13 Million Latin Americans Escape Poverty in Last 3 Years
Some 13 million people have escaped poverty during the last three years in the region, Jose Luis Machinea, head of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) told reporters on Friday.

Despite this, poverty still remains a problem that affects 213 million people, or 40.6 of the population in the region, and 88 million of these live in absolute poverty, Machinea said.

The most pressing need is for housing, said Machinea.

Machinea said the best way for governments to fight poverty was to spend on education and health services.

But he said there were enormous differences between rich and poor countries in the region. Poor countries still use a far smaller percentage of their gross domestic product on social spending than the richer nations.

Machinea said one factor that held back the region's poor is a tendency for social spending to follow the economic cycle: getting cut back when growth is slow.

He called on governments to improve the efficiency of social spending by following an "anti-cyclical" strategy. He also called for greater transparency in state spending.