2023-05-24 08:15:23
Bogota — Multidimensional poverty reported in 2022 (12.9%) was the lowest in Colombia in the last 12 years, according to data from Dane. Although there were improvements in most of the indicators analysed, deprivation in education, informality, and long-term unemployment continue to raise concerns.
Before going into other details, it is worth saying that having 12.9% of the Colombian population in multidimensional poverty, 3.1 points less than in 2021 (16%), means that 6.6 million people are deprived of essential services such as education, health, work, housing, among other key aspects for the development of any citizen.
According to the Dane data, in 2022 approximately 1.5 million people were lifted out of multidimensional poverty in Colombia. Of this total, 71.3% (1.05 million) were in the cities (capitals) and the remaining 28.7% (422,000) in populated centers and dispersed rural areas.
Now yes, entering into matter, according to the data of the Dane, in the national total 45% of multidimensional poverty in Colombia in 2022 was explained by issues related to deprivation in education: due to low educational achievement (23.3%), illiteracy (11.7%), school lag (8%) and school non-attendance (2%).
Another major area of concern has to do with the poor performance of the labor market.since 29.7% of multidimensional poverty in 2022 was explained by informal work (24.6%) and long-term unemployment (5.1%).
It should not be forgotten that according to data from the Dane on average 6 out of 10 workers in Colombia are in the informal sector, that is, they do not contribute to health or pension. In addition, according to data from the statistical entity, Colombia had 2.5 million people unemployed in March.
According to Natalia Galvis, a social policy consultant and expert on poverty issues, For people who are in poverty to find employment, the development of human capital is very important and “this happens basically because there is access to quality basic, technical, technological and university education (…) that translates into greater opportunities to participate in the labor market.”
Another tool that can help the employability of people in poverty “are the care centers that allow caregivers, especially women, to have an opportunity to educate or work because they free up time that was originally dedicated to caring for someone else, mainly children. And so one could list other ways to help employment from the offer”, Henner Solarte, an economist at the University of Eafit and who has worked evaluating the impact of subsidies in Antioquia, recently told this outlet.
Don’t forget that Multidimensional poverty focuses on the conditions in which Colombians live through five large dimensions: educational conditions of the home, housing conditions and public services, conditions of childhood and adolescence, health and work. Of these five dimensions, 15 indicators are analyzed.
Taking into account the above, In the national total, the only indicator that deteriorated in 2022 was low educational achievement. This went from affecting 40.8% of households in the country in 2021 to impacting 40.9% in 2022.
Although the variation of said indicator was not significant, according to the director of Dane, Piedad Urdinola, this It is mainly explained because “many young people stopped attending school due to the pandemic and re-enrolling them has been quite complex. Once a young person drops out of school, it is difficult for him to return. It is one of the post-pandemic effects that we are experiencing ”.
According to the statistical entity, a person is considered deprived of educational achievement “if they belong to a household where the average education of people over 15 years of age is less than 9 years of education.”
For the above is that Experts highlight the results of social programs such as Jóvenes en Acción. “This program has increased access to quality education for people from the poorest homes while continuing the transfer schemes during this training period so that people do not drop out and complete the education cycle that will later be to translate into greater opportunities to access the job markets”, Galvis recently commented to this medium.
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