Publication: Peru : Opportunities for All, Peru Poverty Assessment
Loading...
Published
2005-12
ISSN
Date
2012-06-22
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Peru faces high levels of poverty and inequality. In 2004, over half of Peru's population was poor and about 20 percent were extremely poor. Following improvements during the 1990s, poverty increased in the wake of the 1998 economic crisis, while extreme poverty remained stable. Notwithstanding the economic recovery since 2001, with a strong positive impact in reducing extreme poverty, progress on poverty rates however, has been limited to rural areas. A main focus of this report is to explain why growth has not translated into more rapid poverty reduction. Considering the pattern of economic volatility in Peru over the past several decades - making business people reluctant to invest in job-creating endeavors, a strong reason why poverty reduction is slow. As well, in the wake of the high investment years in the 1990s followed by the 1998 crisis, many businesses have excess production capacity that is only now, after five years of growth, beginning to show fruits. This report also points to a number of obstacles that inhibit economic growth towards greater poverty reduction in Peru, and which should be addressed by government policy reforms. Growth has been focused on natural resource extraction industries, which are highly capital-intensive, and generate few jobs, and in the rural agricultural and urban informal employment sectors, which are characterized by low productivity and, therefore, low wage growth. Strengthening the linkage between growth and more, and better-paid jobs requires micro-level policy interventions to increase incentives to formal-sector employment, and diversify economic activity into more labor-intensive areas, such as non-traditional exports. While this diversification has begun - as evidenced by the rapid growth of non-traditional exports in recent years - further policy reforms can help in the process. These reforms should be accompanied by measures to boost human capital and access to public services by the poor, thereby increasing equity in economic opportunity. On socioeconomic aspects, the report further indicates social mobility, measured as the relationship between parental and children's characteristics, and proxied by education and occupational mobility, i s low and persistent in Peru. And, given that social exclusion continues to be a problem for certain groups, tackling the issue of social mobility, through the promotion of education mobility, becomes a priority.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2005. Peru : Opportunities for All, Peru Poverty Assessment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8809 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Kyrgyz Republic : Poverty Assessment, Volume 1. Growth, Employment and Poverty(Washington, DC, 2007-10-19)This report, which has been prepared by the World Bank in cooperation with the National Statistical Committee, provides an assessment of poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic using the most recent data available. The objective of this report is to understand to what extent economic growth has reduced poverty and led to improved living conditions for the population during 2000-2005. The report also attempts to answer three questions about the Kyrgyz Republic: what is the profile of poor? How has economic growth affected the level and composition of poverty? How has the labor market contributed to changes in poverty? The report is divided into two volumes. The first volume begins with this chapter which provides an international comparison of social and other key indicators of the Kyrgyz Republic followed by a profile of the poor based upon 2005 household survey data. The second chapter analyzes the linkages between growth and poverty during 2000-2005. The third chapter provides our key findings of labor market outcomes and poverty and what the implications are for policy making. The final chapter synthesizes the information from the earlier chapters and provides some policy directions. The second volume provides a more thorough analysis of labor markets. It covers developments in the labor market, urban labor markets, rural labor markets and differences between men and women in the labor market.Publication Malawi : Poverty and Vulnerability Assessment, Investing in Our Future(Washington, DC, 2007-12)This study builds a profile of the status of poverty and vulnerability in Malawi. Malawi is a small land-locked country, with one of the highest population densities in Sub-Saharan Africa, and one of the lowest per capita income levels in the world. Almost 90 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and is mostly engaged in smallholder, rain-fed agriculture. Most people are therefore highly vulnerable to annual rainfall volatility. The majority of households cultivate very small landholdings, largely for subsistence. As a result, poverty is pervasive and not merely the situation of the lowest economic groups. Therefore, while this report focuses on the least-well-off sections of the population, the analysis provides valuable information to accelerate wealth creation and economic growth for the whole of Malawi. This synthesis report presents the main findings and policy recommendations stemming from the analysis. Due to the length and detail of this study, the 'full report' presenting the detailed analysis and results underpinning these policy recommendations is available as a separate publication. This report highlights some of the key characteristics and causes of poverty in Malawi, and focuses on the main sources of risk affecting households, namely food insecurity and health shocks. Based on these findings, the report goes on to develop a set of policy recommendations for widely shared growth and poverty reduction, and for enabling the most vulnerable to make a living. Finally, the report also provides recommendations for strengthening the monitoring and evaluation systems of poverty reduction strategies, so that policy makers and Malawian society can better track the effectiveness of the policies pursued, and inform future policy choices.Publication Tajikistan : Poverty Assessment(World Bank, 2009-12-03)Despite Tajikistan's sustained economic growth of the past few years and the country's notable achievements, poverty and low standards of living remain a pressing problem for the majority of Tajik people. Poverty reduction is therefore one of the priority goals of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, of its national and international partners, and of Tajik society as a whole. This report presents a comprehensive analysis of poverty in Tajikistan using the most recent Tajikistan Living Standards Survey (TLSS) data, which is for 2007. The report provides an in-depth analysis of poverty dynamics (since 2003); a poverty profile; the linkages between labor markets, migration, and poverty; the importance of social transfers for poverty alleviation; and the key issues in the health and education sectors. The report also simulates possible poverty impacts from the reduction in migration and remittances related to the global financial crisis. The report shows that migration and remittances are a significant factor in the observed improvements in living standards between 2003 and 2007. However, the expected reduction in migration and remittances due to the financial crisis is likely to result in increased poverty levels, vulnerability, and higher income inequality, at least in the short term.Publication Ukraine : Poverty Assessment, Poverty and Inequality in a Growing Economy(Washington, DC, 2005-12)This Poverty report is aimed at improving the understanding of poverty in Ukraine, and providing linkages between growth, the evolution of economic sectors, and poverty. The main findings can be summed up as follows: An absolute poverty line and a revised consumption aggregate -- jointly developed with Ukraine experts -- indicate that around 19 percent of the population lived in poverty by 2003. While in 1999 Ukraine had a poverty incidence higher than Poland, Russia, Lithuania, or Bulgaria, by 2003 it was the lowest compared with these countries. The overall improvement, however, has been paralleled by an increasing poverty gap between rural and urban households, reflecting the fast but unbalanced economic growth: The growth experience has not changed the rather stagnant level of employment. The improvement in labor markets are associated to gains in productivity and efficiency with resulting wage gains. There is also increased differentiation within workers since the fraction of underemployment has also increased, reflecting partly the subsistence agriculture, and precarious labor markets in some small towns. The combined effects of higher productivity but lower employment in commercial farms left real incomes in agriculture lagging behind other sectors. Rural areas had a slower reduction in poverty due to the combined effect of weather shocks, and restructuring in agriculture. The government has played a critical role in reducing poverty by increasing substantially the social insurance transfers. Other government transfers have become better targeted but still have very limited coverage. The reduction of poverty, however, provides a window of opportunity to reform the safety net system in order to effectively target the poor.Publication Bangladesh - Poverty Assessment for Bangladesh : Creating Opportunities and Bridging the East-West Divide(2008-10-21)Bangladesh represents a success story among developing countries. Poverty incidence, which was as high as 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, had declined to 49 percent in 2000. This trend accelerated subsequently, reducing the poverty headcount rate to 40 percent in 2005. The primary contributing factor was robust and stable economic growth along with no worsening of inequality. Respectable GDP growth that started at the beginning of the 1990s continued into the new millennium and averaged above 5 percent annually between 2000 and 2005. Inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient of consumption, remained stable between 2000 and 2005. Recent shocks to the Bangladeshi economy in the form of natural disasters and rising food prices have partially dampened the rapid progress in reducing poverty. The year 2007 saw two natural disasters, floods and a devastating cyclone within a few months of each other. Another significant shock has been the steep rise in food prices, including the main staple, rice, which has revealed the risk posed by global price volatility for a net food-importing country like Bangladesh. Estimates in this report suggest that the impact of the food price shock has likely negated some of the reduction in poverty brought about by economic growth between 2005 and 2008. Specific areas for policy focus which are elaborated in the report include measures to: (i) promote growth by sustaining increases in labor productivity and job creation in manufacturing and services; (ii) expand opportunities in lagging regions by improving connectivity with growth poles and investing in human capital; (iii) facilitate migration from poor areas given the poverty-reducing impact of remittances; (iv) stimulate women's participation in the labor force (v) sustain Bangladesh's past successes in reducing fertility; (vi) improve poor households access to and quality of education, health, and nutrition services; and (vii) strengthen the coordination, targeting, and coverage of safety net programs.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.