Economy
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) noted in the Human Development Report for Latin America and the Caribbean that urban poverty in Venezuela stood at 19.8 percent in 2006, an increase over 7.1 percent in 1989.

The data, the latest available information supplied by the international organization, refers to urban residents of Greater Caracas, at least in the Venezuelan case.

The pointer, after years of fitful variations, started to grow from 1998 and peaked 38.2 percent in 2004, to decline afterwards.

For the first time, the UNPD released this report which warns against continued inequality levels in the Latin American region, the highest in the world.

"It seems that to date, high inequality levels, except for some variations, have been relatively immune to the development strategies applied in the region," the document stated.

The report tries to show different thorny problems on the issue of inequality in Latin America.

While in Central America, low-income people face the worst living chances, there are some other nations where the situation is barely more favorable, such as Bolivia and Brazil.

stejero@eluniversal.com

Suhelis Tejero Puntes
EL UNIVERSAL