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More than half of Venezuelans live below the threshold of extreme poverty, a discouraging figure but which represents an improvement of 14.7 percentage points when compared to last year, according to the Survey on Living Conditions carried out by the Catholic University Andres Bello (UCAB).
More than half of the Venezuelan population, 53.3%, lives in extreme poverty, while 81.5%, a figure that also includes the above, is below the poverty line, which also represents a reduction of 8.5 percentage points compared to 2021.
The researcher and professor at UCAB Luis Pedro España explained that the recovery of the country’s economy has made it possible to reduce poverty, although inequality has increased.
“In monetary matters, the most important data is the increase in inequality. Venezuela is already, at least for this 2022, the most unequal country in the world from the point of view of income,” he said.
According to the academic, the country has levels of inequality similar to those of Namibia, Mozambique or Angola, while he assured that in order to correct this situation, not only economic growth is enough, but it is also necessary to implement a strategy of producing “goods and services that make it possible to increase human and social capital”.
Multidimensional poverty, which includes various variables in addition to income such as housing, employment, services or employment, was included in the survey. The measurement shows that half of the households are in a situation of poverty, also 14.7 percentage points less compared to 2021.
“What has happened is that we returned to the levels we had in 2018,” Spain added.
According to this academic study, social programs in Venezuela have been reduced to two: monetary transfers and the delivery of food through boxes from the Local Supply and Production Committees, CLAP.
35% of the surveyed population stated that they receive CLAP boxes once a month, 30% every two or three months, 24% every four months or more, 0.2% weekly and 1% fortnightly.
“We need social programs that incorporate productive assets into the population, above all, so that people are not left to their own devices, because if they are left to their own devices, they will remain poor,” concluded the researcher.
with EFE
