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Can Latin America Protect the Elderly with Non‐Contributory Programmes? The Case of Uruguay
Author(s) -
FerreiraCoimbra Natalia,
Forteza Alvaro
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
development policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.671
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1467-7679
pISSN - 0950-6764
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7679.2005.00308.x
Subject(s) - latin americans , poverty , pension , development economics , economic growth , population , economics , business , demographic economics , political science , medicine , environmental health , finance , law
Coverage of contributory pension programmes has been quite disappointing in Latin America in the aftermath of the reforms. The question thus arises as to whether non‐contributory programmes could fill the gap. Uruguay is atypical in this region in that the proportion of the elderly receiving contributory pensions is high, and the incidence of poverty among the aged population is lower than among any other age group. But several observers fear that this situation could deteriorate in the future, because the conditions for accessing the pensions have been significantly tightened in the past decade. This article assesses several options for reforming the existing non‐contributory pension programme, and estimates their fiscal cost.