Colombia has one of the strictest
stratified social systems in the
world, because of that the concept of poverty could be relative.
[2][
clarification needed] One example of this classification can be seen in Colombia's capital
Bogota. Bogota is divided into localities and regardless the actual income of an individual, a person can be socially perceived either as poor or wealthy only depending on what part of the city or locality someone lives.[
citation needed] The roots of this phenomenon can be traced back to the
outstanding difference in income between the poor and the rich.[
citation needed] In particular, Colombia's employers are not closely observed for
equality in employment and has had as a result a
job market highly influenced by biased criteria from the employers such as skin color, sex, and even someone's social strata.[
citation needed] This social stratification has also come with an economic expense since people that are economically stable and making a good revenue can cheat the health care system and benefit themselves from programs that are specifically made for the poor since their social classification can be deduced simply by knowing where a person lives.[
citation needed] It is not clear however how the problem of social classification in Colombia can be solved. Culturally Colombians have suffered of the social stigma of social stratification and it has deeply affected the lives of many if not all Colombians.[
citation needed] In this sense the media has played a role on its own. Radio and television have developed entertainment, shows and a diversity of programs basing their
target audience according to their social classification. This is particularly noticeable in the big cities where the exclusive upper classes concentrate in luxurious neighborhoods that contrast with extensive areas of more humble dwellings.[
citation needed]
Colombia's social strata has been divided as follows and has been extensively used by the government as a reference to develop social welfare programs, statistical information and to some degree for the assignment of lands.
- Stratum 1 : Lowest income.
- Stratum 2 : Low-Middle class.
- Stratum 3 : Middle class.
- Stratum 4 : Upper middle class.
- Stratum 5 : Upper class.
- Stratum 6 : Wealthy. Only the 6% of Colombians fit this category.
A
CEPAL report included data about poverty in 35% of the general population and 17% extreme poverty, with an estimated 9,654,722 people living in extreme poverty.
[3][
verification needed]
Unemployment
Colombia has a high rate of
unemployment and a work market dominated by informal jobs, with few significant prospects for the creation of new work opportunities.[
citation needed] The National Department of Statistics in its current[
citation needed] report, points out that the unemployment index in the 7 main cities in the country is above 8.6%, for about 3.7 million Colombians of working age.[
citation needed] About 32% of the people who do have work don’t have any formal work contract, nor access to the
healthcare system. 48% of the Colombian work force derive their income from small scale
informal economy such as
street vendors and
garbage recyclers.[
citation needed] The unemployment situation in Colombia has been described by the CEPAL general secretary, José Antonio Ocampo, as “dramatic”.
[4]
Inequality
Colombia's
Gini coefficient (a measurement of
inequality in
wealth distribution) was 0.51 in 2000 and 0.56 in 2006, making it the second-most unequal country in Latin America terms of wealth distribution, after
Brazil.[
citation needed] By 2009, Colombia had reached a Gini coefficient of 0.587, which was the highest in Latin America
Economic recession
Since the late 1990s, many important economic sectors in Colombia have experienced
economic recession, worsening the poverty situation in the country. The most affected sectors are the
agricultural,
manufacturing,
transportation and building industries, which are the main sources of employment in the country.[
citation needed] The global growth of these economic sectors, compared with the population growth in the same period gives an index of 0.7, indicating a larger growth in the number of people needing jobs than the number of employment positions on offer.
Malnutrition
See also:
Aguapanela#socioeconomic issues
Over 500 000 children under 5 years old (about 13%) in Colombia suffer from acute
malnutrition and up to 15% suffer from chronic malnutrition, the most affected areas being
Boyacá and
Nariño Department.
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