Chilean poverty rate rises first time in 23 years

[Judi Lynn]

Chilean poverty rate rises first time in 23 years
16:24, July 15, 2010

Chile's poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent in 2009 from 13.7 percent in 2006, the first increase in 23 years, according to the Socioeconomic Characterization Survey 2009.

Rising unemployment was the main reason among many factors for more people slipping under the poverty line, according to Raul Gonzalez Meyer from the New Economics Team of the Academy of Christian Humanism.

He said unemployment levels in recent years had been higher than in the 1990s, and the global financial crisis had made the unemployment situation even worse in 2009.

As increasing employment was the key to the reduction of poverty during the 1990s, so the reverse was true in recent years, the expert told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Chile had a large number of people who are vulnerable to changes in employment, health, family and the macroeconomic situation, Gonzalez said.

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