Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/115511 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-557
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
This paper joins in the debate on the size of the middle class in Latin America, providing an analysis of its structure and characteristics. Using several measurements, it finds that 40-60 percent of Latin American households are middle class, a share which has consolidated over the past decade. The analysis reveals that gender, age, and education are associated with the likelihood of being middle class. The example of Colombia illustrates that, while growing in size, this income group still faces deficits in crucial dimensions of well-being, such as education, job formality, and health care, which are generally associated with being middle class. The analysis reveals the fragility of this emerging group in the region.
Subjects: 
Middle class
Latin America
Multidimensional poverty
JEL: 
D3
I3
D6
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
678.09 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.