Peer review mechanism of the code of good practice in statistics for Latin America and the Caribbean

Annotated provisional agenda. Thirteenth meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Strategic plan, 2026-2035

Report of the Twenty-Fourth Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025: International trade in a new era of weaponized interdependence. Executive summary

This edition of the International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean analyses the sea change in United States trade policy in 2025, which is set against the backdrop of the weaponized interdependence occurring in the wider global economy. Although its impact on global and regional trade in 2025 has not been as pronounced as anticipated at the beginning of the year, projections for 2026 point to a marked slowdown. In general, exports from the region to the United States are subject to lower tariffs than those imposed on most of its main competitors, but this could cha…

The data revolution: enhancing information to promote sustainable development

There is a growing demand for more and better real-time information to make evidence-based decisions. This compels us to reflect on how official statistics are produced and, more importantly, on the range of information sources available in a world generating an immense and growing volume of data enabled by new technologies. These new data sets go beyond traditional data ecosystems and call for innovation in processes, mechanisms, and tools to generate knowledge from a chaotic ocean of unstructured data, which in many cases exceeds the capabilities of current official statistical information s…

Latin American Economic Outlook 2025: Promoting and Financing Production Transformation

The 18th edition of the Latin American Economic Outlook presents policy options for a greener, more inclusive regional production structure and examines financing mechanisms to support this transformation. It highlights the need for development strategies that promote formal job creation and strengthen local capacities and strategic sectors, while aligning production structures with global standards and demands. The report’s recommendations focus on improved implementation of productive development policies; innovative financial instruments; a renewed role for development finance institutions;…

The economics of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025: climate action to overcome development traps

The manifestations of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, and their negative effects are already being felt. The Latin American and Caribbean region is no exception and, in fact, is one of the most vulnerable regions of the world. Droughts, forest fires and powerful storms are intensifying and becoming more frequent. This is unfolding in a context in which the region is facing a number of development traps that could jeopardize the progress it has made thus far and limit the countries’ ability to overcome the challenges of improving their population’s well-being on a sustainable …

Overview of carbon pricing policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025: an analysis of their effectiveness and guidelines for implementation

This document presents an overview of carbon pricing policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on the characteristics of carbon pricing instruments, both explicit, such as carbon taxes and emissions trading systems, and implicit, such as fuel taxes, the social price of carbon and the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies. The document also provides an analysis of the effects of related policies (e.g. subsidies and elasticities) on the  effectiveness of carbon pricing, and includes the estimation of an econometric model that measures the effectiveness of carbon pricing in terms of re…

Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) presents the 2025 version of its annual report Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean amid global uncertainty and high geopolitical tension, which are worsening the three development traps facing the region: low capacity for growth; high inequality and low social mobility and cohesion; and weak institutional capacities and ineffective governance. Foreign direct investment (FDI) guided by productive development policies could address these challenges. The first chapter provides an overview of global and re…

Tax expenditures for environmental sustainability: international experiences in their identification and evaluation to enhance their governance

This report analyses tax expenditures aimed at promoting environmentally sustainable production activities and processes. Drawing on a global-scope database and a set of specific international experiences, it explores how these instruments are currently being used and evaluated. To this end, it presents a methodology for identifying and classifying the environmental tax expenditures applied in different parts of the world. It also provides an in-depth analysis of four country cases (Germany, Indonesia, Ireland and South Africa), with an emphasis on how they are evaluated. The document also add…

Individual earnings differentials by education level in Brazil: the greater inequality of the informal sector

In Brazil, workforce composition by age-education groups and distribution between the formal and informal sectors changed from 1980 to 2010. We estimate whether these area-level compositions reduced earnings of the least-educated individuals further. Our main hypothesis is that earnings are lower for residents of areas with higher proportions of less-educated and informal sector workers. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions performed on census data are used to estimate variations in male urban workers’ individual earnings, including several individual- and area-level independent variables.…

Report on the activities of the Commission, 2024

ECLAC is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. Established in February 1948 and headquartered in Santiago, the Commission’s main mandate is to contribute to the sustainable development of Latin America and the Caribbean. In June  1951, the Commission established the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico City, which serves the needs of the Central American countries, as well as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Mexico, and in December 1966, the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean was founded in Port of Spain, to serve the Caribbean subregion. In addit…

Provisional agenda. Sixty-seventh meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Demographic Observatory, 2025. Low fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean: emerging trends and dynamics

This 2025 edition of the Demographic Observatory offers an in-depth and updated exploration of historical and recent fertility trends in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a special focus on low fertility. Since 2015, the total fertility rate has remained below the replacement level, currently standing at 1.8 children per woman in Latin America and just 1.5 in the Caribbean. Drawing on various demographic sources and backed by the most recent scientific literature, this publication aims to provide information on current fertility levels in the countries and territories of the region, the sp…

Provisional agenda. Thirteenth meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Persons with Disabilities: From Statistical Visibility to the Exercise of Rights. Accessible version

In the past four decades, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has fundamentally changed the way disability is understood. Traditional conceptions focused on individual deficiency have been replaced by a social and rights-based approach that holds the State and society responsible for eliminating the structural barriers —physical, social and cultural— that limit the participation of persons with disabilities in community life. A central aspect of this process is the availability of robust and comparable statistical information, which increases the visibility of persons wit…

Mapping sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean: sectoral and energy transition insights from sustainable bonds, 2014–2024

This study examines the role of green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked (GSSS) bonds in financing the energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It combines a descriptive assessment of sectoral bond issuance patterns from 2014 to 2024 with an econometric exercise focusing on the region’s top five issuers. The results indicate that GSSS bonds have contributed to the expansion of renewable energy capacity but have not yet produced a structural shift in the overall energy mix. These findings underscore both the opportunities and limitations of sustainable finance, h…

Perceptions of Governability and Governance in Latin America

This edition of ECLAC Statistical Briefings presents an overview of public perceptions and opinions regarding multiple dimensions of governability and governance in 18 countries of Latin America. The information spans a period of between two and three decades ending as recently as 2023, depending on the information available. The overview is based on certain dimensions of governance proposed by the Praia Group on Governance Statistics,1 complemented by perception indicators that can be used to approximate democratic governability. Governance and democratic governability are so closely linked t…

United States economic outlook: evolving trends in the ownership of United States federal debt

This special issue of the United States economic outlook examines the trends in the ownership composition of United States federal debt holders, focusing on the balance between domestic and foreign investors and its implications for fiscal policy, financial stability and Latin America and the Caribbean. It provides updated data through mid-2025 on the structure of Treasury holdings, highlighting both the region’s participation as holders of United States debt and the strategies adopted by Latin American and Caribbean countries. The publication builds on two earlier reports by the ECLAC office …