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Chile
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MDG Profile:
Taking Giant Steps in Drive to Implement MDGs
Chile has become the first country in Latin America to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in extreme poverty, a milestone in implementing the Millennium Development Goals.
Chile’s anti-poverty gains are the result of a series of structural and social reforms that led to a consensus among citizens and a wide cross-section of political sectors in favor of increased social spending, with much of it aimed at the poorest of the poor.
The reforms were made possible by steady increases in Chile’s per-capita income, which more than doubled between1990 and 2005.
A key action has been the country’s adoption of the Chilean Solidarity System, which provides assistance and protection for 225,000 extremely poor households. Its implementation represents State institutionalization of a specific policy aimed at overcoming extreme poverty.
Between 1990 and 2006, Chile reduced poverty from 38.6 per cent to 13.7 per cent and extreme poverty from 12.9 per cent to 3.2 per cent. Other measures include health care reform based on the Universal Access Plan for Comprehensive Services and Explicit Guarantees (AUGE); obligatory severance insurance for all those workers governed by the regulations of the Code of Employment; establishment of educational reform that guarantees 12 years of obligatory and free school education; and a housing policy for the poorest members of society and the Chile Neighbourhood Programme, aimed at replacing slums with livable neighborhoods.
Despite these achievements, Chile is still behind in some important areas such as inequality in the distribution of income, education and wealth, the complete eradication of extreme poverty; gender equity, and full recognition of the value and needs of indigenous peoples.
The Government has said that over the next decade, it intends to step up its efforts to combat social marginalization and to promote social development, and Chile’s first MDG National Report has affirmed that these objectives are well within the country’s capabilities. Last updated 1 November 2007 Click to learn more about organizations, projects and individuals on the ground from Scientists Without Borders.
View Data Map of MDG Indicator
for this Location
The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
Total population
(millions): |
16.6 |
Surface area
(sq. km): |
756,096 |
GDP per capita
(PPP US$): |
12,655 |
GDP growth
(annual %): |
4.0
|
Human Development Index
(Rank 1 - 177): |
38 |
Life expectancy at birth
(years): |
77.9 |
Population below PPP $1 per day
(%): |
2.0 |
Net enrolment ratio in primary education
(% both sexes): |
94.1 |
Carbon dioxide emissions per capita
(metric tons): |
3.8712 |
Unemployment, total
(% of total labor force): |
6.0 |
NOTE: The MDG data presented here is the latest available from the United Nations Statistics Division. The World Bank has recently released new poverty estimates, which reflect improvements in internationally comparable price data. The new data estimates set a new poverty line of US$1.25 a day and offer a much more accurate picture of the cost of living in developing countries. They are based on the results of the 2005 International Comparison Program (ICP), released in first half of 2008. Country-specific poverty estimates will be released by the World Bank in late 2008
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