The number of poverty in Colombia for 2022, Due to the multidimensional approach, it will be known this Tuesday, May 23. the Dane The delivery of the indicator is planned, which measures the living conditions of people beyond their income level.
(See: 70% of Colombians are poor, do not have decent work or education):
About a month ago, the entity also delivered the results of the 2022 National Quality of Life Survey, which sheds light on the situation of citizens. The indicator that stood out the most has to do with the fact that half of the households in the country (50.6%) was considered poor last year, above the proportion recorded in recent years.
In 2019, for example, this subjective vision of poverty was in 37.9% of the population. In addition, 35% of the heads of household believe that the situation of your family is worse or much worse compared to a year ago.
Regarding issues such as housing, in 2022 40.2% of households lived in rented or subleased housing, which implies an increase of 1.2 percentage points compared to the previous year, but the rate of families with a home also increased own fully paid, which was at 34.9%.
(See: The country where eating is a luxury).
In 2022, according to the survey, the percentage of households with internet access in the national total was 59.5%, decreasing one percentage point compared to 2021. But in contrast, the percentage of people between the ages of 6 and 21 who attend a formal educational establishment for the national total was 80.6%, an increase of 1.9 points.
Carlos Alberto Garzón, general secretary of the Human Development and Capability Association and a professor at the U. de la Sabana, acknowledges that the situation of the last year has hit homes. “It’s not just a perception, Colombians are poorer now, due to inflation and the exchange rate,” he says. According to the expert, purchasing power has been reduced considerably by inflation, and with the exchange rate imported products have become more expensive. This has reduced the capacity for consumption and in relative terms we are poorer.
“This can affect the measurement of multidimensional poverty in issues such as access to education, health services, and it will worsen the formal work variable. The other two variables, that of childhood and housing, are less dynamic and more structural variables, and in them this situation may not be felt as much, ”he explained.
(See: Half of the households in the country consider that they are poor).
Can poverty go down or up?
The former director of Dane, Juan Daniel Oviedo, also clarified that, in statistical terms, multidimensional poverty is not as sensitive or elastic to labor market or income conditions, Rather, it is more sensitive to issues such as access to education and the variables associated with access to public services and health.
“This multidimensional poverty indicator is extremely inelastic, so it is unlikely that it will have a drastic movement, both upwards and downwards,” Oviedo said.
(See: Quality of life of Colombians: how much has changed during 2022?).
According to the economist, anticipating the result “is a lottery”, but he assured that he has a slight suspicion that the indicator “may drop a bit”, because in 2021 some indicators of access to education were affected after the pandemic, by hybrid schemes, and in 2022 this aspect was corrected.
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE
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