Abstract
Latin America is a vast territory involving many countries, many languages, and many ethnicities but with a common identity. This identity has crystallized through history, geography, and people. History has also produced a legacy of weak political institutions, high concentrations of wealth, and great social exclusion. The recent history of the region reflects efforts made to achieve greater well-being; these efforts have been relatively successful but have also been hampered by obstacles and missteps. People in the region opted for strategies that foster economic growth, thus achieving modest to significant gains in health, education, and material well-being while neglecting other important sources of well-being. Nevertheless, well-being surveys show that most Latin Americans are satisfied with their lives. The major driver of this satisfaction seems to involve family and human relations.
Tres cosas hay en la vida: Salud, dinero y amor. El que tenga esas tres cosas Que le dé gracias a Dios.
There are three things in life: Health, money, and love. Whoever has those three things should give thanks to God.(tango lyrics; Sciammarella 1939)
Regional map of Central America and the Caribbean (CIA 2015; public domain)
Regional map of South America (CIA 2015; public domain)
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Notes
- 1.
Information is presented for the four most populous countries in the region (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina), which represent about 60–70 % of the total population in the region.
- 2.
This information comes from the Montevideo-Oxford Latin American Economic History Data Base, http://moxlad.fcs.edu.uy/. Figures for the beginning of the twentieth century are supplied by Shane and Barbara Hunt (Thorp 1998).
- 3.
- 4.
Under UNICEF’s definition, a child is considered to be involved in child labor under the following conditions: (a) children 5–11 years old who, during the reference week, engaged in at least 1 h of economic activity or at least 28 h of household chores or (b) children 12–14 years old who, during the reference week, engaged in at least 14 h of economic activity or at least 28 h of household chores.
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Rojas, M., García Vega, J.d.J. (2017). Well-Being in Latin America. In: Estes, R., Sirgy, M. (eds) The Pursuit of Human Well-Being. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39101-4_8
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