The report presents a diagnostic ofpoverty, human development, and access to socialinfrastructure in Bolivia, based on analytical work, toserve as an input for the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper(PRSP). Findings suggest that poverty affects half of thepopulation in large cities, two thirds in other urban areas,and eighty percent in rural areas. Nonetheless, there isseemingly a recent decrease in inequality, although thisdoes not imply a long-term trend. The complex determinantsof poverty, are also increased by the fact of being from anindigenous population, and of having a household headunemployed, underemployed, and/or female. Since povertydecreases with education, and employment in non-agriculturaloccupations, and geography affects poverty, migrationbecomes a poverty-reducing tool. A qualitative study offarmers in the Altiplano suggest decreased ruralproductivity, intensified by climatic, demographic, andenvironmental pressures, with little gain from mostdevelopment projects. Hence, progress in non-monetaryindicators show that while unsatisfied basic needs fellsignificantly from 1976 to 2001, the gains were mainlyachieved in urban areas, and needs remain large in ruralareas. It is suggested that this progress in basic needsmeasures, lies in the increased social spending, but thescope for reducing monetary poverty, lies in theaccessibility to public infrastructure services, in reducingviolence, and gender issues. But the impact of growth needsfurther understanding, with improvements in productivity andcompetitiveness, enlarged by improvements in education,health, and nutrition, where the poor may benefit more thanthe non-poor from the expansion of these services.
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