Income poverty measurement: Updated methodology and results

Abstract

For over three decades, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has performed measurements of poverty in the Latin American countries in order to estimate its prevalence in the region using a common methodology. Economic and social changes have prompted an update of the thresholds used to quantify poverty and a review of certain aspects of the methodology. Now that all the countries of the region have progressed towards having official poverty measurements calculated by their own public agencies, the figures produced by ECLAC aim to provide a regional overview that is as comparable as possible given the differences in the data sources. Whereas the national measurements are tailored to each specific national context, the regional measurement affords importance to the standardization of methodological criteria. Insofar as the two measurements are designed for different purposes and contexts, they complement each other in informing the regional discussion on the transformations needed to end poverty and close social gaps.