Resource information
Despite a decline in both monetary and
multidimensional poverty rates since 2000, Haiti remains
among the poorest and most unequal countries in Latin
America. Two years after the 2010 earthquake, poverty was
still high, particularly in rural areas. This report
establishes that in 2012 more than one in two Haitians was
poor, living on less than $ 2.41 a day, and one person in
four was living below the national extreme poverty line of
$1.23 a day. Extreme poverty declined from 31 to 24 percent
between 2000 and 2012, and there have been some gains in
access to education and sanitation, although access to basic
services is generally low and is characterized by important
inequalities. Urban areas have fared relatively better than
rural areas, reflecting more nonagricultural employment
opportunities, larger private transfers, more access to
critical goods, and services and narrowing inequality
compared to rural areas. Continued advances in reducing both
extreme and moderate poverty will require greater, more
broad-based growth, but also a concerted focus on increasing
the capacity of the poor and vulnerable to accumulate
assets, generate income, and better protect their
livelihoods from shocks. Special attention should be given
to vulnerable groups such as women and children and to rural
areas, which are home to over half of the population and
where extreme poverty persists, and income inequality is increasing.
