Uruguay - Poverty and wealth

Uruguay has one of the most equal distributions of income and wealth in the world. Since 1986, taxation and social services have been used to redistribute income from the nation's wealthiest 10 percent to the less affluent members of society. The wealthiest 10 percent of Uruguay's population controls about 25 percent of the nation's

GDP per Capita (US$)
Country	1975	1980	1985	1990	1998
Uruguay	4,092	4,962	3,964	4,611	6,029
United States	19,364	21,529	23,200	25,363	29,683
Brazil	3,464	4,253	4,039	4,078	4,509
Paraguay	1,297	1,871	1,754	1,816	1,781
SOURCE: United Nations. Human Development Report 2000; Trends in human development and per capita income.

Distribution of Income or Consumption by Percentage
Share: Uruguay
Lowest 10%	2.1
Lowest 20%	5.4
Second 20%	10.0
Third 20%	14.8
Fourth 20%	21.5
Highest 20%	48.3
Highest 10%	32.7
Survey year: 1989
Note: This information refers to income shares by percentiles of the population and is ranked by per capita income.
SOURCE: 2000 World Development Indicators [CD-ROM].

wealth, which is still low by regional standards: comparable figures for the amount of wealth controlled by the richest 10 percent are 41.9 percent in Brazil, 39 percent in the United States, and 34.3 percent in Argentina.

In 2000, 8 percent of the population of Uruguay was considered to be living in poverty, not having enough income to pay for basic needs, including food, housing, and health care. In an effort to reduce poverty further, the government is engaged in a long-term program to improve education. Since the mid-1990s, it has spent an additional 0.1 percent of GDP on improvements to the educational system, including classroom renovations, teacher training, and programs to keep youths in school. The main impetus for these programs is the fact that 40 percent of all Uruguayan children under the age of 5 live in the poorest 20 percent of households.