Venezuela: Study shows that 94.5% of the people are poor
The survey also shows that 76.6% of Venezuelans live below the extreme poverty line, which is 8.9 percentage points more than in the previous 2019/2020 report.
In its presentation, the UCAB researcher and professor Luis Pedro España explained that the growth of poverty has reached "what could be the ceiling" and he doubted that it will grow any more.
"Poverty will not grow, it is the maximum possible because we have 5% (of society) that has a way to index (their wages) when there is inflation or maintain their income level despite the recession," explained the professor, therefore, he explained that what varies, "basically, is extreme poverty."
The study shows that in 2019/2020 the extreme poverty rate was 67.7%, while in 2018 it was 76.5% of society.
España attributed the increase of this last year to the fact that the Government could not sustain different policies, especially that of "bonds or direct transfers to households" that "fell 20% in real terms."
He also explained that there is "a floor" which is around 33% in poverty and 9% in extreme poverty "that, not even in the best moments of oil production in the country, has been reduced.
"There is a point at which economic growth stops reducing poverty in Venezuela and it needs social policies to do so," he stressed.
The study also measured multidimensional poverty, which includes several variables in addition to income such as housing, employment, services or employment.
Using this measurement, Encovi shows that 65.2% of households in Venezuela are "in a situation of deprivation."
In this sense, España commented that, with regard to housing, "the type of tenure became very precarious", which he considers a "blow to the migratory effect".
"He increased the number of people living in borrowed houses and, rather, they have functions of caregivers," he added before detailing that, "in social terms, it is a precarious situation."
The study also measures the growth of so-called "non-labor income", which includes government transfers, international remittances and pensions, among others.
This income has gone from assuming 14% in 2014, to 45% in 2021, which, according to España, shows that "it begins to have a very great importance compared to total household income."
"This is a double effect: bonuses and remittances, along with a reduction in remuneration for work," he commented.
Regarding inequality, the report explains that if "all the income of families were distributed equitably among them, the average per capita would be 30 dollars per Venezuelan per month, that is, 1 dollar per person per day."
"Under this imaginary scenario of absolute equality, not only would we all be poor according to the international poverty line of $ 1.9 per person per day, but we would have to double the national income and distribute it equitably again to remain poor but not extreme." adds the Encovi.
Given these data, the report explains that, with the inequality of 2021, Venezuela would be "the most unequal country in the Americas."
Source: Infobae
Posts
