The document summarizes progress made in Latin America and the Caribbean towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It discusses that the region halved extreme poverty and reached targets for hunger, primary education access, and water/sanitation goals. However, it notes disparities between Latin America and the Caribbean subregions. The summary also highlights ongoing issues like high informal employment, gender pay gaps, and deforestation.

1. Bureau for Policy and Programme Support
Latin America & the Caribbean

2. ©UNDP–Implementingthe2030Agenda
LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN
MDGPROGRESS
Source: UN 2015 MDG Report

3. ©UNDP–Implementingthe2030Agenda
Poverty
SITUATIONANALYSIS
 The region reached the target of halving the extreme poverty rate, with the
proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day falling from 13 percent in
1990 to 4 percent in 2015. However, disparities remain large among the two
sub-regions. The extreme poverty rate was 22 percent in the Caribbean and
4 percent in Latin America
 When using the extreme poverty line of $2.5 per day, about 11.5 percent of
the region’s population lived in extreme poverty in 2013
 Close to 95 percent of the region’s population is situated above the
international multidimensional poverty line. Despite this, there are
population groups that are exposed to vulnerabilities and forms of exclusion
that limit their capacities and potential achievements in terms of well-being
 Some 25 to 30 million people in the region are in a vulnerable situation and
are at risk of falling into income poverty
Source: UN MDG Report 2015; Regional HDR for LAC 2016

4. ©UNDP–Implementingthe2030Agenda
Hunger
SITUATIONANALYSIS
 The region has reached the hunger reduction target.
The proportion of undernourished people has
decreased from 15 percent in 1990–1992 to 6 percent
in 2014–2016. However, disparities remain large in the
percentage of people suffering from hunger among the
two sub-regions. In 2014–2016, the prevalence of
undernourishment in Latin America is projected to be
less than 5 percent, while in the Caribbean it is 20
percent
 The region reached the target of halving the proportion
of undernourished children, with the proportion of
underweight children under age five declining from 7 to
2 percent from 1990 to 2015. However, in 2015 about
10 percent of children under 5 years were stunted
Source: UN MDG Report 2015; Regional HDR for LAC 2016; World Bank SDG Dashboard
Prevalence of stunting, height for age (% of children under 5)

5. ©UNDP–Implementingthe2030Agenda
Education
SITUATIONANALYSIS
Source: UN MDG Report 2015; Regional HDR for LAC 2016
• In the area of expanding access to primary education,
the region has made impressive gains, with the
adjusted net enrolment rate growing from 87 percent
in 1990 to 94 percent in 2015. Most of the progress
was made before 2000
• However, disparities remain large among the two sub-
regions. In 2015, the projected adjusted net
enrolment rate in primary education was 82 percent in
the Caribbean and 95 percent in Latin America
• The proportion of the adult population of working age
with some secondary and tertiary education rose from
30 percent in the early 1990s to slightly over 50
percent in 2013
Distribution of the adult population in each income
group by education level (in percentages) in Latin
America, circa 1993 and 2013

6. ©UNDP–Implementingthe2030Agenda
Gender
SITUATIONANALYSIS
Photo credit: Flickr/Creative Commons
• The region has achieved parity in primary education between boys and
girls. In secondary and tertiary education, more girls than boys are enrolled.
• Women in the region participate in paid employment nearly as much as
men, with women holding 45 out of every 100 wage-earning jobs in the
non-agricultural sector in 2015. However, gender differences are still very
marked in the region: Women have higher rates of informal employment;
they also receive lower remuneration both for the same work and for work
of equal value
• The share of women in parliament is higher than the average share in
developed regions. The proportion of seats held by women in single or lower
houses of national parliament increased from 15 percent in 2000 to 27
percent in 2015, higher than the average share of 26 per cent in developed
regions in 2015. In the Caribbean, the share of women in single or lower
houses of national parliament reached 33 percent
• Gender-based-violence is a major issue in the region. An average of 27.3
percent of women in 5 countries in the region with data stated that they had
suffered physical violence
Source: UN MDG Report 2015; Regional HDR for LAC 2016

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Health
SITUATIONANALYSIS
• The region has reduced its under-five mortality rate by 69 percent
between 1990 and 2015. The mortality rate for children under five
dropped from 54 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 17 in 2015
• Maternal mortality in the Caribbean remains high, with 190
maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2013. Latin America has
a much lower maternal mortality ratio, with 77 maternal deaths per
100,000 live births in 2013
• The region overall has made slow progress in reducing adolescent
childbearing, with the adolescent birth rate remaining high, at 73
births per 1,000 girls in 2015
• The Caribbean region witnessed the sharpest decline in the number
of people newly infected with HIV, with new infections dropping by
56 percent from 2000 to 2013. In contrast, Latin America showed a
slow decline in the number of new infections
Source: UN MDG Report 2015

8. ©UNDP–Implementingthe2030Agenda
Environment
SITUATIONANALYSIS
• Forests in the region are disappearing at a rapid pace, despite the
establishment of forest policies and laws supporting sustainable forest
management in many countries. The largest net loss of forests has
occurred in South America—around 3.6 million hectares per year over the
period from 2005 to 2010. The region has experienced significant
deforestation at an average annual rate of close to 0.40 percent since 1990
• Coverage of terrestrial protected areas rose from 8.8 percent to 23.4
percent between 1990 and 2014
• The region’s population is very exposed to the effects of natural disasters.
Roughly 15 percent of the world’s natural disasters occurred in the region
over the 2000-2015 period
• The region has reached the MDG drinking water target five years ahead of
schedule. The proportion of the population using an improved water
source increased from 85 percent to 95 percent between 1990 and 2015
• The region is also very close to reaching the target of halving the
proportion of population without basic sanitation. The proportion of the
population using an improved sanitation facility increased from 67 percent
to 83 per cent between 1990 and 2015
Source: UN MDG Report 2015, Regional HDR for LAC 2016

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Jobs & Livelihoods
SITUATIONANALYSIS
Source: ILO World Employment Social Outlook 2016; Regional HDR for LAC 2016; UN MDG Report 2015
• The unemployment rate in the region stood at 6.5 percent with nearly 20
million people unemployed. Youth levels are triple that of adults in the
region and some 22 million young people aged 15–24 do not work or
study
• While the service sector has made it possible to absorb the growing
workforce and contributed to the decline of poverty, many of the
activities in this sector are characterized by low productivity, poor quality
and a lack of social security
• The region continues to be challenged by the persistently high share of
informal employment – estimated at 46.8 percent of total non-
agricultural employment in 2013. Informal employment particularly
affects young people and women
• Women in the region participate in paid employment nearly as much as
men, with women holding 45 out of every 100 wage-earning jobs in the
non-agricultural sector in 2015. However, there is a gender gap in the
employment participation rate among the vulnerable population with the
participation rate for men 1.5 times higher, on average, than the rate for
women
Photo credit: Flickr/Creative Commons