Resumen

CAMARANO, Ana Amélia  y  PASINATO, Maria Tereza. Aging, poverty and social security in Latin America. Pap. poblac [online]. 2007, vol.13, n.52, pp.9-45. ISSN 2448-7147.

Latin America's elderly population is expected to grow fast within the next 40 years. This perspective is followed by some uncertainty about the capability of income generation by old people. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the processes of income generation by these people and speculate about their future trends. Six countries of the region were selected: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru. It is assumed that the main sources of income of elderly population are Social Security Systems and labor markets. The importance of the social security benefits on elderly people and their families' income is described. Transformations in labor market have resulted in a dramatic reduction of the proportion of the active population which contributes to social security. This suggests that the traditional ways to finance the system will not be enough to generate income for an increasing demand of social benefits in the context of contributor's reduction.

Palabras llave : aging; poverty; social security; Latin America.