One of the major concerns of the Santiago Summit of the Americas meeting was the continued high levels of poverty which characterize the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite s everal years of sustained high growth in the region, interrupted first by the Mexican financial crisis of 1994-95 and now by the effects of the current worldwide financial crisis, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean recognized in Santiago tha t far too little progress has been made toward significantly reducing levels of poverty. This fight against poverty and inequality represents the single greatest challenge for the hemisphere.

To clarify the nature of this challenge, the 1998 edition of the LAC Databook now includes a compendium of data on poverty and income distribution in the region. Data in this section come from a variety of sources. As a result , some inconsistencies will be apparent across sources. We have included extensive notes in this section regarding definitions, methodologies, and related questions. Readers using these data should pay special attention to the notes in order to understa nd the relationships among the data series presented. We hope that the current as well as future editions of this work will improve understanding of trends in poverty and inequality in the region, and lead to more effective programs to reduce poverty and inequality.

Data on social sectors continue to show steady progress toward reducing population growth rates, increasing life expectancy, reducing infant mortality, and increasing primary and even secondary school completion rates. Population growt h rates continued their long, steady decline, reaching 1.6 percent for the region as a whole in 1997, down from 2.0 percent as recently as the second half of the 1980s. Similarly, the rate of infant mortality continues to show a steady decline, falling t o 35 per thousand for the region as a whole in 1997, nearly half the 1980 level. This trend reflects steady progress in vaccination, improved pre-natal care and attended births, more widespread practice of breastfeeding, and increased birth spacing.

The region's progress in education presents a more mixed picture. Primary education in most countries is approaching universal coverage. However, access by children in very poor or very isolated areas remains limited. More important, problems of quality--curriculum relevance, adequate teacher training, and adequate funding for textbooks and other instructional materials--are apparent in most countries. Such problems of educational quality produce high repetition and dropout rates, e specially among the poorest children and members of marginalized groups. Equally serious, little progress has been made in increasing access to secondary education, which will be critical for further economic growth.

Assistant Administrator

Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean

U.S. Agency for International Development