The 2013 Edition of the Social Panorama of Latin America presents ECLAC official measurements for the analysis of income poverty and seeks fresh approaches to poverty and well-being, placing special emphasis on multidimensional approaches. These approaches are exploratory and therefore not comprehensive. They have nevertheless been tackled in this year’s edition of Social Panorama because one thing is certain: the need is emerging in social policy design, in the evaluation of social development and in new demands of a society for a more nuanced analysis of social progress and lags to underpin more integrated public policy design.
Chapter I examines other approaches [to poverty reduction] with a view to a multidimensional measurement of poverty. In light of growing interest from the region’s countries in respect of these measurements and their potential for public policy analysis, different dimensions, thresholds and forms of aggregation are analysed conceptually and empirically, in order to move forward, still in an exploratory manner, in constructing a multidimensional poverty index that is relevant and feasibly applicable in the region.
Chapter IV offers an up-to-date overview of health and pension coverage in Latin America, both in work and in retirement and a review of the landmarks in the discourse on social protection in Latin America.
Taking into account the positive developments in the labour market, wage employees’ enrolment in health care insurance and pensions increased in the region, albeit differing considerably in points of departure and magnitudes in different countries. Nevertheless, in some countries enrolment remains very low and is relatively stagnant, while lower enrolment reflects a higher concentration of income.
