Latin America today is radically different from what it was only three and a half decades ago. Despite all of its faults, democracy is the most common type of government practiced in the region, although it with a high degree of heterogeneity. Today we have more consolidated democracies, more and better social protection policies and stronger and more integrated economies. During the last decade, 60 million people escaped poverty, expanding the middle class by more than 50 percent. The great challenge is now how to keep progressing and how to make this progress sustainable in a volatile global environment, full of challenges and uncertainties.
