Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean: Coverage and Investment Trends

Abstract

This document analyses the evolution of the population coverage and investment of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes, which are poverty reduction initiatives, in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean over the past 20 years. The analysis is based on up-to-date, detailed information from the database on non-contributory social protection programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is administered by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and available to the public via the Internet. The database presents information on the various components of the programmes and the institutions responsible for them and provides data on budgets, expenditure, coverage and transfer amounts of each CCT programme. The paper finds that both CCT programme coverage and investment increased significantly in the region during the 2000s, stabilized after 2010 and fell in 2014 and 2015, primarily due to coverage reductions in Ecuador and Guatemala. As of 2015, CCT programmes served one fifth of the region‘s population — 132 million people and 30 million households — with an investment equivalent to 0.33% of regional GDP, or USUS$ 153 per capita. Preliminary data for 2016 suggest a further decline in coverage.