Poverty and food insecurity
In the last two decades, Uruguay has done an excellent job reducing poverty in the country. The percentage of the population living in precarious conditions decreased from approximately 33 percent in 2006 to less than 10 percent in 2022, even though the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted this indicator. This was achieved by increasing employment, improving wages and introducing public transfer programs. However, scarcity is not felt equally by citizens. Children up to the age of five suffer the most from poverty, with the percentage of the population affected decreasing with age. Location is also an important factor, as those living in inland areas are more susceptible than those living elsewhere. The centralization of political power in Montevideo, differences in educational and employment opportunities, and income disparities explain the country's regional disparities in poverty, which favor the capital and its surrounding urban areas over the rural inland areas.Food insecurity reveals a similar story as monetary poverty. It is in the northwest of Uruguay that households experience shortages the most, yet this occurs to a lesser degree throughout the rest of the country. It is with the presence of children under six that households are most affected, as 21.5 percent of these homes experience moderate or severe food shortages.
Social inequality
Although Uruguay is one of the best performing countries in South America in terms of poverty indices, these tend to hide the social differences that exist between different genders, ethnicities, and socio-economic classes. Economic inequality is pronounced, as 20 percent of the population receives approximately 47 percent of all income, even though the country is the second least economically unequal in the Latin American region. This reality is exacerbated when the different ethnic groups are considered. The Afro-Uruguayan population has the highest levels of unemployment, and nearly 35 percent of children from this ethnic group live in poverty.
Gender inequalities in the Uruguayan nation are substantial. Households that have a woman as the main breadwinner are more likely to face poverty. This is especially relevant since almost two-thirds of the workload carried out by women consists of unpaid work, and, when paid, these women receive on average 34 percent less than men. However, Uruguayans are aware of this problem, as a large majority of the population agrees that equal rights and opportunities between genders are a very important issue to address. With that purpose, the Uruguayan state has come up with the National Strategy for Gender Equality 2030, which consists of political and institutional efforts to attain gender equality in the public and political spheres.
