Did You Know ...?
- In Latin America and the Caribbean there are 13.5 fatal work accidents reported per 100,000 workers, more than twice as high as the established market economies which have 5.3 per 100,000. (Takala, 1999)
- Hypertension is the leading risk factor for death in Latin America, accounting for about 242,000 deaths each year, followed by alcohol abuse, unsafe water, malnutrition, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and occupational hazards. (Murray and Lopez, 1996)
- In a survey of the State of Yucatan, in Mexico, 40 percent of agricultural workers suffered from some degree of pesticide poisoning annually. (Drucker A., B. Crowder, J. Alvarado, R. Gonzalez, O. Rubio. 1999. Economic Evaluation of the Occupational Health Impact of Agrochemical Use in Yucatan, Mexico)
- In Bogota, Colombia, 57 percent of homicides occur during the weekend and 68 percent occur between 6p.m. and 6a.m. (IDB, Technical Notes on Violence?Social Development Division, July 1999)
- In Latin America, the majority of homicide victims are young men, of which 69 percent are between the age of 15 and 29. (IDB, Technical Notes on Violence?Social Development Division, July 1999)
- One in 10 Brazilian girls between 15 and 19 has at least two children, and 40 percent of Brazilian teenagers who become pregnant leave school either to get married or work. (Alan Guttmaker Institute, 1999)
- During the mid- to late-1990's, eight Latin American countries had employment rates of 20 percent or higher for 15 year-old boys, reaching 45 percent in Ecuador and 51 percent in Paraguay. Girls on average have employment rates that are 40 percent lower than boys. (IDB, Social and Economic Progress, 2000)
- Ecuador's constitution of 1998 recognizes the collective rights for indigenous communities, such as ownership of their lands, the right to be consulted on plans and programs for exploiting non renewable natural resources, not to be displaced from their lands, and the intellectual ownership of their ancestral knowledge. (Constitution of Ecuador, 1998)
Last updated: 05/02/07