The use of census data for national development planning Focus on the 2010 population and housing census

For many Caribbean countries the only mechanisms in place to systematically collect information on socio-demographic, economic, environmental and other issues of national importance are the Population and Housing Census and the Country Poverty Assessment studies. Country Poverty Assessment studies, however, have limitations of sample size and therefore do not provide information on relatively rare events nor can it provide small area data. Consequently, the Population and Housing Census is often the only source of valuable information needed for planning and management, and research. The purpo…

Anuario Estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe 2014 = Statistical yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2014

El Anuario Estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe presenta un conjunto de estadísticas básicas que caracterizan la situación económica, sociodemográfica y ambiental de la región referidas a un período en particular. Esta información forma parte del conjunto de estadísticas disponibles en CEPALSTAT, el portal de bases de datos y publicaciones estadísticas de la CEPAL. [en línea] http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/ Publicación bilingüe (español e inglés), aparece por primera vez en 1973 en sustitución del Boletín estadístico para América Latina y el Caribe, que se publicaba dos veces al …

Caribbean development report: Exploring strategies for sustainable growth and development in Caribbean small island States

The Third Caribbean Development Roundtable (23-24 April 2014) was held under the theme “Exploring strategies for sustainable growth and development in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”. The Roundtable focused on challenges faced in stimulating growth and creating a capacity for resilience among the Caribbean SIDS. The conference examined the continuing challenge of igniting robust growth in Caribbean Small States, and at the same time, mitigating structural and cyclical risks and uncertainty. The presentations made at the Roundtable can be placed under six themes which comprise …

ECLAC regional workshop on the development of REDATAM applications for the dissemination of census data

A team drawn from ECLAC’s subregional headquarters for the Caribbean and the regional headquarters in Santiago, Chile will be holding a training workshop to support the statistical offices of Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados in the development of web-based applications for the dissemination of national census data. Organised at the request of the respective governments, the workshop will take place from 29 September to 10 October 2014 in Saint George’s, Grenada, and follows a similar workshop held in Trinidad and Tobago in February 2014. REDATAM is a software program developed by the…

From the classroom to the workplace: Three decades of evidence for Latin America

This study draws on household survey results spanning a period of three decades in length to analyse young people's entry into the labour market in 10 Latin American countries. It finds that: (i) the employment status of young people had deteriorated over time until seeing an improvement in the late 2000s, although youth unemployment and informality rates are still very high; (ii) young people are entering into a typical employment cycle in which they are surpassing the results obtained by adults of earlier generations. Informality is not a part of this pattern, however, indicating the ex…

Annotated provisional agenda and organization of work. Twenty-fourth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Council for Planning of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES)

Development strategies for the information and communications technology sector in the Caribbean: A global perspective

This occasional paper examines the experiences of three leading global centres of the ICT industry – India, Silicon Valley, and Estonia – to reflect on how the lessons of these models can be applied to the context of countries in the Caribbean region.Several sectors of the technology industry are considered in relation to the suitability for their establishment in the Caribbean. Animation is an area that is showing encouraging signs of development in several countries, and which offers some promise to provide a significant source of employment in the region. However, the global market for anim…

Economic survey of the Caribbean 2014: Reduced downside risks and better prospects for a recovery

The current survey provides an overview of the economic performance for 2013 of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago plus the eight member states of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and the outlook for 2014 and 2015. Data were collected from a review of reports from national governments and through interviews with government officials in each of the countries analyzed.…

Global value chains and world trade: Prospects and challenges for Latin America

Scant empirical evidence is available on how the Latin American and Caribbean region participates in global value chains (GVCs) and what drives this process. Frequent questions in this connection are: How has the spread of information and communications technologies and free trade agreements facilitated the region’s participation in GVCs? To what extent do small firms participate in GVCs? What learning mechanisms and production and technological feedbacks operate in different types of GVCs? How can countries and firms take advantage of upgrading processes in GVCs? What role do policies play to…

Income inequality in Latin America. Recent decline and prospects for its further reduction

The paper reviews the extent of the income inequality decline which has taken place in Latin America over 2002-2010 which reduced the regional Gini index to the level of the early 1980s. The paper then focuses on the factors which may explain such decline. These include a drop in the skill premium following an expansion of secondary education, the adoption of a new development model by a growing number of progressive governments which adopted prudent but more equitable macroeconomic, tax, social assistance and labor policies. For the region as a whole, gains in terms of trade, remittances, FDI…

ECLAC’s DALA Methodology being used as a guide for Trinidad and Tobago

The Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) methodology is helping to estimate the impacts of rain-related disasters that affected several communities along the eastern coast of the Trinidad over the past week. Developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC), the DaLA methodology is being used as a guide by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) of Trinidad and Tobago to assess the economic consequences of the recent disasters at the community and household level. Dr Steven Ramroop of the ODPM says that “the orga…

The Beijing Platform For Action: twenty years of implementation in the Caribbean

Information and communication technologies for disaster risk management in the Caribbean

This paper examines the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for disaster risk management (DRM) with a specific focus on the Caribbean. The study included the review of literature and case studies, as well the administration of a survey instrument that collected the feedback of 13 regional national DRM agencies. Analysis of the survey suggests that while subregional disaster management agencies have fairly good access to technology infrastructure and enjoy an information sharing culture, challenges exist with regard to the information governance frameworks as well as the …

ECLAC meeting secures commitment to Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

The Caribbean technical meeting on the Beijing +20 review and appraisal of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action took place at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago Chile, on 14 - 15 November 2014. The meeting focused attention on the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, and provided a forum for reflection on the ongoing gender concerns facing the Caribbean subregion during the past two decades. Participants from 10 member and two associate member states of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Com…

La CEPAL, la OCDE y la Escuela de Economía de París organizan Foro sobre América Latina y Europa

(19 de mayo, 2014) El Secretario General de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), Ángel Gurría, abrirá el Segundo Foro Económico Europa-América Latina el día 20 de mayo en París. Estará acompañado en la inauguración por la Secretaria Ejecutiva de CEPAL, Alicia Bárcena, y por el Director de la Escuela de Economía de París, Pierre-Yves Geoffard. La reunión, que durará dos días, está coorganizada por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y por la Escuela de Economía de París (PSE por sus siglas en inglés) y pretende impulsar el diálogo acer…

Public policies for equality: Towards universal social protection systems

Durante la última década y media muchos países de América Latina y el Caribe han tenido importantes avances en la reducción de la pobreza y la desigualdad, así como en la implementación de innovadores programas sociales. Sin embargo, la protección social sigue caracterizándose por una variedad desarticulada de programas para grupos específicos de la población. Permanecen asimismo grandes desafíos estructurales. La segmentación del mercado laboral entre el sector formal e informal lleva a un acceso segmentado a los sistemas de pensiones y de salud por parte de la población. Asimismo, según el P…

Foro sobre personas mayores pide aplicar políticas públicas con enfoque de derechos en la región

Ver galería de fotos (6 de junio, 2014) El Segundo foro internacional sobre los derechos humanos de las personas mayores, que concluyó hoy en Ciudad de México, consideró deseable y viable aplicar un enfoque de derechos en las políticas públicas dirigidas a este grupo social en América Latina y el Caribe para avanzar en la reducción de la pobreza, la desigualdad y la discriminación de las personas de edad avanzada. Este segundo foro, organizado por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y el Gobierno de la Ciudad de México, dio continuidad a la primera reunión celebrada t…

A new frontier for Caribbean convergence: integration without borders

Today, forty years since its birth, the Caribbean integration has reached its limit.1 2 Consequently, there is urgent need to respond to the current realities and emerging global trends — which require greater engagement from the public, students, academics and policymakers — in moving the Caribbean Community towards a new trajectory of Caribbean convergence. The immediate concern is to devise ways of improving the convergence process among Latin American and Caribbean countries. This convergence process will have to be sensitive to both current and emerging global dynamics. This paper present…

Workshop on "Tax Base Protection for Developing Countries"

(Nueva York, 4 Junio 2014) La Oficina de Financiación para el Desarrollo (FfDO) del Departamento de Asuntos Económicos y Sociales de las Naciones Unidas realizó, en colaboración con el Centro de la OCDE para la Política y Administración Tributaria (CTPA) un taller sobre "Protección de la base tributaria para países en desarrollo", con la participación de representantes de países en desarrollo. Esta reunión forma parte de un proyecto, llevado a cabo por FfDO, que se centra en el fortalecimiento de la capacidad de los países en desarrollo para aumentar su potencial de movilización de los ingreso…

Foro internacional analizará en México la protección de los derechos y la dignidad de las personas mayores

Ver transmisión en vivo del foro (2 de junio, 2014) La autonomía, la dignidad y la protección de las personas mayores, tratados desde una perspectiva de derechos, son algunos de los asuntos que se analizarán en un foro internacional organizado por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y el Gobierno de la Ciudad de México que se celebrará del 3 al 6 de junio en la capital mexicana. El Segundo Foro Internacional sobre los derechos humanos de las personas mayores será inaugurado por la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL, Alicia Bárcena, el Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Feder…