More than 80 per cent of indigenous Latin Americans are still living in "abject poverty", a new World Bank study has found, notwithstanding improvements in the standard of living for the poor in recent years.

Since the last decade, Latin American countries have made progress in education, job training, and skills, but an estimated 28 million people in indigenous populations have not been able to convert these advances into economic advantage, according to the study released Wednesday.

"This report highlights that low income and few resources are mutually reinforcing," said Harry Patrinos, co-author of the report entitled 'Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples in Latin America.

Exclusion from mainstream society

"Low levels of education hinder entry into higher paying jobs, while the lack of credit or access to farm machinery are roadblocks to increasing agricultural productivity," said Patrinos, who is also an education economist with the World Bank.

His co-author Emmanuel Skoufias, another World Bank economist, linked the problem to the 'historic exclusion' of indigenous populations from mainstream society, saying the study found that they "continue to have low levels of human capital, limited access to productive land, basic services, financial markets, and poor infrastructure."

Those who reside in rural areas are dependent on agriculture for jobs and wages, while urban dwellers are less likely to seek employment in the mainstream job market, and as such, have limited access to social, health and insurance benefits.

Citing the case of Guatemala, the World Bank report said less than 50 per cent of urban indigenous work for wages, compared to 65 per cent for non-indigenous.

In Ecuador, only 28 per cent of urban indigenous are formally employed compared to over 50 per cent of the non-indigenous population.

The report recommends that to effect a correction, policymakers should: improve human capital by designing development programmes to increase infrastructure, and open up access to credit, land, health, education and nutrition; and, press for a linking of the UN's indigenous decade goals with that of Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs), which have similar objectives.

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