Spanish – Venezuela, the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, is now the poorest in the region. Its poverty levels are comparable to those in Africa. The Living Conditions Survey (Encovi) 2019-2020 revealed that 79.8% of the population (more than 22 million Venezuelans) are in extreme poverty, while 96.2% are income poor.
During a virtual conference, sociologist Luis Pedro España, coordinator of the Encovi, said that “Venezuela has never had these levels of poverty.”
Tras presentar el resultado de la encuesta Encovi, el Sociologo Luis Pedro España dice que Venezuela nunca había alcanzado los niveles actuales de pobreza. Afirma que también se ha convertido en un país más desigual. pic.twitter.com/3rBqZTniIq
— Osmary Hernandez (@osmarycnn) July 7, 2020
Poverty has been increasing since 2014. In that year, extreme poverty was at 20.6% and has increased exponentially since then. In 2002, when Hugo Chávez was in his first term of office, this indicator stood at 22.4%. With Chavismo in power, the figure rose to 96.2%.
79.3% of Venezuelans cannot cover the basic consumption basket, and 68% consume less than 2000 calories per day. More than 70% of Venezuelan households report serious and moderate food insecurity.
Today’s children will die prematurely
Around 30% of children in Venezuela are chronically undernourished, according to the height-age indicator. This figure is comparable to African countries such as Nigeria and Cameroon, and the situation will have irreversible consequences in the long term.
The study reveals that today, children in Venezuela will die prematurely. Those born between 2015-2020 and still living in the country will have an average life expectancy of 3.7 years less than that predicted by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This is due to the very poor conditions and decadent nutrition of the population.
Venezuela became one of the most impoverished and politically unstable countries in the world. It is currently second only to Nigeria in terms of poverty and inequality.
The situation in the South American country is so dire that a basic food basket for a household costs at least two dollars a day. However, this is the minimum wage in the country. The average income of Venezuelans is 0.72 dollars a day.
The humanitarian crisis caused by Chavismo has led six million Venezuelans to leave their country, hoping to find a way out of poverty. Meanwhile, a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) placed Venezuela in fifth place among the world’s ten most forgotten crises of displaced persons.