Bolivia: poverty fell in 2021, but the decline remains relative

View of the city of La Paz, center of political power in Bolivia.

© WikimediaCommons/Roderick Peel

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

A report by the Bolivian National Institute of Statistics reveals a decline of a few points in poverty in the country.

A relative decline, but which, in the midst of a pandemic, contrasts with the global figures.

On the continent alone, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal) has just announced that more than 5 million people have fallen into extreme poverty in 2021.

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With our correspondent in La Paz,

11.1% extreme poverty in the country, against 13.7% last year.

If the decline is not massive, it does exist, there were fewer households in poverty in 2021 than in 2020 in Bolivia.

” poverty 

has also fallen, by just over 2 points, to reach 36.6% of the inhabitants, a figure which excludes those who live in extreme poverty.

The authorities of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), the ruling party, attribute this improvement to the vouchers distributed to the population, in particular the voucher against hunger, of 1,000 bolivianos, or 130 euros, awarded only once to all those who have no salary in the country, more than 4 million people.

Measures to reactivate production have also been put in place, as MP Omar Yujra explains: "

»

Luis Arce, the president, was Evo Morales' Minister of Economy, and he is often considered the architect of the  Bolivian "

 ", and of the reduction of poverty during the mandates of the former president.

►Also read: In Venezuela, three out of four inhabitants live in extreme poverty

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• Bolivia

• Poverty

• Economy