Poverty in Uruguay fell in 2021 to 10.6% but does not recover pre-pandemic level

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In 2021, poverty in Uruguay stood at 10.6%, according to official data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on March 30. Last year’s level represented a 1% reduction compared to 11.6% in 2020 but was still far from the 8.8% recorded in the previous pre-pandemic data.

“The value taken by the proportion of poor people for 2021 implies that out of every 1000 people, 106 of them do not exceed the minimum income to cover basic food and non-food needs,” said the official report. The total number of households below the poverty line stood at 7.5% in 2021. It implies that, in every 1000 households, 75 are below the poverty line.

On the other hand, indigence affected 0.3% of Uruguayans, a slight decrease compared to the 0.4% reported at the end of 2020.

Only when considering the data for the second semester, poverty reached 11% of the population, an increase compared to the 10.2% recorded in the first semester.

POVERTY BY AGE

Among children under six years old, people from 6 to 12 and 13 to 17 years old are where the highest incidence of poverty is registered, according to INE in its report for the second semester and the annualized report.

According to the annual measurement data, 2021 closed with 18.6% below the poverty line in children under six years of age. The figure for that age bracket was 21.3% in 2020, while it was 17% in 2019.

Among people aged 6 to 12, 19.4% were below the poverty line last year, a reduction compared to 20.6% in 2020, but without reaching the 16.5% of two years ago.

Meanwhile, the incidence of poverty was 18.8% in 2021 among 13- to 17-year-olds, almost at the same level as the 18.9% recorded the previous year and up from 15% in 2020.

In 2021, among people aged 18 to 64, the incidence of poverty was 9.3%, and among those over 65, it was 2.1%.

A household in Montevideo composed of three people with a total liquid income below UYU 43,108 (US$1,045) is considered poor, INE recalled in its bulletin. In the urban interior, the reference value for a three-person household is UYU 28,730, and in the rural interior, UYU 19,996.

The incidence of poverty presents “a heterogeneous distribution in the national territory”, said the agency. In this sense, the highest values were registered in the departments of Rivera, Cerro Largo, Salto, and Paysandú, with 8% or more of poverty. Meanwhile, the lowest levels corresponded to the departments of Flores, Florida, Río Negro, and San José, with a proportion of poor households of around 4%.

Meanwhile, in Montevideo, the peripheral neighborhoods reached up to 11%, while in the coastal area of the capital, the incidence was reduced to less than 2.9% in some areas.

With information from Bloomberg Línea