LIMA, Peru (CMC) — A new report by the World Bank is calling on Caribbean countries to rethink their policies in order to break the cycle of chronic poverty in the region.

The report entitled “Left Behind, Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean”, takes a closer look at the region’s entrenched poor, who and where they are, and how policies and thinking will need to change in order to more effectively assist them.

The report says that one out of every five people in Latin America and the Caribbean, or around 130 million, have never known anything but poverty, subsisting on less than four US dollars daily throughout their lives.

“These are the region’s chronically poor, who have remained so despite unprecedented inroads against poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean since the turn of the century. Their situation is becoming more precarious as the economic boom that significantly contributed to a reduction poverty dwindles.”

The report states that regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has slowed from about six per cent in 2010 to an estimated 0.8 per cent last year.

“This contraction will likely take away one of the biggest drivers behind the strong reduction in poverty — an improved job market,” the reported said.

World Bank Vice-President for Latin America and the Caribbean Jorge Familiar said poverty exists and persists due to constraints within and without the households, “everything from lack of appropriate skills and motivation to the lack of basic services such as clean water”.

“In other words, supporting individuals is necessary but not sufficient. An enabling context that provides appropriate services is also crucial. Therefore, social policies and regional development need to go hand in hand,” he said.

In addition to focusing on access to basic services and good jobs, Ana Revenga, senior director for poverty reduction at the World Bank Group, said policies must also take into account the “very real social and aspirational barriers” facing the chronically poor in the region.

“If this remains unaddressed, it will be far too easy for the most vulnerable to fall through the cracks of social safety nets, no matter how well-targeted these programmes are,” she said.

Revenga said it is “crucial” to improve coordination between different social and economic programmes, and to tackle the mental and emotional toll that poverty takes on the poor and their ability to improve their lives.