This web site includes statistics on poverty and other distributional and social variables in 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries. All statistics are computed from microdata of the main household surveys in these countries obtained from the household surveys databank of the Program for the Improvement of Surveys and the Measurement of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean (MECOVI), a joint initiative of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Statistics are updated periodically.

SEDLAC allows users to monitor the trends in poverty and other distributional and social indicators in the region. The dataset is available in the form of electronic Excel tables with information for each country/year.

The database includes information from 155 household surveys carried out in 21 LAC countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. These surveys are obtained from the household surveys databank of the MECOVI program.

The Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) of the University of La Plata in partnership with the World Bank’s Latin America and the Caribbean Poverty and Gender Group (LCSPP) have developed a Socio-Economic Database for the LAC region (SEDLAC) with the purpose of improving the timely access to key socio-economic statistics, including indicators on poverty, inequality, income, employment, access to services, education, health, housing, social programs, and numerous demographics.

SEDLAC is implemented as part of the Program for the Improvement of Surveys and the Measurement of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean (MECOVI). Since 1996 the MECOVI Program has been contributing to the improvement of the multipurpose household surveys in the LAC region. The expanded coverage and quality of household surveys in the region has allowed to assemble more than 400 Household Surveys in the MECOVI Regional Poverty Data Bank, which provide the foundation for the SEDLAC Dataset. Most of the original datasets can be obtained in the websites of national statistical offices (see links in MECOVI) or by writing to mecovi@worldbank.org.

SEDLAC builds on the initial initiative carried out as part of the World Bank's 2004 Inequality Flagship report, and has subsequently been expanded with more indicators, datasets and documentation in the context of LCSPP's activities to support the monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and the World Bank’s LAC region 2006 Flagship report on Growth and Poverty Reduction and the ongoing 2007 Flagship report on Informality.

SEDLAC is continually updated and improved based on the feedback from users. Please write to cedlas@depeco.econo.unlp.edu.ar and nkim@worldbank.org. Aside from cross country analyses, staff from CEDLAS and LCSPP analyze and incorporate the data at the country level each time a new survey is available. Consistency checks with other national or international sources of socio-economic statistics are conducted regularly.