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Poverty & Hunger

Colombia

In the early years of the 21st Century

Description: Description: Description: Colombia

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Colombia in the early years of the 21st Century.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false.   No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of poverty are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring the relationship between distribution of labor and per-capita GDP, for example.  Perhaps your paper could focus on life expectancy or infant mortality.  Other factors of interest might be unemployment, literacy, access to basic services, etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to include some of the possible outgrowths of poverty such as Human Trafficking, Street Children, or even Prostitution.  There is a lot to the subject of Poverty.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

*** Extreme Weather ***

According to CNN, wildfires were raging across several parts of the country, and the government had declared a disaster situationThe fires are the result of hot and dry conditions linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon, which was expected to continue for a few months before ending during the Northern Hemisphere spring. Microsoft BING Copilot

*** ARCHIVES ***

The World Factbook - Colombia

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA

www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html

[accessed 23 November 2020]

World Factbook website has moved to ---> www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/colombia/

[accessed 5 January 2021]

Colombia heavily depends on energy and mining exports, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices. Colombia is Latin America’s fourth largest oil producer and the world’s fourth largest coal producer, third largest coffee exporter, and second largest cut flowers exporter. Colombia’s economic development is hampered by inadequate infrastructure, poverty, narcotrafficking, and an uncertain security situation, in addition to dependence on primary commodities (goods that have little value-added from processing or labor inputs).

GDP - per capita (PPP): $14,400 (2017 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 17%

industry: 21%

services: 62% (2011 est.)

Unemployment rate: 9.3% (2017 est.)

Population below poverty line: 28% (2017 est.)

Maternal mortality rate: 83 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 12.3 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 76.6 years

Drinking water source: improved: total: 97.3% of population

Physicians density: 2.11 physicians/1,000 population (2017)

Sanitation facility access: improved: total: 94.7% of population

Electricity access: electrification - total population: 99% (2016)

The Borgen Project - Columbia

borgenproject.org/category/colombia/

[accessed 25 January 2021]

The Borgen Project works with U.S. leaders to utilize the United States’ platform behind efforts toward improving living conditions for the world’s poor.  It is an innovative, national campaign that is working to make poverty a focus of U.S. foreign policy.  It believes that leaders of the most powerful nation on earth should be doing more to address global poverty. From ending segregation to providing women with the right to vote, nearly every wrong ever righted in history was achieved through advocacy. The Borgen Project addresses the big picture, operating at the political level advancing policies and programs that improve living conditions for those living on less than $1 per day.

~ Colombia’s National Development Plan

borgenproject.org/colombias-national-development-plan/

~ Slum Reform In Colombia: 3 Ways Medellín Reformed Its Slums

borgenproject.org/slum-reform-in-colombia/

~ Improved Water Resources In La Guajira

borgenproject.org/water-resources-in-la-guajira/

~ Colombia’s Improved Healthcare

borgenproject.org/colombias-improved-healthcare/

~ Renewable Energy In Colombia

borgenproject.org/renewable-energy-in-colombia/

~ Colombian Family Creates Youtube Channel To Teach Sustainable Farming Practices

borgenproject.org/sustainable-farming-practices/

Action Against Hunger - Colombia

www.actionagainsthunger.org/countries/americas/colombia

[accessed 21 March 2021]

Official data indicates the presence of more than one million Venezuelans to date, although, according to some estimates, the actual figure could be double that amount. Half of the migrants are in bordering departments (La Guajira, Cesar, North Santander, Arauca, Vichada and Guainía), which are characterized by extreme poverty rates well above the national level and a highly deficient access to basic services.

Another fraction of the migrants arriving in Colombia are based in cities such as Bogotá, living on the streets or in informal settlements with little access to services. Migrants who pass through Colombian territory in order to reach other countries face the risk of being victims of armed groups operating in the south of the country (trafficking, forced recruitment). The migration crisis has exacerbated the humanitarian impacts of the armed conflict and violence, which continues to escalate in the country.

The World Bank in Colombia

www.worldbank.org/en/country/colombia/overview

[accessed 18 April 2021]

The World Bank Group engagement with Colombia is structured around a model that provides development solutions adapted to the country, with an integral package of financial, knowledge and convening services.

Looking back a few years …

Advameg, Inc., Encyclopedia of the Nations

www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Colombia-ECONOMY.html

[accessed 23 November 2020]

During the 1970s, Colombia's economy struggled with an inflationary spiral that rose from a rate of 15.4% in 1972 to 25% during the following decade. Inflation remained close to 20% annually through the 1980s and much of the 1990s. After 1983, however, the economy improved significantly, and growth rates rose above the world and hemispheric averages—an average of 4% between 1988 and 1998. In 1990, President Cesar Gaviria instituted an economic restructuring plan known as apertura (opening). The program emphasized trade expansion through tariff reduction, free trade agreements and privatization of state-owned enterprises, including banks, power plants, airports, seaports, roads and telecommunications networks. After the initial burst, the pace of privatization was slowed.

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