Ecuador’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses reported in January that the country's multidimensional poverty rate dropped 16.5% between 2009 and 2015, translating into 1.9 million Ecuadorians who no longer live in poverty.
“Socioeconomic poverty will be fundamentally solved through changes in the relations of power … through political processes,” Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said.
The cut in both urban and rural poverty has been one of the major objectives of the Correa administration and the Citizens’ Revolution that it initiated 10 years ago when Correa was first elected. The country is working to eliminate extreme poverty completely, having already successfully done so in the capital region.
Following national development goals, the province of Pichincha, which includes the capital Quito, is the first province to eradicate extreme poverty.
Jose Rosero, director of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, said the multidimensional poverty rate was cut to 35% in December 2015 from 51.5% in December 2009.
Instead of just raw income or consumption, the multidimensional poverty measures four components: education; work and social security; health, water, and food; as well as housing and living environment.
“Poverty is a multidimensional and multifaceted phenomenon that has many aspects,” said Rosero. “You cannot describe it in a single or one-dimensional manner.
“In this regard, the metrics we use to measure it have to correspond to this feature of poverty, which not only focuses on the lack of resources but a lack of welfare or rights such as health, education, housing and employment.”
[Abridged from TeleSUR English.]