The Millennium Development Goals: a Latin American and Caribbean perspective

The pivotal theme of this report is the question of inequality. Despite the major strides made in relation to a number of social issues, the Latin American and Caribbean region still has the dubious distinction of being the most inequitable region in the world. Hindered by protracted periods of slow growth, the region has been unable to reduce the inequality associated with its distribution of income and access to productive assets. Another equally important contributing factor has been the shortage of quality jobs of the sort that would allow workers to lift themselves out of poverty. People who live in poverty see that their children have little access to suitable health and education services or, in many cases, to an adequate supply of food. As a consequence of all these factors, there is a high probability that the children of poor households will fail to obtain quality employment and will remain in that position when they reach adulthood. This situation is one of the major manifestations of the vicious circle of poverty.