Venezuela tops the list of 12 Latin American countries that have been able to reduce social inequality, said the president of Venezuela’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), Elías Eljuri, on July 23.

The president of the INE noted that the information was published in a recent report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

“In Venezuela, the Gini coefficient dropped from 0.49 in 1999 to 0.39 in 2009, becoming the country in Latin America with the lowest inequality,” said Eljuri during a meeting held in Caracas to celebrate World Population Day. Representatives from INE and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) attended the event.

Eljuri remarked the importance of Venezuela continuing its work on policies aimed at decreasing the gap between rich and poor. “We have to continue the fight to reduce inequality. We cannot be pleased, despite being the country with the least inequality in the region, because 40 percent of the income is still in the hands of only the richest 20 percent of the population,” he said.

Eljuri said that efforts have to be aimed at fighting for a more equal society, which is impossible to achieve by following capitalist economic formulas.

“We have to fight for a more equal society, and that’s not possible within such a savage capitalist system. We have to go forward towards a socialist society, which is the only way to reduce and finish inequality in the world,” he stated.

AVN/ Press and Communications Office of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the U.S./July 23, 2010