DEVELOPMENT BRIE Number 51 The World Bank March 1995 some education beyond the second- Hope for Latin America's ary level, compared with 22% for the rest of the population. Girls I n d I g e n o u s poo r have the greatest disadvantage. In all four countries studied and in all The indigenous people of Latin America are the age-groups indigenous women have received the least schooling poorest of the poor. Even small improvements in their (see figure). education would yield large gains in relative wealth Indigenous people are not idle. They are more likely to have a job D escended from hundreds of Living conditions for the indig- than the general population. But ethnic groups and tribes enous population are generally they are concentrated in low-wage that populated the hemi- abysmal. Although home owner- sectors of the economy, work sphere before the Spanish conquest, ship is higher in the indigenous ar- longer hours for less pay, and are 34 million Latin Americans, some eas, many of the homes are made of more likely to be "working poor" 8% of the population, are indig- clay or bamboo, palm, or other who must hold two jobs to survive. enous. What has been known about plant materials. The homes of in- Among the indigenous workers in their social and economic condi- digenous families are far less likely Peru, 70% of the women and 63% of tions has mostly been the product to have sanitary services or electric- the men are in agriculture. Even of casual observation. But a recent ity. Water probably comes from a there, they earn but a third of the study focused on Bolivia, Guate- well. Under such conditions, child wages made by nonindigenous ag- mala, Mexico, and Peru-home to mortality rates, while declining, are ricultural laborers. more than four-fifths of the region's still high. Often isolated in rural ar- indigenous population-confirms eas-and usually unable to pay for What can be done? anecdotal wisdom. Although their treatment-indigenous people are In Bolivia being indigenous in- lives have improved in recent years, more likely to become ill, and less creases the probability of being the indigenous people of Latin likely to consult a physician or be poor by 16%. But if the head of a America live in conditions of ex- vaccinated. household is unemployed, that treme poverty.* probability nearly triples. Employ- People in large parts of Latin Lack of schooling-the major ment is more important than heri- America earn less than $2 a day, but handicap tage. But getting a reasonably an overwhelming majority of the Despite some improvement in re- well-paying job is strongly related indigenous population falls below cent years, indigenous people lag to education. Increasing schooling this poverty line. Guatemala is the far behind the rest of the population to 16 years would decrease the pov- worst case. Two of three Guatema- in access to education. Partly for erty ratio for indigenous Latin lan households are poor-but 9 of cultural reasons, partly because the Americans by more than half. 10 indigenous families fall into parents themselves are uneducated, Education can't do the whole job. that category. Elsewhere, the situa- partly because of a demand for If indigenous workers had the same tion is not much better. Although child labor, the children in these education, experience, and health only 18% of nonindigenous families more often repeat primary as their nonindigenous peers, half Mexicans live below the poverty grades and leave school at an early the difference in wages would re- line, 81% of Mexico's indigenous age. In Guatemala more than 60% main. The explanation for this lies people do. of the indigenous people have no in part in culture and the quality of formal education. Those who do education and in part, of course, in 'For more details, see George Psacharopoulos and Harry A. have schooling have an average of discrimination. Mexico, for ex- Patrinos, eds., Indigenous People and Pouerty in Latin less than two years. In Peru only 6% ample, has made large gains in edu- Amenic An Empirical Analysis, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1994. of the indigenous children receive cation in recent decades, but vast inequities remain. Moreover, the in- . b digenous people receive lower Lagg be hind at sc hool wages because they are locked by Average years of schooling by birth cohort custom or location into parts of the Bolivia Nonindigenous men economy where low wages prevail. 10 ,*. ...... But there is an unrealized potential. .... If policymakers concentrate on en- womenousneous men- suring that indigenous people get 6 ......... better schooling, training, and 4Indigenous women health services, they could vastly improve the lives of those in this 2 group and their descendants. 0 The indigenous people badly Before 1939 1939-48 1949-53 1954-58 1959-63 1964-68 need improved health services. For 9 their own well-being and the health 8 Mexico Nonindigenous men_,. of their children, childbearing 7. Nonindigenous women need more and better medi- 6 women cal services. A little effort can yield 5 Indgenous large results. In Bolivia poor 4 me women and their young children 3 generally receive inferior medical 2.. .*.*. .ndjienous women service. But thanks to a targeted 0 public clinic program, the country's Before 1930 1930-39 1940-49 1950-59 1960-69 poor are more likely to benefit from preventive health care procedures 12 such as tetanus vaccination. Here 11 Peru Nonindigenous men again, added education can help. 10 d .. -- Fertility and child mortality rates 9 are strongly related to years of 8 schooling. Improve education in a 7 .. Indgnousmen population group and both these 6 women 5 I~* ndigenouswoe indicators improve, regardless of 5 . '. the group's origin and income. 3 1930-34 1935-39 1940-44 1945-49 1950-54 1955-59 1960-64 1965-69 1970-74 The next steps Any attempt to improve the condi- Source: George Psacharopoulos and Harry A. Patrinos, Indigenous People and Poverty in Latin tions of indigenous people must America: An Empirical Analysis, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1994. recognize that improving well- being does not mean imposing guistic characteristics of their citi- conditions of this large mass of other people's values. Those who zens in household or labor force people. Even without further re- would help must consider tradi- surveys. Deeper analysis also is re- search, if policymakers focus on en- tional customs and knowledge. quired. Indigenous people in rural suring equal access to schooling, More studies of the Latin Ameri- areas, for example, often are active training, and health services, much can indigenous population are in unpaid but productive activities of the income differential between needed. Researchers need better that outsiders misrepresent as un- indigenous and other workers definitions of the target population employment or underemployment. would disappear. And a large seg- and more data. Few countries in the The goal, however, is to reduce ment of the Latin American popu- region identify the ethnic and lin- poverty-to improve the living lation would rise out of poverty. DeolaoprsrntBrienfs are issued by the World Bank to inform the media, business, academic, and government policy communihes about development policy analyses and results from the Bank's research activities. Theyare drawn from the workof individual Bankresearchersand donotnecessarily represent the views of theWorld Bankand its member countries-and should not thereforebe attributed totheWorld Bank or its affiliates. Briefs areissued periodically by theResearch Advisory Staff,DevelopmentEconomicsVice Prmidency,The World Bank, 1818 H Street,_NW,Washington, DC 20433. Tel: (202)473-3984, Fax: (202)477-0955. Briefs are not copyrighted and may be reproduced with the appropriate attribution.