Poverty in Santa Marta, Colombia: A Case Study

Abstract

In 1985, Santa Marta was the city with the lowest level of structural poverty in the Colombian Caribbean region according to the index of Unsatisfied Basic Needs (UBN). Two decades later, in 2005, Santa Marta worsened its relative performance, with an index of UBN greater than other cities of the region such as Cartagena and Barranquilla. This paper has three purposes. First, to characterize poverty and its spatial dimension in Santa Marta. Second, to understand the causes of the lag in poverty reduction. And third, to propose a set of investments to overcome this lag. Our analysis shows that one of the main factors associated with increased poverty in the city was the massive arrival of displaced people, starting in the 1990’s. The maps, meanwhile, show the appearance of misery belts in the surrounding foothills and in some areas inside the urban perimeter, where poverty is correlated with informality and low educational attainment. These and other results point to investment priorities in four sectors: education, housing, water and sewage, and employment.