Argentina - Myth of egalitarian society fading away for young people

A study on young people and human development in South America's Mercosur trade bloc indicates that while in Brazil, the country's longstanding social inequality is the focus of at least somewhat successful efforts to combat it, in Argentina the vision of an equitable society is fading away. The study, carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the four full member countries of Mercosur (the Southern Common Market), was published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and presented in Montevideo last week. "Argentine society has changed with respect to its past self-image, which was largely a myth," says the 2009-2010 Mercosur Human Development Report, titled "Innovating for Inclusion: Youth and Human Development". The study concludes that in Argentina, in spite of its relatively high level of human development compared to its neighbours, young people between the ages of 15 and 29 suffer from "unfavourable social inclusion," with precarious jobs, high school drop-out rates, and newer challenges like urban violence and discrimination.