Alicia Bárcena

Executive Secretary

Antonio Prado

Deputy Executive Secretary

Pascual Gerstenfeld

Chief, Statistics Division

Ricardo Pérez

Chief, Publications and Web Services Division

This report was prepared under the coordination of Pascual Gerstenfeld, Chief of the Statistics Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and Daniel Taccari, also of the Statistics Division. The following staff members participated in the overall drafting of the report: Georgina Cipoletta, Sebastián Herreros, Keiji Inoue, María Ortíz, Esteban Pérez, Sebastián Rovira, Pauline Stockins and Romain Zivy.

Valuable input was also received from the following ECLAC staff members: Lais Abramo, José Eduardo Alatorre, Guiomar Bay, Guido Camú, Carlos de Miguel, Ernesto Espíndola, Enrique González, Dirk Jaspers_Faijer, Cornelia Kaldewei, Carlos Maldonado, Xavier Mancero, Rodrigo Martínez, Claudio Moris, Ana María Reyes, Jorge Rodríguez, Magda Ruiz, José Luis Samaniego, Lucía Scuro, Varinia Tromben and Heidi Ullmann.

The respective statistical tables can be found in the electronic statistical annex available on the ECLAC website at http://www.cepal.org/es/dspace/38924. More information on these tables and other indicators can be accessed at the ECLAC databases and statistical publications portal, CEPALSTAT, [online] http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/.

Some of the vectors included in this publication were designed by freepik.com.

The boundaries and names shown on the maps included in this publication do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

Explanatory notes:

The data presented in this report come from official international sources or have been calculated using international methodologies and standards, to assure comparability among countries. For this reason, these values do not necessarily coincide with national figures.

This edition of the report includes information available up to mid-July 2015.

The totals given in the tables correspond to the sum or to the average of the individual values shown in each table, unless otherwise stated.

The figures given for different groups of countries correspond to the set of reporting countries for that period or year, unless otherwise stated. For this reason, the years or periods in a series may not be strictly comparable.

Individual figures and percentages in tables may not always add up to the corresponding total because of rounding.

In this publication, the term “country” is used to refer to territorial entities, whether these are States as understood by international law and practice or simply territories for which statistical data are maintained on a separate and independent basis.

All the information used and its respective sources are available in the online annex to this report. However, the graphic elements in the main body of the document portray information available from 2010 on, in order to provide a meaningful visual representation of the progress that the countries and the region have made towards the targets up to 2015.

The following symbols and terms have been used in the figures and tables in the report:

– Three dots (...) indicate that data are not available or are not separately reported.

– A dash (-) indicates that the amount is nil or negligible.

– A full stop (.) is used to indicate decimals.

- The word “dollars” refers to United States dollars, unless otherwise specified.

– A slash between years e.g. 2013/2014 indicates a 12-month period falling between the two years.

United Nations publication

ISBN: 978-92-1-121897-8 (print)

ISBN: 978-92-1-057225-5 (pdf)

ISBN: 978-92-1-358014-1 (ePub)

LC/G.2646

Copyright © United Nations, 2015

All rights reserved

Printed at United Nations, Santiago

S.15-00708P

This publication should be cited as: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Latin America and the Caribbean: looking ahead after the Millennium Development Goals. Regional monitoring report on the Millennium Development Goals in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2015 (LC/G.2646), Santiago, Chile, 2015.

Applications for authorization to reproduce this work in whole or in part should be sent to the Secretary of the Publications Board, United Nations Headquarters, New York, N.Y. 10017, United States of America. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and inform the United Nations of such reproduction.

Contents

Maintitle

Copyrights

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter I

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Chapter II

Achieve universal primary education

Chapter III

Promote gender equality and empower women

Chapter IV

Reduce child mortality

Chapter V

Improve maternal health

Chapter VI

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Chapter VII

Ensure environmental sustainability

Chapter VIII

Develop a global partnership for development

Conclusion

Bibliography

Foreword

The 15-year time frame originally set for meeting the Millennium Development Goals has come to an end. It is time to take stock of the progress made on the Goals deriving from the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. The eight Goals set out to encapsulate the commitments undertaken at the major development conferences and summits held during what came to be known as the “decade of policy-setting”, the 1990s.

From that point on, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean began tackling these Goals, each at its own pace. The United Nations agencies, including the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), provided support to countries in the implementation and monitoring of the Goals. The Millennium Development Goals were a global, regional and national success from a communications standpoint, raising the profile of numerous quantitative gaps. The deadline for meeting the Goals was set for 2015 and 1990 was established as the baseline for measuring progress.

Yet these Goals left out some grave problems, such as inequality, which is of crucial importance to Latin America and the Caribbean —the world’s most unequal region.

The scope of the Millennium Development Goals was limited, as they were aimed primarily at developing countries, with the exception of Goal 8, which addressed the role of the international community in supporting the least developed countries. They did provide a good starting point, identifying the issues of poverty, hunger and unmet basic needs with respect to education, health, water, housing and living conditions. They also targeted specific issues faced by women and gender equality gaps and addressed, albeit in a limited fashion, the environment, employment and energy, among other topics.

The international community and, in particular, developing countries quickly voiced the need to go beyond mere cooperation and take a much more universal and comprehensive approach to development issues.

The outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, entitled “The future we want”,[1] recognized the need to build a post-2015 development agenda through a more participatory, interdisciplinary and systemic process that would treat development as a right, with dignity and equality at its core and the total eradication of extreme poverty as its main focus.

The Member States of the United Nations agreed to begin negotiations to discuss and adopt a universal consensus on what came to be called the sustainable development goals. In September 2015, heads of State and Government will formally adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which sets forth the 17 Sustainable Development Goals together with considerations regarding their implementation. The new agenda calls for decisive collective action in the provision of universally available global public goods, as well as progress on key issues for development, such as food security, climate security, decent work, access to sustainable energy and the closing of technology, trade, financial and other gaps. This will mean formulating and implementing active economic, social and environmental policies, closely aligned with an approach long advocated by ECLAC, which posits a structuralist approach to development with equality as its ultimate aim and policymaking as the instrument by which it can be achieved. This new Agenda also puts an end, once and for all, to the cycle of orthodox hegemony that discouraged State involvement in matters of public interest, leaving them instead to the market, and opens the way for the redefinition of a new, more democratic equation between the State, the market and citizens.

Today sees the convergence of the deadline set for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the launch of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Building on the lessons we have learned, the new Agenda is universal and non-prescriptive. Owing to the broader participation by all relevant stakeholders, the new Agenda proposes commitments that touch upon the way our societies work overall, and changes that will help make our world more prosperous, sustainable and equal. This approach brings together, adds to and builds on past achievements.

This report gives an overview of the progress made in relation to the Millennium Development Goals and will serve as a starting point for a more analytical reflection in relation to what must be achieved by 2030.

In preparation for blazing this new trail, we must examine the successes and failures —the lights and shadows— of our previous steps, acknowledging where significant progress has been made and scrutinizing where we continue to fall short. We must learn from our experience of tackling the Millennium Development Goals gradually as they were adapted to national realities, in order to engage more quickly and effectively with the Sustainable Development Goals following their imminent adoption. Lastly, we must summon up the political will that will enable us, as a region, to undertake collective efforts over the long term.

In order to answer the call to action arising from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and look to the future, Latin America and the Caribbean must have data and indicators describing the achievements made and the challenges outstanding with respect to the Millennium Development Goals. That is precisely the purpose that ECLAC has set out to fulfil with this publication: to look ahead to 2030 from the perspective of the Millennium Development Goals.

Alicia Bárcena

Executive Secretary

Economic Commission for Latin America

and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

1 Resolution 66/288, of 27 July 2012.

Introduction

Latin America and the Caribbean: looking ahead after the Millennium Development Goals

Initial reflections

This document affords a concise descriptive overview of the progress achieved by Latin America and the Caribbean in respect of the Millennium Development Goals. These Goals, which were established following the Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000 by the States Members of United Nations, encapsulated the issues that arose from the summits held during the “policy-setting decade” of the 1990s, and provided a framework for addressing them.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has carried out many different assessments relating to the Millennium Development Goals in the past 15 years, involving almost 20 bodies of the United Nations system operating in the region.[1]

This new publication makes extensive use of infographics, including tables, figures and descriptive statistics, alongside brief explanatory texts that focus on core aspects of the region’s progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It also includes references to developments in other world regions, and points to the heterogeneity of national trends in Latin America and the Caribbean, on the basis of a selection of relevant indicators that illustrate the countries’ performance on individual Goals and their respective targets.

This concise analysis of the region’s progress towards the targets set forth under the eight Millennium Development Goals paints a mixed picture. While bright spots can clearly be identified, in that the region as a whole has made significant strides towards some targets, this progress has been uneven from one country to the next. This heterogeneity is essentially a reflection of the increasing ownership of the Millennium Development Goals and their gradual adjustment to the realities in each country, as well as the efforts deployed by Governments during the period of favourable conditions during the economic boom years that preceded the crisis. The region’s achievement stands in stark contrast with the insufficient efforts made by the developed countries, especially with regard to the commitments assumed under Goal 8 in relation to resources for development cooperation, trade and technology transfer.

On the path towards sustainable development, 2015 represents both an arrival and a departure as the Millennium Development Goals and their accompanying road map give way to a new development policy framework consisting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Perhaps the most significant change is that the Sustainable Development Goals and their targets are the outcome of exhaustive consultations between the representatives of the 193 States Members of the United Nations, enriched by contributions from academia, civil society and the private sector. The new Goals form part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.[2] Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals are universal and non-prescriptive, with a transformative vision that aspires to leave no one behind. By their very nature, they coincide with the agenda of ECLAC, which puts equality front and centre and proposes structural change as the way forward, and policymaking as the means to that end. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is thus more than a development agenda; it expresses an aspiration and a leap forward for civilization, marked by this singular change of era for humanity.

Drawing on this collective effort, the 2030 Agenda in general and the Sustainable Development Goals in particular represent clear progress with respect to the Millennium Development Goals, with the number of goals rising from 8 to 17, accompanied by an increase in the number of targets. Moreover, the Sustainable Development Goals are underpinned by a more holistic, interdisciplinary and universal vision that goes beyond the restrictive sectoral focus of the Millennium Development Goals, which were originally conceived as targets for developing countries, within a paradigm of developed countries helping these to achieve a well-being threshold. The Sustainable Development Goals are expected to be geared towards closing structural gaps and rebalancing deep asymmetries in the areas of finance, trade and technology.

In keeping with its broader perspective, the new Agenda aims to build on the Millennium Development Goal target of halving extreme poverty, measured by income, by 2015. The Agenda proposes not only to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 but also, equally importantly, to reduce high levels of inequality; a challenge of particular relevance for Latin America and the Caribbean as the world’s most unequal region. The new Agenda also proposes to enhance well-being in a climate of democratic coexistence and respect for human rights, and emphasizes the importance of jobs, technological innovation, environmental sustainability and the provision of public goods. Gender equality, as one of the most direct routes towards a truly sustainable and inclusive development, is also a key theme.

The implementation of the 2030 Agenda presents a new challenge, firstly because the statistical community has been included from the outset in devising indicators to monitor the fulfilment of targets, and secondly because it proposes mechanisms for the evaluation of progress. These mechanisms include specific targets for making more and better statistical information available, while promoting the consideration of new traditional and non-traditional data sources, and the creative combination of these sources for follow-up purposes. This will be crucial in delivering timely and transparent accountability to foster active engagement by the public.

In this final year of the Goals and targets that emerged from the Millennium Summit, significant global achievements may be identified in several of the spheres addressed by the proposed new Agenda. Nevertheless, many of the world’s countries still face major challenges in achieving structural changes conducive to production diversification and industrialization, fully exploiting technological innovation to create employment with rights, and moving forward with a low-carbon, more environmentally friendly form of development.

With regard to the Millennium Development Goals, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean overall have taken major strides in reducing extreme poverty, hunger, undernourishment and child mortality, and in providing better access to improved drinking water and sanitation facilities. Conversely, not enough progress has been made on universal primary education, gender equality in the labour market and in national parliaments, maternal mortality, access to reproductive health services, and forest loss.

Progress during the years since the Millennium Declaration has not been either continuous or consistent from one Goal to another. Some indicators point to a rapid improvement at the beginning of the period, some have shown steady improvement, and others have languished below the proposed target. Moreover, outcomes have differed by country and by subregion, confirming a general pattern of heterogeneous development in the region.

For all these reasons, it is essential to have a concise but comprehensive assessment of what has been achieved and what progress remains to be made with respect to the Millennium Development Goal targets, as a basis for reflecting upon the challenges and opportunities that the Sustainable Development Goals present for the region.

Box 1

The Millennium Declaration

In September 2000, the Heads of State of 189 States Members of the United Nations convened in New York to adopt the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration would become the road map for attaining the development and well-being of peoples, within a framework of respect for and defence of the principles of human dignity, equality and equity, and of commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

These premises laid the foundation for a set of eight goals that were to be achieved by 2015. Known as the Millennium Development Goals, and based mainly on agreements reached at United Nations conferences and summits during the 1990s, they represented a commitment by all nations to reduce poverty and hunger, to combat diseases and gender inequity, to address gaps in education and the lack of access to drinking water and sanitation, and to halt environmental degradation.

Millennium Development Goals

•Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

•Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

•Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

•Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

•Goal 5: Improve maternal health

•Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

•Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

•Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Each of the Goals included a set of targets, which detailed the desired outcomes in terms of: reducing extreme poverty, hunger, child and maternal mortality, the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other communicable diseases, and biodiversity loss; eliminating gender inequalities; achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all; achieving the universal completion of primary education; improving sexual and reproductive health, access to drinking water and sanitation facilities and the living conditions of slum dwellers; integrating the principles of sustainable development; developing an open trading and financial system; addressing the special needs of least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries and small island developing States; dealing comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries; providing access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries, and providing access to the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications technologies.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations, Millennium Declaration [online] http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm.

[1] Significant inter-agency publications produced over this period include: Meeting the Millennium Poverty Reduction Targets in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/G.2188-P), Santiago, 2002; The Millennium Development Goals: a Latin American and Caribbean Perspective (LC/G.2331-P), Santiago, 2005; Millennium Development Goals. 2006 Report: a look at gender equality and empowerment of women in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/G.2352), Santiago, 2007; Millennium Development Goals: progress towards the right to health in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/G.2364), Santiago, 2008; Millennium Development Goals: advances in environmentally sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/G.2428-P), Santiago, 2010; Achieving the Millennium Development Goals with Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/G.2460), Santiago, 2010; Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: follow-up to the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015 and to Rio+20 (LC/G.2577), Santiago, 2013.

[2] See Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/69/L.85), New York, 2015.

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Progress towards the targets

Figure 1.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 1

•Target 1A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than US$ 1.25 a day

•Target 1B: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

•Target 1C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), based on United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

Reducing poverty and inequality

The countries of the region have made significant progress in reducing extreme poverty over the past two decades. By around 2008, the region was already on the verge of halving the poverty levels of 1990 and in 2011, the percentage of people living on less than US$ 1.25 a day was 4.6%, a 63% reduction on the 1990 figure (12.6%). The target was also achieved in 2011 in relation to the percentage of the population living on less than US$ 2 per day, since that figure fell by 14 percentage points from 1990 levels.

Figure 1.2

Latin America (18 countries): population living on less than US$1.25 PPP (purchasing power parity) a day and progress on the poverty reduction target, around 1990-around 2012

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

In addition to the proportion of the population living on less than US$ 1.25 per day, the international standard measure of extreme poverty, ECLAC also calculates a total poverty measure based on an internationally comparable threshold consisting of the cost of a basic food and non-food basket. This provides a measure of poverty in keeping with realities in the countries, and supports a more intuitive interpretation of the results.

The total poverty levels calculated on the basis of the poverty lines estimated by ECLAC show broad progress by the countries of the region. Projections for 2014 show 28% of Latin America’s population living in poverty, representing a cumulative fall of 20 percentage points since 1990. This virtually systemic decrease in poverty was interrupted only twice, between 1997 and 2002, and between 2012 and 2014, during which poverty levels remained relatively flat. The significant reduction in poverty levels over the period was largely due to relatively high economic growth rates, especially in 2003-2008, when labour income rose in most of the countries. Other contributing factors were a rise in transfers (public and private, including pensions) and in other sources of income, greater female participation in employment, and a reduction in household size and dependency ratios (ECLAC, 2013).

Figure 1.3

Latin America: population living in poverty according to poverty lines estimated by ECLAC, 1990-2014

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on national household surveys.

a Proyection.

Notwithstanding the positive developments discussed, since 2012 poverty reduction has stagnated and extreme poverty rates have edged slightly back up. ECLAC projections (ECLAC, 2014a) show around 71 million people in extreme poverty in 2014, a figure equivalent to the combined populations of Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City and São Paulo.

Meanwhile, over 50% of the population is still vulnerable and barely has the resources to withstand economic downswings and slow employment growth, as the majority of those people do not have savings, access to social security or their own home (ECLAC, 2014a).

With regard to inequality, income distribution has improved in the past decade. This progress can be attributed to the positive impacts of rising employment rates, a lower dependency ratio, redistributive cash transfers, and a narrowing wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers (ECLAC, 2014b). However, despite the improvement in income distribution between 2008 and 2013, this trend will be hard to sustain amid the economic slowdown the region is currently experiencing.

An improving employment situation

Employment is a key pillar for ensuring social inclusion and cohesion. Work is the master key that enables low-income households to generate income to move out of extreme poverty. Much of the progress made in reducing poverty and inequality has been thanks to the favourable labour market conditions of the past decade, during which the region achieved the best indicators of employment, unemployment and participation of the past 20 years. Employment growth has also led to a relative improvement in job quality, as wage employees have increased as a proportion of all workers and, in the past few years, employment in low-productivity sectors has fallen relative to the total.

In the past decade, employment growth has also combined with an increase in real wages and minimum wages. The employed population has expanded in most of the countries, and the regional employment rate rose from 52.7% in 2000 to 55.7% in 2013.

Table 1.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: labour market indicators, selected years between 2000 and 2014

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database.

However, precarious employment conditions remain widespread, and this stands in the way of achieving sustainable well-being throughout society. While informal employment has been declining, as noted above, just under 50% of Latin America’s urban workers are still employed in low-productivity sectors, with the proportion higher for women than for men; 50% of women and 44% of men are informal employees, and the gap widens to over 10 percentage points in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia. In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, however, the gap is reversed, with a higher proportion of men in informal work.

The proportion of urban workers employed in low-productivity sectors ranges from 27% in Chile to 60% in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Particularly worrying is this indicator’s stubborn immobility over the past two decades: the proportion of urban workers in low-productivity sectors has held steady in most countries during the period under consideration, falling only in Argentina, Chile, and, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Figure 1.4

Latin America (18 countries): urban employed in low-productivity sectors (informal sector) of the labour market, by sex, around 2013

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on national household surveys.

No less worrying is the situation of workers whose household income puts them below the extreme poverty line. Although extreme poverty trends have tracked total poverty trends since 1990 and both rates have fallen (recent figures show poverty having fallen by 40% across the region between 1997 and 2013), 10% of employed workers in Latin America still live in extremely poor households, as measured by the comparable national poverty lines calculated by ECLAC. Decent wages from decent work must be one of the tools for increasing people’s well-being. This ideal is a far cry from the reality in some countries, however; extreme poverty levels among the employed range from 0.8% in Chile to 39% in Honduras, according to the latest available data.

Figure 1.5

Latin America: total employed population, employed urban population and total population living in extreme poverty, 1990-2013

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on national household surveys.

Reducing hunger

The target of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger in the region has already been achieved. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the proportion of the population below the minimum level of dietary energy consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean overall has fallen steadily, from 14.7% in the biennium 1990-1992 to 5.5% in 2014-2016 —in other words to less than half the figure at the start of the period. However, the Caribbean still needs to make significant efforts to reach the target, as the subregion achieved a reduction of only 27%. The situation across the region is very uneven today: 16 countries have already reached the target and 5 are very close to achieving it, with a reduction of between 40% and 50%, while 6 countries still face challenges in this regard.

Figure 1.6

Latin America and the Caribbean (27 countries): proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption and progress made toward the respective target, 2014-2016

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

With regard to child undernutrition, the region has made great strides overall, but not equally well in relation to chronic undernutrition in children aged under 5 years. Chronic undernutrition remains a serious problem for Latin America and the Caribbean, as it affects the most vulnerable population and has a damaging impact on fetal development, infancy and early childhood. In 2012, there were still 7.5 million chronically undernourished children in the region (Martínez and Palma, 2015).

Guaranteeing fulfilment of the right to food and nutrition security necessarily means achieving other goals: provide full access to food; eradicate developmental problems in children aged under 2 years caused by nutritional failings; ensure the sustainability of food systems; and eliminate food waste (Martínez and Palma, 2015).

Infographic 1.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: poverty, employment and hunger and the Millennium Development Goals

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2015.

Achieve universal primary education

Progress towards the targets

Figure 2.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 2

•Target 2A: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Report 2015, statistical annex, 2015.

a Projection.

Education is a fundamental human right and a key requirement for the development of individuals and nations, unlocking improvements in social, economic and cultural conditions. Achieving universal primary education is the first step towards increasing the population’s overall levels of schooling, as it tends to lead to higher completion rates in education at all levels.

Access and participation

The Latin American and Caribbean region has high enrolment rates among the school-age population, particularly in primary school enrolment. The net enrolment rate for the region is estimated at almost 94% in 2015, as has been the case since 2000, indicating that progress towards achieving universal primary education has stalled. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), about 4 million children of primary school age in Latin America and the Caribbean were not enrolled in the education system in 2013.

According to the most recent data available, nine countries in the region have primary enrolment rates below 90% and only six above 98%, which is the level established by UNESCO for achievement of the goal on universal primary education.

Figure 2.2

Latin America and the Caribbean (29 countries): net enrolment rate in primary education, latest year for which data are available

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of figures from UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

a Estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

b National estimate.

Completion of studies

High levels of access to and participation in education among children of primary school age have gone hand in hand with high completion rates. Although repetition and early dropout hamper the educational attainment of primary-age children in some cases, about 92% of 15- to 19-year-olds in Latin America have completed a full cycle of primary schooling. This rate has been improving gradually in recent decades, as shown by a comparison of the completion rates among different age groups, with the highest growth recorded in rural areas. The factors behind this improvement include not only greater access to primary education, but also better retention rates and more timely progression through the system.

Figure 2.3

Latin America: population having completed primary education by age group, 2013

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of household surveys conducted in the countries.

These primary completion rates are high, but fall short of the universal completion target. The inequalities between different income groups within school systems are stark: only 85% of 15- to 19-year-olds in the poorest 20% of the population have completed primary school and this percentage drops to 82% among those living in rural areas.

Literacy

Illiteracy among young people aged 15 to 24 years in the region has fallen by more than 75% since 1990, dropping from 6.9% in 1990 to 1.7% in 2015, according to UNESCO estimates (United Nations, 2015b). However, some countries still require a major effort to boost the literacy of this age group by enough to meet the target. According to UNESCO data for 2015, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic still have youth illiteracy rates of over 2%.

While illiteracy levels could be considered relatively low, the region still faces the challenge of addressing functional illiteracy, which affects large swathes of the population and widens social and economic inclusion gaps.

Figure 2.4

Latin America: population aged 15 to 19 years having completed primary education by income quintile (I and V), area of residence and sex, 2013

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of household surveys conducted in the countries.

Similar inequalities are seen within the region with respect to pre-primary and secondary education. Major progress has been made in secondary coverage in several countries, but overcoming inequalities in access to, progression through and completion of secondary education remains a regional challenge. In 2012, only 73% of secondary-age adolescents were enrolled in school and only 57.5% of 20- to 24-year-olds had complete secondary schooling.

ECLAC has argued that the region needs to focus its efforts on universalizing the completion of secondary education, as the minimum level of schooling people need in order to earn enough to avoid poverty. Indeed, the real threshold for accessing acceptable levels of well-being is post-secondary education in most of the countries (ECLAC, 2012).

But expanding coverage, often by stepping up public spending on the education sector, is not enough if the education provided lacks in quality. Good-quality education is crucial in order to break intergenerational cycles of poverty and get on track towards ensuring people’s well-being and the fulfilment of their rights, with better living conditions and health care, broader opportunities to find decent work and participate in political and civic affairs, and stronger productivity and economic growth —all of which go towards building fairer and more peaceful and egalitarian societies.

Infographic 2.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: primary education and the Millennium Development Goals

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2015.

a Refers to the net enrolment rate by level of education, 2013.

Promote gender equality and empower women

Progress towards the targets

Figure 3.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 3

•Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

a Projection.

Gender equality in the region has improved slowly but surely over the past 20 years. Progress has been uneven among and within countries and in different areas of development, resulting in a mixed picture. Major challenges remain, in particular, reducing multiple types of discrimination experienced by people living in rural areas, as well as indigenous women and women of African descent, and securing the progress made thus far against the risk of setbacks driven by countries’ social and political culture (ECLAC, 2015).

Education

Significant progress has been made in girls’ access to formal education, particularly in secondary and tertiary education, compared with that of boys. The situation in the labour market and with regard to decision-making has also improved, but the efforts made in these areas have not been sufficient to achieve the proposed targets.

In 2015, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the rate of access to primary education is slightly lower for girls than for boys, but is within the range of values for which the goal is considered to have been reached (ratio of girls to boys between 0.97 and 1.03). The figures show that girls have better access to secondary education (1.07) and tertiary education (1.29). However, this is uneven across the different countries. According to the latest available data, around 2013, girls were still at a disadvantage with regard to access to primary education, with a ratio of less than 0.97 in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname, although the ratio in most of these countries was very close to the target. There is a similar state of affairs in secondary education, where the ratio in Guatemala and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is below 0.97, while Mexico has not achieved gender parity in tertiary education, to the detriment of girls.

Figure 3.2

Latin America and the Caribbean (34 countries and territories): gender parity indices in primary, secondary and tertiary education, around 2013

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on UNESCO Institute for Statistics online database.

Labour market

The parity levels in education have not led to similar improvements in women’s situation in the labour market or during their adult lives; on the contrary, inequality remains a structural hallmark of the labour market and the female labour force. On the one hand, women are still at a disadvantage with regard to male peers in terms of career path, access to equal pay and the right to an old age pension. Meanwhile, time-use differences between women and men reveal that the costs of labour force participation have been borne directly and solely by women. On the other hand, women with higher levels of education tend to have fewer dependent family members and more resources to pay for care services, and show higher rates of economic participation. Public policies must therefore continue to be developed in order to improve women’s access to the labour market and ensure that they remain in employment throughout their lifetime (ECLAC, 2015).

The percentage of women employed in the non-agricultural sector is around 44% across the region. This figure has been improving since the beginning of the 1990s, with an increase of 6 percentage points to date during the Millennium Development Goals monitoring period.

The average wage for a woman living in an urban area in Latin America is US$ 87 for each US$ 100 that a man earns in the same circumstances. Lastly, despite the auspicious drop in extreme poverty in the region, it is a more likely state for women than men and that gap has persisted in recent decades. Data indicate that extreme poverty femininity indices exceed 100 in all the countries except Honduras and, in some cases (Dominican Republic and Uruguay), the poverty rate is 50% higher among women than men.

Figure 3.3

Latin America (18 countries): selected indicators of women’s economic autonomy, around 2013

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on national household surveys.

a The data from the femininity index of indigence refers to 2012 and includes only 31 urban agglomerations.

b Refers to 2011.

c Refers to 1991.

d Refers to 1992.

e Refers to 2012.

f Refers to Latin America and the Caribbean overall.

Decision-making

With regard to autonomy in decision-making, there has been a noticeable change in the democratic culture of the region. Much of the progress in Latin America and the Caribbean has been the result of institutional reforms of the executive, the legislature, electoral systems and the judiciary. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the region has almost tripled the number of seats held by women in national parliaments and, in the past decade, has increased the number of women at the highest levels of national government (ECLAC, 2015). In 2015, women’s percentage of seats in national parliaments for the region overall bordered the threshold set in the target (30%). The situation varies greatly in the different Latin American and Caribbean countries, however. Only nine countries in the region have exceeded the target, three are very close to achieving it, while less than 10% of the seats in the national parliaments of Belize, Brazil, Haiti and Saint Kitts and Nevis are held by women.

Figure 3.4

Latin America and the Caribbean (33 countries): proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments, 2015

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latina America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, based on Inter-Parliamentary Union, “Women in National Parliaments” [online] http://www.ipu.org/Wmn-e/world.htm.

Infographic 3.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), based on data from the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2015.

Reduce child mortality

Progress towards the targets

Figure 4.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 4

•Target 4A: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, statistical annex, 2015.

Latin America and the Caribbean is one of two regions that, by 2013, had achieved the goal of reducing by two thirds the mortality rate for children aged under 5 years. The region, second only to East Asia, made significant progress between 1990 and 2013, going from 54 to 18 deaths per 1,000 live births for this age group. Progress in this field is attributable to a combination of several factors, including advances in the provision of high-impact, low-cost primary care (mass vaccination programmes, oral rehydration therapy, the encouragement of breastfeeding, and health check-ups for healthy children), sustained socioeconomic and demographic changes, such as increased coverage of basic services, especially drinking water and sanitation, higher education levels, particularly among women, and declining fertility (ECLAC, 2010).

Despite progress at the regional level, however, only five countries have met the target: Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia have reduced their under-five mortality levels by more than two thirds since 1990. Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Cuba, Nicaragua and Saint Kitts and Nevis could soon join this group of countries as they are very close to the target (within 2 percentage points) and the first three of these have recorded reductions of over 50%.

With respect to success stories and key developments, Cuba registered the lowest child mortality rate in the region in the period under consideration and is the only country whose rates have fallen to the average for developed countries. In addition, Antigua and Barbuda, Chile and Costa Rica also achieved rates of fewer than 10 deaths per 1,000 live births for children aged under 5 years in 2013.

Four countries recorded rates above 30 deaths per 1,000 live births for children aged under 5 years, and the situation in Haiti is particularly worrying, with a rate of over 70 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013.

Figure 4.2

Latin America and the Caribbean (33 countries): under-five mortality rate, 1990-2013

(Deaths per 1,000 live births and percentage reduction)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME), Levels and Trends in Child Mortality. Report 2014, New York, United Nations, 2014.

Despite the overall decline in under-five mortality rates in the region, 196,000 children in this age group died in 2013 (IGME, 2014), which is equivalent to one death occurring somewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean every three minutes.

Of the total deaths, 60% occur before children reach 1 year of age and 50% in the first 28 days of life. A large proportion of deaths in the neonatal period (first 28 days) are related to prematurity, birth asphyxia and infection. Meanwhile, pneumonia and diarrhoea are the leading causes of death between the end of the neonatal period and 5 years of age (WHO, 2014). Lack of basic services in the home, mothers living in socially vulnerable conditions and child malnutrition increase the risk of under-five mortality.

A multidimensional, multi-system approach to care is required at this early stage of life. Vaccination is an important component of that care, especially early immunization against measles. The region managed to eradicate measles almost completely in the early 2000s thanks to national programmes and campaigns to vaccinate children. In 2013, coverage of measles immunization for children aged under 1 year exceeded 90% in many countries of the region and was above 95% in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Guyana, Nicaragua, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Uruguay. Coverage has expanded by more than 35% over 1990 levels in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, the Plurinational State of Bolivia and Suriname, and by 109% in Haiti.

Despite these improvements, the situation remains worrying in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti and Peru, with measles immunization covering 85% or less of the target group. Furthermore, cases originating from other regions have caused isolated outbreaks in some countries in Latin America. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cases have been confirmed in Brazil, Chile and Mexico in 2015, which could indicate that in some areas immunization rates have fallen below the levels needed to stop the spread of measles. Further efforts are therefore required to maintain coverage levels, especially in more vulnerable areas.

Figure 4.3

Latin America and the Caribbean (33 countries): proportion of 1-year-old children immunized against measles, 2013

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF), The State of World’s Children, various years [online] http://www.unicef.org/sowc/.

Infographic 4.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: under-five mortality and the Millennium Development Goals

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2015.

Improve maternal health

Progress towards the targets

Figure 5.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 5

•Target 5A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

•Target 5B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

Millennium Development Goal 5 focuses on the need to reduce maternal mortality and improve the population’s access to sexual and reproductive health care as a key part of women’s right to health.

By 2013, no region in the world had progressed enough to meet the target of a three-quarters reduction in maternal mortality from 1990 levels. According to official data on the Millennium Development Goal indicators available to the United Nations, Latin America and the Caribbean overall had a maternal mortality ratio of 85 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, equivalent to a 39% reduction on 1990 levels, far short of the target of a 75% reduction.

The still very high rate of maternal mortality, the high levels and scant reduction of adolescent fertility and poor antenatal care coverage in some countries in the region illustrate the various challenges that Latin America and the Caribbean still faces in order to improve women’s sexual and reproductive health.

Figure 5.2

Latin America and the Caribbean: proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel, adolescent birth rate and maternal mortality rate, 1990, 2000 and 2013

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

The figures mentioned above are calculated by the Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-agency Group, in accordance with international standards established to ensure comparability between countries. Since some controversy has attached to this indicator, particularly in Latin American and Caribbean countries, the figure below also shows the latest available figures —which are not comparable between countries and are given here for illustrative purposes only— reported by national ministries and secretariats of health to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and available in PAHO online databases. Even in the PAHO figures, however, which are in many cases lower than those estimated by the Inter-agency Group, maternal mortality levels have not come down enough to meet the target set in Millennium Development Goal 5.

Figure 5.3

Latin America and the Caribbean (29 countries): maternal mortality rate according to the Pan American Health Organization, latest year for which data are available

(Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births)

Source: Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Maternal deaths are generally considered to be preventable and are associated with complications arising during pregnancy and birth, as well as unsafe abortions, especially in the most vulnerable populations that lack access to contraceptive or pregnancy termination services or emergency obstetric care. Gender-based violence is also an indirect cause of death for women during pregnancy, childbirth or the puerperium (ECLAC, 2015).

One of the key strategies for reducing mortality is ensuring the availability of adequate antenatal care and guaranteeing that births will be attended by skilled health personnel. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased over 1990 levels. In 2014, 92% of births were attended by a skilled professional, equivalent to an 11 percentage point rise since 1990. Most countries reported a rise in levels of care in the latest available data: for 18 countries in the region the indicator exceeds 95%; for 10 it varies between 90% and 95%; in Honduras, Nicaragua and the Plurinational State of Bolivia it varies between 80% and 90%; and in Guatemala and Haiti it remains below 70%.

Coverage of antenatal care in Latin America and the Caribbean is high compared with other regions. Of women aged 15 to 49 years having given birth to a live child in 2014, 97% received antenatal care from skilled health personnel (doctors, nurses and midwives) at least once during their pregnancy. According to the latest available data, coverage of this type of care is over 90% in most countries. However, a single session of prenatal care is now considered insufficient and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of four visits during pregnancy, to increase the probability of receiving effective care that could be vital for the health of mother and child (ECLAC, 2013). Furthermore, the limited progress in reducing maternal mortality in the region despite the high rates of antenatal care and births attended by skilled personnel suggests that thought needs to be given to the quality of care and to measures geared towards making the coverage achieved more effective.

Another relevant factor for progressing towards women’s autonomy, furthering the exercise of reproductive rights and improving reproductive health, including the prevention of maternal deaths, is access to fertility control, especially in the adolescent population. The region still lacks adequate and timely policies and actions to reduce its high rates of adolescent fertility. Access to fertility control has increased substantially in Latin America and the Caribbean in the past 20 years, and this has been reflected in a reduction in unmet demand for family planning. Nevertheless, well documented gaps remain in this regard, to the detriment of poor and vulnerable population groups (ECLAC, 2013), and the region still faces a considerable challenge with respect to this target.

Contraceptives use is particularly low among adolescents, who encounter a number of barriers to universal and timely access to these resources. The limited use of contraceptive measures in this group is reflected in a high adolescent fertility rate (75.5 live births to mothers aged between 15 and 19 years per 1,000 women in that age group), exceeded only by Sub-Saharan Africa (117.8‰). It is also well documented that the highest rates of unplanned fertility occur in this age group, indicating an obvious problem of exercise of reproductive rights. Accordingly, given the link between adolescent fertility and other key items on the regional agenda —such as tackling poverty reproduction and inequality— a crucial challenge for Latin America and the Caribbean is to provide sexual and reproductive health services targeting adolescents, in order to enable them to exercise their reproductive rights.

Figure 5.4

Latin America and the Caribbean (21 countries): births attended by skilled health personnel and antenatal care coverage (at least one visit and at least four visits), around 2014

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

a Refers to 2007.

a Refers to 2009.

Infographic 5.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: maternal health and the Millennium Development Goals

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2015.

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Progress toward the targets

Figure 6.1

Official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 6

•Target 6C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

Millennium Development Goal 6 is aimed at improving the health status of the population, particularly by stopping the spread of HIV and expanding treatment, and reducing and preventing the spread of infectious diseases.

Latin America and the Caribbean has made great progress in both areas, although these advances have been uneven between and within subregions and countries.

Stopping the spread of HIV and expanding its treatment

According to estimates by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2015), HIV was present in 0.5% of the adult population of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014, representing almost 2 million individuals infected. The epidemic is concentrated in urban areas, along trade routes and in commercial ports.

It is estimated that 100,000 people were infected with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014, including more than 2,000 children aged under 14 years. In Latin America, the epidemic especially affects men who have sex with other men, and transsexual women. The young adult population is one of the most vulnerable to HIV infection: at least one third of new infections are among 15-to-24-year-olds. These cases are also concentrated in the most populous countries, such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, although these countries have a relatively low prevalence of HIV in the general population.

In the Caribbean subregion the HIV epidemic affects men and women equally but is particularly prevalent among sex workers and is largely concentrated in Haiti and Jamaica, with a prevalence of close to 2% in both countries.

Although HIV prevalence in Latin America (0.4%) is below the global average, it is higher in the Caribbean subregion, at 1.1%, which is thus the subregion with the second highest prevalence of HIV in the world, after Sub-Saharan Africa. However, while prevalence in Latin America has remained relatively low and stable in recent decades, the Caribbean reduced HIV incidence by 50% —more than any other region— between 2000 and 2014. Despite this progress, the Caribbean has met with less success in the goal of reducing AIDS-related deaths.

Antiretroviral treatment is one of the measures with the greatest impact on HIV. According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Latin America and the Caribbean is a world leader in the supply and expansion of antiretroviral treatment. All the region’s countries provide free services for the care and treatment of HIV infection, with national and international funding (PAHO, 2013a). In 2012, 75% of HIV carriers with advanced infections had access to antiretroviral medication. In relation to the entire infected population, regardless of the disease’s progress, antiretroviral therapy coverage stood at 44% in 2013, rising by 10 percentage points in just two years and outperforming all other regions.

The Caribbean, in particular, has been one of the most successful subregions in expanding antiretroviral treatment, increasing coverage of the total infected population from 26% to 41% between 2010 and 2013. High coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) has helped to reduce the rate of infection (UNAIDS, 2015).

The outlook is not equally promising in all countries or all population groups, as there are sharp disparities in access to therapy. Countries must thus continue to close the gaps in access and treatment by ensuring equity in service provision and reducing the heavy dependence on international funding mechanisms. Greater commitment is needed from the governments of the region to achieve sustainable funding for antiretroviral treatments (PAHO, 2013a).

Figure 6.2

Latin America and the Caribbean: incidence and prevalence of HIV among population aged 15 to 49 years and AIDS-related deaths, 1990-2014

Source: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), “How AIDS changed everything. MDG 6: 15 years, 15 lesson”, 2015 [online] http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/MDG6Report_en.pdf.

Figure 6.3

World regions: proportion of HIV carriers with access to antiretroviral medication, 2010 and 2013

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

Reduction and prevention of infectious diseases

Malaria has been significantly reduced in the region and, according to projections, the rate of new infections will be 8 per 1,000 inhabitants in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2015. Despite these favourable figures, data from PAHO show that until 2012, almost half a million cases were reported annually, concentrated in a small group of countries (PAHO, 2014). The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Haiti and Peru reported rates of over 10 cases per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012. The infection rate in Guyana is particularly worrying, with 123 cases per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 and a mortality rate of 24 deaths per 100,000, far above the levels in the rest of the region.

Latin America and the Caribbean has met the target of stopping and reversing the incidence of tuberculosis by 2015 (50% reduction of prevalence and mortality), and the prevalence of tuberculosis was lowered by 57% between 1990 and 2013. Nevertheless, tuberculosis remains a public health issue in the region, and the second most common cause of death from infectious disease (PAHO, 2013b).

According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), the region had an incidence rate of 44 and a prevalence rate of 58 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, with large differences between countries. Prevalence rates are over 100 in Guatemala, Guyana, Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia, and over 200 in Haiti. Conversely, nine Caribbean countries have prevalence rates below 10. Notably, however, the indicators analysed are highly sensitive to relatively minor changes in the number of individuals infected in very small populations, as could be the case in most Caribbean countries.

Figure 6.4

Latin America and the Caribbean: incidence, prevalence and mortality associated with tuberculosis, 1990, 2002 and 2013

(Number per 100,000 persons)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of information from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Tuberculosis control programmes are crucial in the treatment of infected patients and the prevention of related deaths. Significant challenges remain for Latin America in this regard: in 2013, only 77% of cases were detected with directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) and 74% of diagnosed cases were treated successfully. The region must continue progressing in this direction in order to meet the global target of 85%.

On one hand, the region must continue making efforts to eradicate preventable contagious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, and, on the other, it must tackle chronic non-communicable diseases, which carry a high mortality rate and create heavy burdens on health services through recurring acute episodes and growing disabilities. Latin America and the Caribbean should also focus its efforts on the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by external causes and aggravated by rapid urbanization processes (ECLAC, 2013).

Figure 6.5

Latin America and the Caribbean (41 countries): tuberculosis prevalence and percentage reduction in tuberculosis prevalence and related mortality, 1990 and 2013

(Number of cases per 100,000 persons and percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of information from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Infographic 6.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: VIH/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and the Millennium Development Goals

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2015.

Ensure environmental sustainability

Figure 7.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 7

•Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes

and reverse the loss of environmental resources

•Target 7.B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

In the past decade, several countries of the region have made significant progress in developing environmental legislation and creating institutions to oversee and manage environmental issues. However, the efforts made by Latin America and the Caribbean have not been sufficient to ensure environmental sustainability and the region faces significant challenges to achieving the proposed targets.

Environmental considerations have still not been mainstreamed into sectoral policies and the work of institutions not specifically dedicated to such matters. The impact of environmental policy is often cancelled out by the effects of industrial, urban development, energy and infrastructure development policies, as well as a system of incentives which are the result of a combination of fiscal policy and industrial development initiatives that fail to take the environmental externalities of economic activity properly into account. In addition, budget allocations do not cover the full cost of implementing measures set out in these policies and laws.

Biodiversity and environmental resources

Thus, while the countries of the region have invested in reducing biodiversity loss and damage to ecosystems (for example by expanding protected areas), with some notable successes (particularly with regard to ozone-depleting emissions), they still struggle with high deforestation rates, loss of habitat and biodiversity, and increasing carbon dioxide emissions, among other environmentally harmful issues.

The consumption of ozone-depleting substances, measured in tons of ozone-depleting potential, dropped by 95% between 1990 and 2013, with most countries in the region achieving a decrease of over 90%.

Figure 7.2

Latin America and the Caribbean: consumption of ozone-depleting substances, 2000-2014

(Tons of ozone-depleting potential (ODP) and percentage of global consumption in 2014)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

The consumption of ozone-depleting substances actually increased in some countries in the early 1990s, but this trend that was reversed at the beginning of 2000-2014, when consumption was reduced considerably.

With the exception of Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, all the countries increased their proportion of protected terrestrial and marine areas by more than 5% between 1990 and 2014, according to the data available on the United Nations official website for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals. In fact, some countries have more than doubled the proportion of protected areas with respect to 1990 (Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, and Suriname). The region as a whole saw a 171% increase, with the proportion of protected areas rising from 4.9% in 1990 to 13.3% in 2014.

Figure 7.3

Latin America and the Caribbean (41 countries and territories): proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected, 1990-2014

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

Management failures in these protected areas combined with the need for additional conservation measures has led to the further loss of habitat and much of the region’s biodiversity. Millions of hectares of tropical forest are cleared every year to make way for agriculture and unsustainable forest plantations. The region as a whole saw a 9% reduction in the proportion of its land area covered by forest, with only Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Uruguay showing clear signs of increasing their wooded areas, according to available data

for 1990 and 2010.

This situation is compounded by the region’s increasing carbon dioxide emissions as a result of human activities in sectors such as energy, industry, agriculture and waste treatment (excluding CO_2 removed by carbon sinks). This is evidenced in both total and per capita emissions, which reached 2.9 tons of CO_2 per capita per year for the region as a whole in 2010. This represents a 27% increase on 1990 per capita emissions.

Aruba, the Bahamas, Colombia, Jamaica and Suriname are the only countries in the region to have reduced per capita emissions between 1990 and 2011. The smallest yearly per capita consumptions were registered by Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua and Paraguay, at under 1 ton.

In 2012, total greenhouse gas emissions for the region, including emissions from energy use, land use change and deforestation, and other gases besides CO_2 , amounted to 7.7 tons per capita, compared to a global average of 6.7 tons per capita.

The long-term trend in emissions shows that developed countries are making structural changes to patterns of energy production and consumption and are relocating highly polluting segments of their industries, mainly to China and other Asian countries. Emission patterns in Latin America and the Caribbean do not, however, reflect clear signs of structural change in patterns of energy production and consumption or land use changes.

Figure 7.4

Latin America and the Caribbean (33 countries and territories): proportion of land area covered by forest and total and per capita carbon dioxide emissions

(Percentages, thousands of tons of CO_2 and tons per capita)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

Drinking water and sanitation facilities

The region as a whole has halved the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water, with coverage increasing from 85% in 1990 to 95%, according to 2015 estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. The regional picture is quite mixed, however: 27 countries have met the target, while 11 have not. Nevertheless, the Latin American and Caribbean region has high levels of access to safe drinking water. Most countries have high access rates, with over 90% coverage. The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Peru have between 80% and 90% coverage; while the situation is worst in Haiti, where only 58% of the population has access to safe drinking water. People living in rural areas face even greater difficulties, given that 80% of the rural population in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia lack sustainable access to drinking water. Inequality is also evident in the differences between income quintiles, with regard to both access to drinking water and the quality of water considered safe to drink.

Figure 7.5

Latin America and the Caribbean: proportion of population using an improved drinking water source, 1990-2015

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

With regard to the use of improved sanitation facilities, the outlook is not so bright. In 2015, the Latin American and Caribbean region overall was very close to achieving the target of halving the proportion of the population without access to such services compared to 1990 levels, with around 17% of the population not covered. Most countries are close to the regional average: 19 countries have failed to reduce their 1990 levels by half or more, while 17 have met the target. Although in a number of countries much of the population has access to sanitation facilities, significant challenges remain in this regard in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname, where the proportion is between 60% and 80%, and in Haiti and the Plurinational State of Bolivia, where it is less than 50%. As with sustainable access to safe drinking water, fewer people from rural areas and the lower income quintiles have access to improved sanitation facilities. Only 64% of those living in rural areas of Latin America had access to such facilities in 2015, and the figure is less than 50% in Guatemala, Haiti and the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

Figure 7.6

Latin America and the Caribbean (36 countries and territories): proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility, 1990-2015

(Percentages and percentage points of progress toward the target)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), CEPALSTAT database, on the basis of United Nations, Millennium Development Goals indicators database [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx.

Infographic 7.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: environmental sustainability and the Millennium Development Goals

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2015.

Develop a global partnership for development

Progress towards the targets

Figure 8.1

Official indicators for Millennium Development Goal 8

•Target 8A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction —both nationally and internationally.

•Target 8B: Address the special needs of the least developed countries. Includes: tariff and quota free access for the least developed countries’ exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction.

•Target 8C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States (through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly).

•Target 8D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.

•Target 8E: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.

•Target 8F: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, statistical annex, New York, 2015.

Millennium Development Goal 8 covers several dimensions relating to the creation of a global partnership for development, such as official development assistance and increased tariff-free access for least developed countries’ exports, attending to the special needs of landlocked and island countries, debt sustainability and cooperation with the private sector to facilitate access to essential drugs and new information and communications technologies.

Official development assistance (ODA)

In 2014, net official development assistance (ODA) provided to the world by the countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) averaged just 0.29% of their gross national income (GNI), broadly in line with the average figure posted between 2000 and 2014, and significantly lower than the target of 0.7% agreed at the International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002. In Latin America and the Caribbean, net ODA inflows in 2013 amounted to US$ 10.2 billion, or 0.18% of regional GNI. In keeping with the historical trend, most of these inflows (60%) came from DAC member countries in the form of bilateral ODA, with the United States traditionally the largest donor; the remainder was channelled through multilateral institutions (mainly the European Union, the Fund for Special Operations of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) —whose contributions have surged since 2010— and the International Development Association of the World Bank).

Measured at current prices, total ODA received by the region has seen an uptrend which steepened in the late 2000s; however, relative to the region’s average GNI total ODA has fallen from over 1% in the early 1960s to less than 0.2% in the present decade.

Figure 8.2

Net official development assistance received by Latin America and the Caribbean, 1990-2013

(Millions of current dollars and percentages of the region’s gross national income)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of figures provided by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Compared with other developing regions, the Latin American and Caribbean share of ODA inflows diminished from 14% to 7.6% of the world total between 1960 and the start of the present decade. This region’s declining share may be explained by donor countries’ prioritization of low-income and least developed countries, to the detriment of middle-income economies —the majority classification in Latin America and the Caribbean. The pattern of allocating ODA on the basis of income level, with a bias towards lower-income countries, was further entrenched by the international cooperation system’s collective impetus in pursuit of the MDGs (ECLAC, 2012). A similar shift has been observed in the sectoral focus of ODA in the region, with reduced emphasis on production sectors and increased priority for social sectors.

Compared with other external flows, and irrespective of their importance in qualitative terms, ODA inflows have been much smaller than those of foreign direct investment (FDI), remittances and portfolio investment. The relative size of ODA flows differs greatly from one country to the next: ODA and remittances together make up almost 100% of external financial flows into countries such as Haiti, but are dwarfed by FDI and portfolio flows in upper-middle-income countries such as Brazil.

Figure 8.3

World regions: share of official development assistance disbursements, 1990-2013

(Moving five-year averages, percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of figures provided by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Figure 8.4

Latin America and the Caribbean: official development assistance (ODA) inflows, 1990-2013

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of figures provided by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

There is clearly some connection between countries’ income levels and their main type of external financing. For example, portfolio and FDI flows are much more abundant in the case of higher-income countries, while lower-income countries receive a much greater proportion of financing from ODA and migrant workers’ remittances. For that reason, ODA continues to be substantial for many Latin American and Caribbean countries, particularly those with the lowest income levels (such as Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua) and the smallest economies (such as Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines). It also warrants recalling that some of the region’s middle-income and upper-middle-income countries receive very little ODA but still have to deal with high levels of poverty and inequality in certain population segments, while other countries are extremely vulnerable to recurring natural disasters that hamper their development, or simply do not have the same access to external sources of financing. Not all these circumstances are contingent on income levels, so that classifying development level on the basis of income alone does not fully reflect the different countries’ needs, challenges and constraints. Latin America and the Caribbean therefore needs a new criterion for ODA allocation, focusing more on its countries’ specific requirements.

Duty-free imports

In 2014, almost 94% of exports (in value terms) from Latin America and the Caribbean to developed countries enjoyed tariff-free access to those markets, a proportion considerably larger than that of exports from developing countries overall (79%) and even that of the least developed countries (84%). This is due to a combination of factors: (i) the region’s exports to industrialized countries are dominated by minerals, metals and fuels, whose tariffs in developed country markets are usually low or non-existent; (ii) the various unilateral preferential tariff schemes in industrialized countries, from which some of the region’s countries still benefit; and (iii) the entry into force of free trade agreements between several of the region’s countries and industrialized partners such as the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan. Accordingly, the region’s exports to industrialized countries are, on average, subject to a preferential tariff of just 3%, similar to that paid on the least developed countries’ exports.

Figure 8.5

Developed countries: proportion of total imports (by value) from selected country groupings, admitted free of duty, 1996-2014a

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of figures from the International Trade Centre database on the measurement of indicators 8.6 and 8.7 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Trade Organization (WTO) [online] http://www.mdg-trade.org.

a Excluding arms and oil.

Figure 8.6

Developed countries: average tariffs (most favoured nation and preferential) imposed on imports from selected country groupings, 1996-2014a

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of figures from the International Trade Centre database on the measurement of indicators 8.6 and 8.7 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Trade Organization (WTO) [online] http://www.mdg-trade.org.

a Excluding arms and oil.

Although Latin American and Caribbean exports enjoy generally favourable access to industrialized-country markets, they still have to contend with high levels of tariff protection in areas of trade interest to the region, especially the agricultural and agro-industrial sectors. Moreover, non-tariff barriers such as strict rules of origin and tough sanitary, technical and environmental standards may often prevent the region’s exporters from taking full advantage of tariff-free access.

Closely related to Millennium Development Goal 8, although not specifically included in its indicators, is the matter of progress in establishing new multilateral rules applicable to world trade. Notable progress was achieved in that connection in December 2013, with the new Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the first multilateral agreement concluded under the auspices of WTO since it commenced work in 1995. The agreement aims to expedite the movement of goods across borders, which is crucial in today’s context of regional and global value chains, and is currently in the process of domestic ratification by member countries of WTO. A recent survey of customs services in 19 countries in the region, conducted by ECLAC, found that they were relatively well prepared for the agreement’s entry into force.[1]

Figure 8.7

Latin America and the Caribbean (19 countries): score obtained in the Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation, 2015

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of tabulation of the results of the Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation 2014-2015, conducted by the five United Nations regional commissions.

Information and communications technologies

In recent years, the countries of the region have taken large strides in access to information and communications technologies (ICTs), albeit with major differences depending on the type of indicator used for measurement purposes.

In developing countries, fixed telephony posted sustained growth until peaking around 2005, before beginning to decline with the boom in mobile telephony. Although fixed telephone lines appeared to be a suitable indicator at the time when the development goals and targets were established, another type of indicator may now be more appropriate for measuring access to and use of ICTs. Access to mobile telephony has increased exponentially and, with cheaper devices and communication plans, by 2014 penetration levels had drawn level with those of developed countries. However, Internet access continues to present a challenge for the region and despite significant recent progress (the penetration rate stood at 50.1% in 2014), sustained efforts are needed to improve accessibility and to narrow the wide gaps that exist between and within countries.

The number of Internet users (as a proportion of the total population) in Latin American and Caribbean countries is shown below, along with their average annual growth rate between 2006 and 2014. While Internet user numbers have surged in many countries, this momentum has not sufficed to close gaps in relation to access, so that the region’s hallmark heterogeneity is in evidence here, too. The small size of Caribbean countries has allowed them to achieve usage rates of about 70%, while larger Latin American countries posted figures in the region of 50%. In most Central American countries, only about 20% of inhabitants have Internet access.

Figure 8.8

Latin America and the Caribbean (37 countries and territories): Internet users and their average annual growth rate, 2006-2014

(Number of users per 100 inhabitants and percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of data from International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Telecommunications Indicators Database, 2014.

New technologies constantly open windows of opportunity for people and businesses to improve their economic and social situation. To harness these new technologies fully and productively, however, bandwidth —and particularly the penetration of fixed and mobile broadband— is a key consideration. Although the region has made great progress in increasing access to fixed broadband and, especially, mobile broadband services, significant gaps still exist between countries, leaving plenty of areas for improvement.

Figure 8.9

Latin America (18 countries): penetration of fixed and mobile broadband, 2013

(Number of active subscriptions per 100 inhabitants)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of data from International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Telecommunications Indicators Database, 2014.

Infographic 8.1

Latin America and the Caribbean: global partnership for development and the Millennium Development Goals

This infographic contains the traditional description of the Goal and its indicators, for reference. However, the information is organized differently to show the targets in a systemic manner, highlighting the main achievements and challenges, on the one hand, and the main issues and links with other dimensions of development, on the other.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2015.

[1] The survey evaluates aspects such as transparency, institutions, import and export formalities, paperless trade and transit facilitation.

Conclusion

Final reflections

In recent years ECLAC has called on the region to shift its development approach towards closing structural gaps and securing environmental sustainability in pursuit of greater equality, which is seen as the underlying ethical principle of development, in the framework of entitlement to rights. To that end, ECLAC recommends that countries undertake a structural change in their production matrices by incorporating an environmental dimension into their production and consumption patterns. The idea is to move towards more knowledge-intensive sectors that generate good-quality jobs, as part of a new equation between the State, the market and society built on long-term political and policy agreements and social compacts that imbue the region’s development with political, social, economic and environmental sustainability. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals constitute a fundamental step in the right direction and require a paradigm shift in implementation modalities.

The goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are broader with respect to some elements of development than the Millennium Development Goals and include new, essential elements related to economic, production, social and environmental change. They address central issues linked to education, housing, provision of basic services and social protection and disaster risk management, for example, and also fully embrace the notion of providing collective goods, such as protection of the oceans, the atmosphere and biodiversity.

By way of example, for the first time in history, the Agenda sets out to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 (a target which Latin America and the Caribbean should achieve if measured using the established global standard).[1] At the same time, it provides scope for a multidimensional perspective on welfare challenges, which calls for a broader spectrum of policies that goes beyond poverty and strives towards equality by applying a rights-based approach, in terms of both its human dimensions (such as gender and ethnic equality) and welfare dimensions.

The labour sector is another interesting example. Whereas an inadequate target on employment was included in the Millennium Development Goals well after they were launched, the 2030 Agenda explicitly incorporates the topic of employment with rights. Along with economic growth, industrialization and technological innovation, employment with rights boosts productivity, fosters development policies geared towards innovative production, and improves efficiency in resource utilization. As ECLAC has stated in the past, good-quality, decent work is the master key to overcoming inequality and eradicating poverty. The 2030 Agenda is more inclusive, incorporating women’s autonomy and the emancipation of young people, especially those at high risk of marginalization. Other targets include eliminating child labour and putting an end to discrimination against indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples. Lastly, the new Agenda seeks to promote the rights of workers and achieve universal social protection and job security.

Box 1

The Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals were proposed by the Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals following the consultations held in the Group’s 13 sessions with Member States, civil society, academics, the private sector and other stakeholders between March 2013 and July 2014. The 17 proposed goals were subsequently included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

• Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

• Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

• Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

• Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

• Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

• Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

• Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.

• Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

• Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.a

• Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

• Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations, Report of the Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals (A/68/970), New York, 2014.

a Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.

Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, the 2030 Agenda addresses inequality in all its dimensions. Latin America and the Caribbean, the most unequal region in the world, has seen some progress —albeit very uneven among countries— in reducing the most basic inequalities implicitly covered in the Millennium Development Goals. It has made progress, for example, as regards reducing extreme poverty and achieving universal access to primary education. However, much remains to be done in terms of economic, social and political inclusion and rights-based equality is still far from a reality. The 2030 Agenda also addresses inequalities and deep asymmetries between countries, especially between developing and developed countries. In particular, it highlights the importance of including developing countries in the decision-making process in global institutions.

In terms of gender equality, the Millennium Development Goals focused mostly on access to education, leaving major gaps in the goals and indicators with respect to other important issues, such as violence.

The new Agenda seeks to fill those gaps and incorporates new topics such as recognizing and assigning value to unpaid care work, including domestic work. It addresses the empowerment of women and girls, and mainstreams gender equality in other goals too. Furthermore, the Agenda covers access to and control over natural and production resources and credit, the vulnerability of certain groups of women to climate change and natural disasters, violence against women and girls and efforts to eradicate all forms of discrimination.

Little progress was made in the region during the implementation period of the Millennium Development Goals on the goals and targets relating to health, especially sexual and reproductive health, as reflected, for example, in the still very high incidence of maternal mortality. The 2030 Agenda must tackle these outstanding priority matters, while also addressing new challenges, such as the worrying rise in adolescent pregnancy rates associated with poorer households.

In this area of development, the region must carry forward its efforts under the 2030 Agenda to eradicate preventable communicable diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis. Furthermore, with respect to universal access to good-quality health-care services, Latin America and the Caribbean must also deal with chronic non-communicable diseases which carry a high mortality rate and create heavy burdens on health services through recurring acute episodes and growing disabilities.

Without doubt, the least progress was seen on the environmental targets of the Millennium Development Goals. The new 2030 Agenda emphasizes solidarity with future generations by recognizing that, today more than ever, as a result of climate change and the systematic degradation of ecosystems and biodiversity, an inclusive strategy for economic and social development must consider the implementation of public policies and programmes to meet present human needs without destroying the environment’s capacity to meet those same needs in the future (Brundtland, 1986).

Although this is a global concern, the problem is particularly pressing in the Latin American and Caribbean region because its economies are so closely connected with the environment —the extraction of non-renewable resources being a clear example. The Sustainable Development Goals promote the protection of critical ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as a transition to lower-carbon, less fossil-fuel-intensive economies, which is a fundamental pillar of sustainable development (ECLAC, 2010).

This new development paradigm should be at the heart of the development with equality agenda, since what is at issue is not just the intrinsic value of ecosystems and biodiversity, but also their importance to the other components of human welfare.

While the new Agenda addresses a similar topic to Millennium Development Goal 8 (“Develop a global partnership for development”), it takes the idea further by recognizing from the start that the success of the new Agenda will depend on having the means of implementation required in terms of financial, commercial, technological and institutional resources. Furthermore, the means of implementation are clearly specified in the text of each goal. The new Agenda also recognizes the importance of domestic resource mobilization in developing countries between now and 2030, and hence the need to strengthen capacity to raise more revenues using better methods. It also stresses the need to respect the freedom of each country to establish and implement its own poverty reduction and sustainable development policies.

Nevertheless, a greater commitment is required at the global level in terms of fiscal and financial regulations and institutions. This point was made forcefully at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa, and a number of agreements were reached in this regard, such as a commitment to further governance reform in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other main international regulatory standard-setting bodies to adapt to changes in the global economy and to continue efforts to increase the voice of developing countries in norm-setting processes to ensure that their concerns are taken into consideration.[2] However, no specific plan was adopted to achieve these aims. The Addis Ababa outcome also reaffirms the commitment by developed countries to allocate 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) to developing countries as official development assistance (ODA).[3]

During the implementation period of the Millennium Development Goals, between 2000 and 2014, net ODA provided worldwide by the member countries of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was just 0.29% of GNI, despite the pledge that countries made in the Monterrey Consensus (2002) to achieve an allocation of 0.7% of GNI. It is vital to insist on meeting that target in order to make faster progress on reducing development gaps.

The regional focus of the new Agenda highlights the fundamental importance of mobilizing public and private resources, including from non-traditional sources and innovative financing mechanisms, and acknowledges different development styles. Access to developed countries’ markets for developing countries’ goods and services, technology transfer and South-South cooperation are other elements crucial to ensuring the implementation of the Agenda.

The regional dimension and the role of ECLAC

The regional dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the role of the regional commissions in monitoring its implementation were widely recognized in the drafting process, starting with the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which led to their specific inclusion as part of the follow-up and review mechanism of the new Agenda. The regional commissions have been instrumental in helping to establish regional positions, convening regional consultations on financing for development and accountability under the new Agenda, and giving voice to regional perspectives in global discussions and negotiations.

The establishment of regional forums on sustainable development in most regions, in response to the Rio+20 outcome document, will further amplify regional voices on the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ensure the inclusion of the three dimensions of sustainable development and facilitate the forging of direct linkages with the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Economic and Social Council and the United Nations General Assembly.

ECLAC will focus on the following priorities to support countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in implementing the new Agenda and in monitoring and following up on the sustainable development goals in the region (United Nations, 2015d):

• Placing equality front and centre

• Diversifying the production matrix and consumption patterns by incorporating an environmental dimension

• Pursuing technological innovation and developing the information and knowledge society

• Ensuring access to information and citizen participation

• Redefining the equation between the State, the market and society

• Institution-building

• Forging regional voices on the global agenda and in regional forums

• Promoting a balanced integration of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in the formulation and implementation of national strategies and policies on sustainable development

• Supporting South-South cooperation and sustaining the rise of middle-income countries

• Helping to create a solid follow-up and review architecture for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

• Strengthening national capacities with respect to statistics and data

• Promoting multi-stakeholder dialogue and forums to build policy coherence

• Coordinating the United Nations system at the regional level

Through its subsidiary bodies, ECLAC provides a platform for experts and decision makers from the region to meet and share experiences, best practices, lessons learned and innovative policy proposals.

The architecture of the Commission’s subsidiary bodies represents a regional commons and an essential resource for coordinating follow-up and monitoring of the new Agenda.

The subsidiary bodies of ECLAC are the following:

• Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee

• Committee on South-South Cooperation

• Conference on Science, Innovation and Information and Communications Technologies

• Committee of the Whole of ECLAC

• Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Regional Council for Planning of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning

• Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC

The wealth of experience and forums for discussion and action built up through this regional architecture will stand the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and ECLAC in good stead for continuing their traditional technical cooperation, now with a view to review, follow-up and feedback for the goals and targets established under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Box 2

Statistical challenges

Effective measurement of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for the strengthening of national statistical systems and mechanisms for effective coordination between their component institutions, which will mean:

(i)Promoting the preparation of national statistical development strategies.

(ii)Fostering the creation of a national inter-institutional and intersectoral architecture at the highest level to help build the platforms required for setting up national monitoring mechanisms and ensuring they interact with relevant regional and international forums.

(iii)Strengthening technical capacity in all national agencies involved in producing official statistics.

(iv)Ensuring that sufficient technological and financial resources are available to promote the modernization of the offices that produce official statistics.

(v)Consolidating, through the national budget, the sustainability of the production of statistical information (data gathering, systematization, processing, analysis and dissemination).

(vi)Supporting the production of statistical information for deeper analysis of existing inequality gaps in the region.

(vii)Building national capacity to tap the data revolution in order to obtain good-quality data —traditional and non-traditional— for reliable review and follow-up of the sustainable development goals.

(viii)Strengthening targets on statistical capacity-building for monitoring the 2030 Agenda.

(ix)Measuring the effective capacity of national statistical systems to meet the demands of the Agenda.

Although much work remains to be done, the region will be able to capitalize on the advantages it has accrued and the experience it has gained with regard to measuring development objectives. Indeed, existing intergovernmental mechanisms, such as the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC, already help to harness synergies in respect of standardizing measurements and intraregional cooperation. Furthermore, the region’s relatively well (though somewhat unevenly) developed national statistical systems stand the countries in good stead for tackling many of the challenges involved in meeting the information demands arising from the 2030 Agenda.

Nevertheless, the region faces several measurement challenges regarding the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially with respect to closing existing gaps in the statistical capacity of some countries whose statistical systems are less developed and have less installed capacity. There are also gaps between Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of statistical capacity and data comparability at the regional level.

Significant short- and long-term challenges are posed by the need, first, to generate statistics on emerging issues for which the region’s countries lack the instruments required to collect even basic data and, second, to sustain the essential processes of national statistical systems with a view to ensuring the accurate and reliable measurement of countries’ progress on the 2030 Agenda over the long run.

From a thematic point of view, a comparative approach to measuring and monitoring poverty is essential. The Commission’s work provides valuable information to countries on issues including the monetary measurement of poverty, multidimensional measurements of critical childhood deprivation and key gender indicators, such as the percentage of women without an income of their own and the femininity index of poverty.

Analysing gender and ethnic inequalities is key to building a comprehensive approach since these two structural inequalities have a specific impact on other inequalities. This approach must be applied consistently to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to ensure that the goals and targets provide for both men and women and no one is left behind.

This means that the indicators used must reflect gender inequalities and be consistent with the region’s overall vision of sustainable development. The region’s ongoing efforts to improve gender statistics will serve to capture progress in the areas established. Countries must build further their capacity to generate information on the environment and environmental sustainability, facilitate public access to that information, adopt environmentally aware development measures and educate the general public, the public sector and the for-profit and non-profit private sector on interpreting and using this information correctly and to their best advantage.

Lastly, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean need stronger national statistical systems with long-term national statistical development strategies that dovetail efforts to meet national challenges with the demands arising from the 2030 Agenda. Such strategies should be underpinned by inter-institutional arrangements that serve to rank priorities and to plan and implement mechanisms for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2030 Agenda will provide an opportunity to develop accountability systems and provide citizens with ready access to information on environmental issues. Recent developments in information and communications technology offer innovative platforms to boost citizen participation. There is also potential for developing an innovative agenda with the private sector. Latin America and the Caribbean offers fertile ground for successes in these areas.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

ECLAC sees the Sustainable Development Goals as forming a bridge between the short and the long terms, particularly from the perspective of achieving equal rights and sustainable development. Now approaching its seventieth anniversary, the Commission has gained a wealth of experience on its quest to open avenues for economic, social and environmental development in Latin America and the Caribbean. On the basis of Raul Prebisch’s premise that accurate observation of reality must precede consideration of action, we cannot fail to see that the scourge of inequality continues to be the region’s most prominent feature. And, as society’s greatest problems demand our commitment to act upon them —as Celso Furtado enjoined us—, our every effort must be directed towards making a change for the better. Today, in the framework of the 2030 Agenda, new and better tools are available for the task.

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[1] Target 1.1: By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than US$ 1.25 a day.

[2] See United Nations (2015e), para. 106.

[3] Ibid., para. 51.

Table of Contents

Maintitle

Copyrights

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter I

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Chapter II

Achieve universal primary education

Chapter III

Promote gender equality and empower women

Chapter IV

Reduce child mortality

Chapter V

Improve maternal health

Chapter VI

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Chapter VII

Ensure environmental sustainability

Chapter VIII

Develop a global partnership for development

Conclusion

Bibliography