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

<strong>Draft</strong> <strong>first</strong> <strong>regional</strong> <strong>report</strong> on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development
Chapter III
have been considered in the future visions set out in national development plans <strong>report</strong>ed by the countries or,
very approximately, by considering information from the population policies survey conducted by the United
Nations Population Division in the countries.
As regards development planning, recent plans discussed in national <strong>report</strong>s present a high degree of
synergy with the Montevideo Consensus and place the main population issues among their priorities. In the
case of El Salvador, mention is made of restoring State planning with the Five-year Development Plan 2014-
2019: for a productive, educated and safe El Salvador. In Costa Rica, the National Poverty Reduction Strategy
of the Secretariat of Population emphasizes the Joint Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) Bridge to Development of
2015-2018. In Guatemala, the National Development Plan K’atun: Our Guatemala 2032 analyses consistency
between the Montevideo Consensus and the national plan and notes the opportunity the demographic dividend
might give the country to “enhance its productivity in consequence of a shift in its population structure”
(Government of Guatemala, 2017).
The World Population Policies database, published by the Policy Section of the United Nations Population
Division, provides information on governments’ vision and policies regarding key aspects of population. 16 In
the absence of more accurate systematized information from elsewhere, this database provides an overview
of how the governments of the region’s countries see population issues. If some of these governments’ policy
positions on population growth, fertility, migration and ageing are analysed, it can be said that their outlook on
demographic issues reflects a degree of unawareness of demographic dynamics, with restrictive approaches
continuing to hold sway. Of the 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, 16 had no official policy
and took no action whatever in 2015 in relation to population growth, while 8 stated that they had policies to
maintain, increase or reduce fertility. Of those 16 countries, 14 had policies to maintain, reduce or increase
immigration and 10 had policies to maintain or reduce emigration. Population ageing was declared to be a major
concern in 24 countries, but 2 stated that they had not taken any measures to deal with it in the previous five
years, and 8 selected just one measure among the possible responses (raising the retirement age, increasing
worker contributions, introducing non-contributory pensions at advanced ages and promoting private sector
retirement saving schemes). A subject on which there were numerous positive responses was the issue of
measures taken in relation to population distribution, chiefly concerning movement from rural to urban areas.
3. Conclusions
1. In the aggregate, the region experienced a considerable reduction in poverty and extreme poverty from
the 2000s until recent years. The figures for 2015 and 2016, however, reveal an increase in general
poverty levels in the region, mainly because of the influence of countries with large populations or
large rises in poverty.
2. Income inequality, while still higher than almost anywhere else in the world, continued to trend downward,
albeit less rapidly than in the previous period, and has risen in only a few countries.
3. Conditional transfer programmes are among the most widely used social protection programmes in
the region and have played a leading role in the decline in poverty discussed. Although they do not
all have the same scope, coverage and impact, they are important for the most vulnerable population
groups and indispensable at times of economic crisis for preventing large sections of the population
from falling into extreme poverty. As the figures show, however, they are not always enough to stop
poverty rising at times of economic crisis.
4. As regards the dimensions of health care, education, work, services and infrastructure associated with
different priority measures of the Montevideo Consensus, 17 the region has evinced continuous progress,
the challenges entailed by which are indicated in the sections dealing with specific population groups
16
This database is of long standing, with comparable information dating from the 1970s. Although the answers to the questions need to be analysed with caution, since
they can often be imprecise, the aggregate data do provide a basis for some important inferences about governments’ visions or conceptions of population policies.
17
These include, among others, priority measures 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 25, 26, 30, 32, 33, 35, 37, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 54, 59, 65, 69, 72, 78, 79, 87 and 95.
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