Reduction of poverty slowing

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP):

The UN's economic body for Latin America and the Caribbean says the region's poverty is now easing at a slower pace.

UN economists based in Santiago said yesterday that 164 million people, or 28 per cent of the region's population, are still considered poor. That is nearly unchanged from last year.

Out of those, 68 million of them are in extreme poverty.

The last annual report said growing job income and economic growth helped lift a million people out of poverty to the lowest rate in more than three decades.

But the UN economic body said the pace in poverty reduction has slowed considerably after a decade of progress.