Significant progress has been made in fighting rural poverty in Latin America for years. Just 20 years ago, more than half of Latin America was impoverished. By last year, this number had dropped by half. However, some of this progress had been reversed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with poverty peaking at 30% in 2021.

However, Latin America has continued progressing, lowering poverty rates to pre-pandemic levels, at 25%. Meanwhile, rural poverty continues to be a serious problem, with the inequality between rural and urban areas driving much of the issue 60% of Latin American poverty remains rural. For instance, while access to sanitation and clean water increased across Latin America, progress continued to lag in rural areas.

Much of the recent progress in fighting rural poverty in Latin America can be attributed to specific programs in Mexico and Brazil, two of Latin America’s biggest countries. Focused government programs like Bolsa Familia and PROSPERA have helped lift thousands of families out of rural poverty. While rural poverty in this region continues to be a major issue, with the rural impoverished being especially vulnerable to recent spikes in poverty, the government’s focus on rural poverty can result in millions being lifted out of poverty.

History and Nature of Poverty in Latin America

Rural poverty is a persistent challenge across the world. According to the World Bank, most of the 700 million who live in extreme poverty are from rural areas. However, Latin America was the outlier to this global trend before its success in combating poverty. In 2001, the International Monetary Fund found that most Latin American poverty was entrenched in urban areas.

This unique urban poverty profile did not prevent the region from significantly reducing poverty. Latin America and the Caribbean saw total poverty decline from about 50% in the early 2000s to roughly 30% by around 2012. By 2019, the poverty rate had fallen to approximately 28% before stagnating and slightly rising during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Pandemic: Back From the Peak

However, the pandemic began to reverse much of this progress. In addition to the global effect on public health, the pandemic deeply affected people with low incomes in Latin America. According to economist Ebru Topcu, Latin America is the region most affected by the pandemic. The crisis followed years of slow economic growth and limited improvements in social indicators, exacerbating the region’s vulnerabilities.

As a result, it triggered severe economic contractions with widespread social and economic consequences. These challenges fueled significant social unrest in several countries, particularly in late 2019. With limited access to vaccines and hospital beds, Latin America has suffered greatly from both the pandemic’s health toll and its worst economic recession in the last two centuries.

This impact was even more severe in rural areas, where poverty remains persistent due to limited access to more readily available resources in urban centers. Despite these challenges, the region gradually began to recover. By 2022, the poverty rate fell below 30%; by 2024, it had dropped to 25%.

Two Models: Brazil and Mexico

Hugo Nopo, senior economist for the Poverty and Equity Practice Group at the World Bank, explains that much of this progress was due to specific policies pursued in Brazil and Mexico. In Brazil, the Bolsa Familia program qualifies low-income families for direct transfers on the condition that they keep their children in school and bring them in for health checks.

The program supports 13 million low-income families, directly improving their living conditions, as most of the funds go toward essentials like food and clothing. Beneficiary Dinalva Pereira de Moura shared, “[the program] has been a marvelous thing for me and my family. My children know that when we receive the money, they will have more to eat and that makes them happier. And they don’t skip school, because they know that the money depends on their going.”

Mexico’s PROSPERA program is modeled similarly to the Bolsa Familia program and previous Mexican policies, which started in 1997. PROSPERA reached more than six million families across Mexico by conditioning transfers on basic benchmarks like school attendance and doctor check-ins. The National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy rated the program as one of the most effective at combating poverty.

Looking Forward

There continues to be progress in fighting rural poverty in Latin America. While Mexico and Brazil lead the way by incentivizing effective educational and medical practices, much remains to be done. Nopo explains that while there is reason for hope, fighting rural poverty in Latin America will require more action.

– Joseph Laughon

Joseph is based in Sacramento, CA, USA and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr