MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

One out of four Latinamericans live on less than 2 US dollars

One out of four Latinamericans lives with less than two US dollars per day according to a World Bank paper on poverty in the region. A total of 135 million people are catalogued as “poor” with Nicaragua, Jamaica and Bolivia having the highest percentage of population in that category, over 40%.

On the other end Uruguay is the country with the least population in that category, followed by Chile with 9%.

The report comes to light when Latinamerica figures as the most attractive emerging market after having achieved the highest rate of expansion in the last three decades. However poverty and income distribution in the region are among the least encouraging in the world, only second to Sub-Sahara Africa, argues the WB.

In fact the 10% richest in Latinamerica and the Caribbean have a 48% share of the region's total income, while the poorest 10%, a mere 1.6%. In the developed and industrialized countries the 10% richest have a 29.1% take and the 10% lowest, 2.5%

The World Bank reports adds that if Latinamerica and the Caribbean had the inequality rates of the developed world, the level of poverty would be closer to 5% of the population compared to the current average 25% plus.

"The performance of the Latinamerican economy in this field in the last decades has been disappointing", concludes the report.