Costa Rica Has More than
900.000 Poor
The results of the
latest Encuesta de
Hogares del Instituto
Nacional de Estadística
y Censos (INEC) -
Household Survey of the
National Institute of
Statistics and Census -
reveals that Costa Rica
has 931.767 poor people,
95.400 more than last
year.
The survey was taken
between July 7 and
August 8 of 14.930 homes
in parts of the country.
Elizabeth Solano,
coordinadora de Censos y
Encuestas del INEC, said
that the increase in the
number of poor people
was not as drastic as in
previous years.
Solano explained that
income rose 16% on
average, but taking into
inflation into account,
the real increase was
only 2%.
The effect of social
support such by
organizations such as
the IMAS,
non-contributory pension
scheme and student
scholarships under the "Avancemos"
program ,led to higher
household incomes this
year.
Costa Rican president,
Oscar Arias, who is
currently in El Salvador
attending the Ibero
American summit, said
through his press office
that social programs by
the government avoided
that poverty was higher.
His comment was
supported by ministro de
Planificación (Minister
of Planning), Roberto
Gallardo, who said
yesterday that without
government assistance
poverty in Costa Rica
would have been 20.2%,
rather than 17.7% |
