Poverty in Latin America

"Poverty" is defined as an economic condition of lacking both money and basic necessities needed to successfully live, such as food, water, utilities, and housing. There are many working definitions of "poverty," with considerable debate on how to best define the term. Lack of income security, economic stability and the predictability of one's continued means to meet basic needs all serve as absolute indicators of poverty. Poverty may therefore also be defined as the economic condition of lacking predictable and stable means of meeting basic life needs. The first table lists countries by the percentage of their population with an income of less than $1.90 and less than $3.10 US dollars per day in 2011 dollars at Purchasing power parity. The data is from the most recent year available from the World Bank API.