Who provides childcare?: analysing the distribution of care work in Mexico

Using the care diamond framework proposed by Shahra Razavi, we analyse paid and unpaid care (especially childcare) in Mexico on the basis of four provider categories: family or household, the State, the market and the non-profit sector. Our work combines two main types of data: descriptive statistics and published studies based on empirical research and in-depth policy analysis. We offer a comprehensive description of childcare distribution in Mexico, outlining the four provider categories and institutional and private arrangements that support social reproduction. We highlight the weak public…

Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025

This report compiles comparable tax revenue statistics over the period 1990-2023 for 27 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. It provides harmonised data on the level and structure of tax revenues based on the OECD classification of taxes, thereby enabling comparison of national tax systems on a consistent basis, both across the region and with other economies globally. The report includes two special features: one examines non tax revenues in the LAC region while the second analyses fiscal revenues from non renewable natural resources in the LAC region in 2023 and 2024. The publicatio…

Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025: boosting investment for growth and sustainable development

The Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2025 analyses the developments and main trends in public revenues and expenditures, fiscal deficits, public debt and subnational fiscal accounts for the countries of the region in 2024. It confirms that with limited fiscal space, these countries continued to struggle to build up available resources and therefore faced persistent deficits and high debt levels. This report also examines tax incentive policies in dynamic sectors related to environmental sustainability and proposes strategies to increase effectiveness and strengthen governance…

Annotated provisional agenda. Sixteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Port report 2023–2024: mixed signals in trade and ports and new disruptions to international container shipping logistics

This report analyses the state of international maritime trade and port activity for the period 2023–2024. It highlights recovery trends, structural challenges and new disruptions impacting the sector. Consistent with the analysis in the previous report, this report examines the effects of global events, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and persistent geopolitical tensions, the repercussions of which continue to impact supply chains. It also identifies emerging trends in logistics management and factors behind fluctuations in port activity and provides an analysis of the mar…

Provisional agenda. Sixteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Measuring the digital society to advance digital inclusion in the Caribbean

Caribbean policymakers and regulators are grappling with the challenges and opportunities associated with the digital transformation, and seeking to develop inclusive, evidence-based policies suited to Caribbean realities. Realizing the need for data related to the digital transformation, efforts are ongoing across the subregion to improve measurement systems and agree on common indicators to enable national and subregional action. One of the outcomes of a 2023 subregional workshop on the measurement of the digital society to advance digital inclusion was a draft list of subregional priorities…

Capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean: 2024 year-in-review and early 2025 developments

Latin American and Caribbean bond issuance in international markets amounted to US$ 121.8 billion in 2024, 36% higher than in 2023 and the strongest figure in three years. The average coupon rate, at 7.1%, was slightly above the 2023 level of 6.9%, indicating that financing costs remain elevated. Although the market was still open to high-yield issuers, investment grade bonds accounted for 57% of the region’s issuance. In 2024, issuance of green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked (GSSS) bonds on international markets climbed by 6% relative to 2023, to a total of US$ 33.1 billi…

Relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and China: areas of opportunity for more productive, inclusive and sustainable development

This document is a contribution by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to discussions of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). It describes the areas of opportunity for advancing towards a common cooperation agenda that fosters more productive, inclusive and sustainable development It draws on the ECLAC analysis of the development traps facing the region and the strategies to overcome them through a set of vital transformations and a new generation of productive development policie…

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2024

Latin America and the Caribbean is caught in a trap of low capacity for growth, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The region’s economies are projected to expand by 2.2% and 2.4% in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Although these figures are above the 2015–2024 average of 1.0%, they are insufficient to close the gap with the economies of developed countries. The 2024 and 2025 international context is one of highly uncertain financial and trade conditions and slowing growth for the region’s main trading partners. Domestic macroeconomic policy space rem…

Report of the sixty-sixth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Report of the Thirtieth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Council for Planning of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES)

Unleashing sustainable growth: financing green productive development policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

Financing the transition to a green economy in Latin America and the  Caribbean demands innovative approaches to address the region’s significant investment gap, estimated at 7%–11% of GDP annually by 2050. This publication focuses on the financial strategies underpinning green productive development policies, which make up a transformative and comprehensive framework that integrates economic goals with environmental sustainability. Key insights include strategies to reallocate subsidies, lower capital costs and foster private sector investment through blended finance and institutional capital…

Summary of the Chair. Eighth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Regional Gender Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean: gender indicators up to 2024

Latin America and the Caribbean has made considerable efforts to achieve gender equality. Now the region must consolidate advances and fulfil commitments by accelerating progress towards substantive equality and the full exercise of rights for all women and girls. This document analyses the gender indicators for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, in synchrony with the Regional Gender Agenda of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on Goals 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 17. Achieving more productive, inclusive and sustainable de…

Bridges for gender equality between Latin America and the Caribbean and Germany: Criteria and priorities for a regional feminist development cooperation policy

Bridges for gender equality between Latin America and the Caribbean and Germany: Criteria and priorities for a regional feminist development cooperation policy presents the outcomes of the project “Success criteria for a feminist development cooperation policy specific to Latin America and the Caribbean” developed under the Strategic Alliance between the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and carried out by the ECLAC Division for Gender  Affairs and the  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Int…

Evaluation of the Strategic Plan, 2015–2025 and proposed thematic areas for the Strategic Plan, 2026–2035

The role of trade and transport infrastructure in food security in Latin America and the Caribbean

This FAL Bulletin analyses the role of trade and transport infrastructure in food security in Latin America and the Caribbean. It identifies the main challenges and opportunities for ensuring equitable and sustainable access to food in the region. It also includes strategic recommendations to strengthen the contribution of trade, especially intraregional trade, to regional food security.…

Second report on the implementation of the Biennial programme of regional and international cooperation activities, 2024–2025, of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Effects of countercyclical policies on women’s and men’s incomes during the COVID-19 pandemic: a gender analysis of personal taxes and transfers in Colombia, Ecuador and the Plurinational State of Bolivia

At the fourteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, just weeks before the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the region’s governments undertook to “implement gender-sensitive countercyclical policies, in order to mitigate the impact of economic crises”. Against this backdrop, this document analyses the impact that taxes and transfers targeted to households and their members had on the disposable income of women and men between 2019 and 2020 in Colombia, Ecuador and the Plurinational State of Bolivia —countries for which harmonize…