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07 Nov 2005 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, November 07, 2005
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Annual Survey Finds
Slight Drop in Poverty
To the surprise of many, including President Abel Pacheco, poverty in Costa Rica has not risen over the last year as some had predicted it would, but has fallen by just less than a percentage point, according to Household Survey of the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), released Friday. This statistical drop comes despite rising inflation, less social spending, lower individual incomes and higher prices for the basic consumer commodities.
(Click for more)
Most Young Costa Rican
Women Think
A Woman Can
Choose Not to Have Children
Seventy-five percent of Costa Rican women surveyed said that they believed a woman can choose not to have children, while 90% agreed that the responsibility of maintaining a home is the responsibility of both husband and wife.
(Click for more)
Record Amount of
Cocaine
Seized in 2005
The Costa Rican Drug Control Police have confiscated 5,623 kilos of cocaine so far this year, a record weight for a single year, a police source said.
(Click for more)
November 07
Christmas Quilting Course
Christmas quilting course begins today, and continues on Nov. 9, 11, 14, 16 and 18. At the Gold Museum, underneath the Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San José. 243-4219
Tribal/Ethnic Music
The group Amounsulú, which plays tribal/ethnic music, will play live at 10pm at the Jazz Café, in San Pedro, east of San José.
Another LTG Open House
With a sneak preview of “Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol,” 7-9pm, Blanche Brown Theater, Escazú, 355-1623
Edited By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
Annual Survey Finds
Slight Drop in Poverty
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
To the surprise of many, including President Abel Pacheco, poverty in Costa Rica has not risen over the last year as some had predicted it would, but has fallen by just less than a percentage point, according to Household Survey of the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), released Friday. This statistical drop comes despite rising inflation, less social spending, lower individual incomes and higher prices for the basic consumer commodities.
“With what we have received this year in immigration, with the issue of petroleum, with the hurricanes, with all the tragedies, I believe it is heroic of the Costa Rican people to have achieved a reduction in poverty,” Pacheco told the daily La Nación while he was in Argentina for the Summit of the Americas. “It surprises me that it has lowered and I believe in Costa Rica now more than ever.”
The survey, which tracks social and economic indicators such as employment, the size of the labor force, incomes and the poverty level, has been conducted every year since 1987.
According to this year's results, the percentage of homes in poverty fell from the 21.7% recorded in July of last year to 21.5%, translating into 237,000 impoverished families. The percentage of homes in extreme poverty, which are included in the 21.5%, remained at 5.6%, the same as last year.
For the poverty line, the survey used a urban monthly income of ¢43,350 ($88.47) per person and a rural monthly income of ¢34,665 ($70.74).
The survey also found that the nation's labor force had grown by 134,300 people to a total of 1.9 million people, representing a 7.6% increase over last year, a substantial growth when compared to a 3% average growth over the last five years. Within the workforce, 1.8 million people are employed and 126,000 are unemployed, resulting in an unemployment rate of 6.6%, almost equal to last year's rate of 6.5%.
The growth of the labor force factors into a higher number of sources of incomes per household, researchers explained to the press Friday. As a result, average household incomes grew this year despite a drop in individual incomes. Individual incomes fell by 3.7%, while household incomes grew 2.8%.
Most Young Costa Rican Women Think
A Woman Can Choose Not to Have Children
Seventy-five percent of Costa Rican women surveyed said that they believed a woman can choose not to have children, while 90% agreed that the responsibility of maintaining a home is the responsibility of both husband and wife.
The results of the survey were contained in the study “Woman of the Future II,” conducted by the firm Unimer for the publicity company Garnier BBDO and published yesterday in the magazine Proa, an insert in Sunday edition of the daily La Nación.
According to the survey, 86% of Costa Rican females between the ages of 15 and 35 said they feel “happy” with their lives, while 70% said that a family is not necessarily made up of a mother, father and children, but could be another type of familial group.
In addition, 62% said that they consider it “admirable” for a woman to work outside of the home, and 50% are of the opinion that men feel “threatened” by the increased independence that women are gaining.
The results were compared to a similar study carried out in 1993 that also had the objective of understanding how women were before the turn of the century, and according to researchers, young Costa Rican woman have shown important changes in the last 12 years.
Rodrigo Garnier, general manager of Garnier BBDO, said that, in reality, women today are much more “empowered” and have more weight in making decisions associated with the family and society.
“In 1993, women were just beginning to show themselves capable of incorporating into areas previously unavailable to women,” he said.
Today, many women have integrated into the country's workforce and many constitute the principal source of income in their homes, the publicist explained.
In addition, a great number of women feel they have the right to decide what is bought in the house, how their children's education should be, what is the best bank to use and which credit cards to use, he added.
“We cannot deny that women are an important part of the market and we, as publicists, should know what their tastes are, values, attitudes and expectations are,” said Randall Moreira, planning director for Garnier BBDO.
Six hundred and forty-two women between the ages of 15 and 35 of different educational and economic levels from the Greater Metropolitan Area participated in the study, which has a 3.9% margin of error.
ACAN-EFE
Record Amount of
Cocaine
Seized in 2005
The Costa Rican Drug Control Police have confiscated 5,623 kilos of cocaine so far this year, a record weight for a single year, a police source said.
Security Minister Rogelio Ramos said Friday in a statement that with two months still left in the year, the cocaine seized so far this year by the drug police exceeds the former record of 5,566 kilos, from 1997.
Ramos added that Thursday, authorities seized 167 kilos of cocaine in Golfito, on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica near the border with Panama. That bust was what pushed this year's figure past the 1997 record.
The 167 kilos of cocaine were being smuggled aboard a microbus driven by a Costa Rican with the last names Chávez Salas, 38, who remained in police custody and could face up to 15 years of prison if found guilty of drug trafficking.
ACAN-EFE
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