The Senate bill introduced seeks to establish a public policy to combat child poverty.

San Juan, November 18 (RHC)-- A report presented by Puerto Rican Senator Elizabeth Rosa-Vélez, chair of the Commission for the Eradication of Poverty, reveals that more than 50 percent of Puerto Ricans are poor.

The data offered in the document indicated that poverty is at 52.3 percent in the country, this figure after the impacts caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.  

The Senate legislation, presented by Rosa-Vélez, seeks to establish a public policy to combat child poverty although it positions the eradication of poverty as a foundation to enhance economic development and not as a necessity for the guarantee of human rights.

"Therefore, it is necessary to start implementing new policies that will allow us to begin to reduce and subsequently eradicate child poverty.  Taking action to this effect is indispensable, since Puerto Rico's economic development depends in large part on a prosperous, educated, and healthy citizenry," the senator's document states.

Regarding child poverty, a study published by the Youth Development Institute noted that 58 percent of children in Puerto Rico live below the poverty level, while 37 percent live in extreme poverty.

According to an analysis presented by Rosa-Vélez, insisting on a comparison between multi-dimensional poverty and income deprivation by gender, women have the highest percentage, with 49.3 and 46.2 percent, respectively in those parameters.