This public expenditure review is produced jointly by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, and focuses on social sectors spending and leaves aside infrastructure and other sectors. This report, finalized in June 2002 and discussed with Authorities in mid-August 2002, does not...

The biggest pension policy challenge faced by most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) today is low coverage of formal pension systems, both in terms of the proportion of workers participating in pension schemes and the proportion of the elderly receiving some kind of pension...

Latin American and Caribbean countries are the most urban in the developing world and enjoy very high home ownership rates. But one look at the shantytowns clinging precariously to the hillsides around many of the region's cities is enough to know that poor housing remains a serious problem....