He National Institute of Statistics (INE) published the Continuous Household Survey, which establishes that poverty recorded in children under 6 years of age is 11.6 times greater than that of adults over 65, making Uruguay in the country with the greatest infantilization of poverty in Latin America.
The result provided by the INE report shows that public policies are inclined to the older adultsbased on a social security system that hardly allows people of this age range to fall into poverty.
However, this leads to other problems that occur during Uruguayan childhood. In this sense, the intensity with which older adults are assisted is 11.6 times less than that of children. The inequality occurs in homes that live with boys and girls who do not manage to fulfill their basic needs because the state policies They do not arrive in a timely manner.
The proposal of the Independent Party
At the beginning of August, the Independent Party took the president, Luis Lacalle Pou, a bill that proposes the creation of the “Childhood Fund”, cwith the objective of decrease the child poverty in it Uruguaywhich they estimate would be voted on in the current Accountability.
About 160,000 boys and girls are poor in the country in 2022, according to official data that confirms that, of the total poverty rate, 19.7% are people under 18 years of age, which meant an increase in 18.6% compared to the previous year. In dialogue with Radio Carve, the deputy for Independent Party, Iván Posada, He assured that the creation of this fund would provide some solutions to this structural problem.
The deputy assured that the poverty situation mainly affects Uruguayan children and adolescents since, of the total poverty rate, 89% are children and adolescents of 0 to 17 years old living with adults over 18 years old. “He 89% of poverty in Uruguay It is contained in these homes where children and adults live together,” Posada explained.
Currently, Uruguay has three forms of subsidies for poor children: family allowances, Equity Plan and the Uruguay Social Card what they cost the state 360 million dollars per year and, according to Posada, one of the challenges will be increase resources for this fund.
The deputy assured that, based on the last conversation on the fund and on numbers provided by the United Nations strategic advisor, Gustavo de Armas, with 453 million more than what is currently used, child poverty would be reduced by half. This number would represent the 1.15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Uruguay.
However, the deputy clarified that the increase in transfers alone is not enough, although he believes them to be totally necessary, but that they would be accompanied by conditions and obligations to be met by the beneficiaries. That is why this fund was created with the objective of having an entity that manages the resources in a specific way.