SANTIAGO, Chile – A new report released here on Wednesday has found that spending by central governments in the Caribbean is equivalent to 11 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) as compared with 11.6 per cent in Latin America.
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has released its annual “Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2025,” report which examines the trap of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion in which the region is mired, and recommends at least five public policy strategies for overcoming it.
According to the publication in 2024, central government social spending amounted to 11.6 per cent of GDP in Latin America, and 11 per cent in the Caribbean, reaching very similar levels to those seen in 2023.
It said in the region, public social spending per capita averaged US$1,326 dollars in 2024, rising 2.9 per cent versus 2023 and exceeding pre-COVID pandemic levels, but with significant differences between subregions and countries.
In South America, social spending per capita fell by 1.4 per cent on average in 2024, in contrast to the 3.5 per cent increase seen in 2023. In Central America, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, social spending per capita rose by 4.1 per cent on average in 2024, reinforcing the upward trend of 2.6 per cent from 2023, while in the Caribbean there was a significant expansion of social spending per capita in 2024, with a seven per cent increase.
ECLAC said that while the report highlights the strengthening of the social institutional framework – the number of countries with Social Development Ministries rose from 10 to 23 between 1995 and 2025 -, progress is still insufficient.
It notes that a key strategy for escaping the trap of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion is to bolster the technical, operational, political and prospective (TOPP) capabilities of the institutions in charge of countries’ social policies, along with the funding for these policies.
ECLAC said that the Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2025 presents a new methodology, namely the bidimensional index of inequality of opportunity in education for the region, which combines coverage and learning outcomes.
It said that although this index declined in nearly all the region’s countries and that the average more than doubled that of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2022, which creates obstacles for intergenerational social mobility in the region.
ECLAC also warns that the unequal burden of unpaid work shouldered by young women limits their participation in education, the labour market and the public and political sphere, as well as their time for rest, which is why making progress on gender equality and the care society is another powerful strategy for overcoming the trap of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion.
Likewise, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and migrants face greater barriers to accessing education and to labor inclusion. For example, less than 40% of people with disabilities from 15 to 59 years of age are part of the workforce, in comparison with 75% of people without disabilities of the same age.
“At ECLAC we have identified seven main factors that generate the trap of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion, five of which are analyzed in this year’s Social Panorama,” said José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC’s executive secretary.
He told a news conference that in line with this, it is proposing five strategies for escaping this trap, namely reduce educational inequality; create quality employment; make progress on gender equality and the care society; address the discrimination against and human rights violations affecting persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and migrants.
He said the region must continue strengthening the social institutional framework and its financing.
“Latin America and the Caribbean must redouble its efforts to break free of this trap and fulfill the commitments recently agreed upon at the Second World Summit for Social Development. ECLAC will continue supporting countries through its Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Salazar-Xirinachs added.
