly
higher among the Afrodescendent than the non-Afrodescendent population in 8 of the 12 countries for which
data were available. Other than in Panama, conditions of access to drinking water and sanitation are more critical
than overcrowding in all the countries, something that directly affects infant health. In Uruguay, just 1.6% of the
Afrodescendent population has no access to drinking water, but a quarter of the Afrodescendent population in
Ecuador (25%) is in this position. In the case of sanitary services, rates of serious deprivation range from 0.5%
in Costa Rica to 22.3% in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. In South American countries such as Brazil, Colombia
and Uruguay, Afrodescendants are well over twice as likely as the rest of the population to suffer from serious
deprivations; Costa Rica and Cuba also present marked ethnic-racial inequalities when it comes to crowding. Lastly,
while vulnerability and substandard conditions in housing and access to services are more serious in rural than
in urban areas, the ethnic-racial inequalities that negatively affect Afrodescendants are usually greater in cities.
Figure III.35
Latin America (4 countries): poverty and extreme poverty rates in the Afrodescendent
and non-Afrodescendent populations, 2014
(Percentages)
45
42.2
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
22.0
25.7
27.1
18.4
14.2
15.8
9.9
17.9
11.1
12.2
7.3
9.1 4.0
6.2 2.6 16.6 8.7 3.4 2.0 2.1 3.3 0.7
Afrodescendent
Non-Afrodescendent
Afrodescendent
Non-Afrodescendent
21.3
Afrodescendent
Non-Afrodescendent
Afrodescendent
Non-Afrodescendent
Non-extreme poverty
Extreme poverty
Total poverty
Brazil Ecuador Peru Uruguay
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of household surveys conducted in the respective countries.
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