ABSTRACT
The 1980s were a bad decade for Latin America,2 with falling per capita incomes in almost every country (Table 7.1). The number of people in poverty rose from 91 million in 1980 to 133 million in 1990 a rise from 26 per cent to 32 per cent of the population falling below the poverty line; the numbers and the incidence of poverty rose in both urban and rural areas.3 Most countries in Latin America adopted adjustment measures during the decade for various lengths of time, generally in collaboration with the IFIs (see Table 7.2).
