Jobs are essential for the growth of individuals and countries alike. Achieving personal fulfillment is harder without a job, just as an economy as a whole cannot develop without the impetus of the labor market. These two perspectives unquestionably go hand in hand: from the individual perspective, finding a good job is a legitimate aspiration for anyone who wishes to support oneself and one's family; from the societal perspective, creating more and better jobs is essential to the achievement of lasting and equitable growth. Jobs for Growth rests on this dual vision.

With the aim of contributing to the design of evidence-based public health policies in Latin America and the Caribbean and giving special consideration to patient or health service user perspectives, between 2012 and 2014 the Inter-American Development Bank carried out the Primary Care Access, Experience and Coordination Survey in Latin America and the Caribbean, in adult populations in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, Panama and Jamaica.

This paper presents new data documenting the level and evolution of public spending on non-contributory programs for 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Salaried formal workers contribute to social security and in return have access to an array of benefits -mainly old-age pensions and health services. In recent decades, informal workers – salaried and non-salaried- have gained access to similar benefits, financed through general revenues. Our calculations indicate that, on average, the region spends 1.7% of GDP in these programs.

The cost simulation tool for long-term care systems provides a way to quickly estimate how much it would cost governments in Latin America and the Caribbean to implement this type of system. It can also be used to compare different service packages and make projections.

This dataset contains the data and figures associated with the publication “Aging in Latin America and the Caribbean: Social Protection and Quality of Life of Older Person”.

This technical note describes how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Latin America and the Caribbean, and considers the implications for future population health, health spending, healthcare service reforms, and investments to prepare for future health emergencies. It provides a summary of the few existing empirical studies and then contributes original analysis using administrative data from hospitals and vital registration systems in five countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the centrality of population health to the economy and social well-being, while highlighting serious and long-standing structural problems in health systems. In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), it highlighted serious deficiencies in basic dimensions such as quality, results, costs and equity. Today countries must manage the increasing complexity of their health systems as they face an unprecedented economic crisis.