Economic impacts of population ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean: challenges and opportunities

This document analyses the economic implications of rapid population ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting both the challenges it poses for economic growth, the labour market, and the sustainability of social policies, as well as the opportunities it presents to boost various economic sectors in the region. Based on demographic and economic data, the ongoing structural transformation is examined, with particular emphasis on the increase in the population aged 65 and over. The study reviews the conceptual approaches that enable an understanding of the various dimensions of age…

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

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 Traditional conceptions focused on individual deficiency have been replaced by a social and rights-based approach that holds the State and society responsible for eliminating the structural barriers —physical, social and cultural— that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…

Panorama of Productive Development Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025: how to escape the trap of low capacity for growth. Executive summary

Latin America and the Caribbean is caught in a trap of low capacity for growth, largely because productivity has stagnated and even declined over the past decade. Escaping this trap requires a profound productive transformation, and the way to achieve this is to scale up and improve productive development policies following the new vision that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has been advocating. The Panorama of Productive Development Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025 addresses four themes that were selected for their strategic importance and …

Technical, operational, political and prospective (TOPP) institutional capabilities for managing transformations: underpinnings of a new paradigm

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has identified three structural traps that hinder development in the region: one of low capacity for growth and transformation, another of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion, and a third of low institutional capacity and ineffective governance. This third trap is particularly important for the analysis in this document, as it limits the effectiveness and continuity of public policies and reduces the scope for adapting them in the face of change and uncertainty. The document posits that the critical …

United States economic outlook: 2024 year-in-review and first half of 2025

In 2024, the United States economy expanded 2.8%, led by consumer spending. Job creation slowed and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.1% in December. Inflation eased to 2.4% in September but closed the year at 2.9%, with the core consumer price index (CPI) at 3.2%. The Federal Reserve cut rates in September, November and December, lowering the federal funds target range to 4.25%–4.50%, while trade and fiscal deficits widened. In the first half of 2025, GDP growth averaged 1.4%, with a contraction of 0.3% in the first quarter and an uptick of 3.3% in the second. From January to July, the eco…

Financial sustainability, equity, and efficiency of educational investment as enabling requirements for educational transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025

Resuming previous international and regional commitments, in January 2024 the Declaration of Santiago was approved at the Extraordinary Meeting of Ministers of Education of Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO Santiago, 2024). In this, the SDG4 Regional Steering Committee was tasked with establishing an ad-hoc Working Group to develop a preliminary proposal on inclusive and effective financing to complement the Regional Reference Framework on public policies for educational reactivation, recovery and transformation. This Working Group is made up of ECLAC, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, IDB, CA…

Establishing a regional agenda for planning and public management: transforming the future of Latin America and the Caribbean

Report of the activities carried out by the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), 2024-2025

Draft regional agenda on governance of planning and public management for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Guide for establishing a governance framework for digital government in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean  (ECLAC) has pointed out on numerous occasions that information and communications technologies (ICTs) are not enough in themselves to make public systems more efficient and effective but must instead be paired with other key elements in order to achieve those objectives. The Commission has therefore been underscoring the importance of the institutional, cultural, policy, organizational, leadership and technical elements that can help to consolidate governments’ digital development process. This guide outlines a robust, applied model …

Enhancing data for development: policy imperatives for tracking the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean. Policy Brief

For small island developing States (SIDS), sustainable development is a delicate balance of pursuing economic growth, social development and environmental stewardship in the context of economic volatility, social challenges, climate change threats and global uncertainties while striving to build resilience. Recognized as a special case for development since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, SIDS remain highly vulnerable to external shocks due to their small economies, limited connectivity and reliance on external markets. Over the years, global frameworks such …

Annotated provisional agenda. Sixth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Provisional agenda. Sixth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean 30 Years on from the World Summit for Social Development: Towards a Global Pact for Inclusive Social Development

The Second World Summit for Social Development presents a landmark opportunity to analyse the current situation and take decisions that will enable effective and sustainable progress towards inclusive social development, so that all people are able to live free from poverty and achieve a level of well-being that aligns with high, sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and that enables the development of skills in conditions of freedom and dignity, with full exercise of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights and opportunities for recognition and participation to addr…

Report of the Eighth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development

The impact of climate change on child and youth poverty in Latin America

Climate change is transforming the way we live and redefining the future of childhood. In the Latin American and Caribbean region, children and young peopleⁱ face unprecedented risks that threaten their present and future opportunities. Climate change affects them disproportionately, as they are physically and physiologically more vulnerable to withstand and survive extreme weather conditions such as floods, droughts, storms and heat waves. This vulnerability is also due to their high economic dependence, the prevalence of poverty and the lack of access to essential services for their developm…

Actes du séminaire international Insécurité en Haïti et construction de nouveaux paradigmes

El Colegio de México et la Commission économique pour l’Amérique latine et les Caraïbes (CEPALC) ont organisé le Séminaire international Insécurité en Haïti et construction de nouveaux paradigmes à Mexico les 22 et 23 octobre 2024, dans le but d’approfondir les défis critiques auxquels est confrontée la nation caribéenne. Ce document résume les contributions des vingt-six spécialistes qui ont participé au séminaire, couvrant des sujets tels que l’analyse des racines historiques, socioéconomiques, géopolitiques et culturelles qui favorisent l’insécurité en Haïti. Le séminaire a suscité des réf…

Programme of work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), 2026. Subprogramme 9: Planning and public management for development

Provisional agenda. Twentieth meeting of the Regional Council for Planning of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES)

Annotated provisional agenda. Twentieth meeting of the Regional Council for Planning of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES)