Gloria Camargo
According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), 25.4% of the country’s population is in the middle class. This social group is located between the extremes of poverty and wealth, characterized by having an acceptable level of income that is neither too low nor too high. In addition, the middle class has access to education and enjoys a quality of life in which nothing is lacking but also not superfluous.
However, how do you know for sure if you are part of the middle class? To answer this question, Dane uses the per capita income criterion to classify the population according to their socioeconomic status. In this way, five categories are established: extreme poverty, poverty, vulnerability, middle class and upper class.
To determine if a person belongs to the middle class, the Dane establishes a range of per capita income within the household, which in 2020 ranged between more than 653,781 pesos and less than 3,520,360 pesos per month. These values are updated annually according to inflation.
Per capita income is calculated by adding the income of each household member and dividing the total by the number of people in the household. For example, if a household of four members has a total income of three million pesos, the per capita income would be 750,000 pesos, a figure that would be located in the range corresponding to the middle class.
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On the other hand, in Colombia a household is considered rich when each member has an income of more than 3.7 million pesos.
During the first half of the year, the economic outlook and the inflationary trend have generated great difficulties for Colombians. The cost of living and the increase in food prices have been especially impactful in this situation.
It is important to highlight that this problem has not only arisen in Colombia, but is also a global concern due to the economic consequences of the pandemic, which have exerted pressure on rulers in all regions. A study carried out by the firm Kantar reveals that these effects are shared in countries such as El Salvador, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina and other nations according to the social trends observed in these areas.
In Latin America, food prices have increased on average by up to 43.9%. However, the study highlights that people with lower incomes are one of the groups that spend the most on food.
Faced with this situation, various entities have taken concrete measures, such as lowering the interest rates requested by the government from banks. This has also played an important role in supply chains, as several supermarket chains have decided to lower their prices. The initiative began with Ara Supermarkets and has spread throughout the country.
According to the Agricultural Product Price Bulletin of the Rural Agricultural Planning Unit (UPRA), there have been significant reductions in the prices of fresh fruits, onions, and black potatoes.