There have been several news reports even in tv news reports from RCN and Caracol calling it as “pobreza vergonzante”; and is true, growing in the wealthiest sectors of Bogotá, is not uncommon to see people from stratum 6 accruing credit card debt to pay for their kids school, while refusing to sell an old BMW car, to not lose social status among their peers
Hello, Colombian here, the problem with our government's stratification by housing location and condition, without taking into account each person's income, is because our economy is highly informal, the vast majority of Colombians did not have bank accounts until recently (when fintechs like nubank became popular). The vast majority of the population does not pay taxes on their income either, because of this it is very difficult to keep track of the real socio-economic status of each household.
I am Colombian and as much as it hurts many of my compatriots, it is a fairly big truth that the stratum system is stupidly badly designed and in general the whole tax issue in the country: - In Colombia it is not common for people to pay taxes on their earnings, half of the people in the country work informally (black economy) where they do not report their earnings and everything is done with cash. This is especially evident in the periphery of the country where these values are 3 out of 5 people - Let's suppose that you are lucky and you work formally, you have your salary and you have your social security payments and all this is deposited into your bank account, the great majority of them earn between 300 dollars and 500 dollars. You are not obliged to tell the government how much you earn if you earn less than 800 dollars per month, for which reason you are not charged income tax - Only between 4% and 5% of the population earns more than 800 dollars per month. This means that in Colombia the money collected from the population as such is very little and this forces the state to have high taxes on companies which means that they cannot hire as many people as they would like - Since the population that has to pay these taxes is so small, the value of these is quite high, this has caused that culturally it is considered bad to pay taxes since they are a theft (due to how high they are and how these are so poorly designed) and a part of these people are politicians so there are legal tricks that they use to be able to evade/deduct taxes. Normally this could be solved with a tax reform that increases the tax base in people, reduces taxes in companies to increase legal hiring and in this way reduce informality and finally ensure that evading taxes is difficult. The problem is that such an ambitious reform would topple any government due to the protests (It's been tried before, it does not matter which party is in the government, the opposition will complain and will not allow it to be approved: The right does not like to raise taxes, and the left would consider increasing the tax base inequality) The average Colombian does not care that the system is broken, those with low incomes like to receive subsidies no matter how small they are, and the high-income population likes this system because it segregates the population and creates bubbles within the cities that allow them to get away from people with lower incomes.
Colombian here. amazing deep dive review considering the international scope of this channel. I’d like to point out the phenomenon of wealthy ppl living in low strata is called “riqueza oculta” (hidden wealth)
There is also "hidden poverty", referring to individuals living in areas considered to be of high socioeconomic status but whose income is insufficient to sustain that standard of living. They choose not to move to more affordable neighborhoods due to the social stigma among other upper-class members who might judge them for living in a poorer area.
yeah... i have been in houses that from the outside looks like low income house, once you enter, turns out to be little palaces whit all the gadgets you can imagine! and thats done in order to pay low bills :V
Colombia is not a federal government, as your video suggest, but rather a unitary, centralist republic. Indeed a federal vs a centralist government was a really debated topic in the eighteenth century leading to one of the bloodiest wars of Colombia's history. On the other hand, you suggest that stratification was done by dividing the land of the city into poorer or richer regions instead of surveying the people, making us believe that it was a rather foolish idea by the bureaucrats. However, you fail to address that Colombia is a country deeply affected by informal jobs, meaning that almost 40% of the people working in the country don't pay taxes based on their salary. So the government can't reliably make their decision as they do not have enough statistics nor a well functioning tributary system that adequately taxes its citizens.
It is a decentralized unitary republic with special districts and greater autonomy in each department since 1991, especially in local elections for governors and mayors.
Most taxes in Colombia are indirect, since 56% of the population, although formal, does not have the necessary income to declare and the other 44% barely survives on 100 dollars perrmonth
The central government (Colombia isn't a Federal country) are making some changes in the way they measure the strata and is trying to make a multidimensional review based on the multiple conditions of poverty that population faces. However, strata are deep rooted into collective psyche and it's very difficult to remove it. Personally, I live in a 3 strata neighborhood and I don't see myself living in a further strata.
Some things: 1: the people who do the stratification studies DO enter your house, and althought they don't say it they DO keep in mind the interior of the houses; it is pretty normal for people to hide their electrodomestics when there's a demographic census here, as these also serve as stratification studies. 2: Stratification also was a respone to the problems brought up by the (so called in Colombia) "período de liberación económica" (economic liberation period), globalization and opening of our market to foreign companies. 3: Stratification has been made worse with time, as AirBnB's and gentrification became the norm in the more "touristy" cities, making them more and more expensive to live in for poor people, reducing the standards of living for most; if you live in your little tugurio (a wooden or plastic scrap house), around properties that are getting more expenseive as time passes by it is assumed that you have the money to live in that place.
Si sabes que nos liberalizamos tarde y mal cierto? Porque cuando te liberalizas tarde lo que debes hacer como país es que la competencia arrase con lo que tenga que arrasar, y aquí cuando empezó a pasar eso nos volvimos a cerrar para luego al darnos cuenta de que nos quedábamos atrás volvernos a abrir. Fue todo un desastre y lo único que sé consiguió fue empobrecer más al país a costa de favorecer una supuesta industria nacional.
Colombian here, the strata system is far from perfect but can lead to good things, i was born and raised as a "Estrato 1", the lowest of them all and via a government issue scholarship only for the poorest citizens i was able to go to a private university and climb my way up, right now im sitting in my own apartment in a "Estrato 6" zone
I guess the problem is that, you had to escape your "zone" and go to a rich area. That way the poverty is geografically isolated and remains in squalor, while the money for infrastructure is spent on the rich áreas only
If true, consider yourself extremely lucky. The chances of someone from a very low socio-economical level to reach even middle class are pretty low. In colombia, most people brought up in strata 1, will have several children before being 20, and never will see their 30th birthday as they are victims of their surroundings. If your success story was the norm, there wouldn't be poor people!
Great analysis, as a Colombian Ive never heard of 'the ashamed' though. On the other hand the stratum idioms are correct, we also talk about 'being stratum 0' which is an exaggeration for poverty and lack of means. We also have an unbelievably expensive electricity on the caribbean region of the country. It could be another story you can cover.
The quality of the video is very high for such a small channel, and the research needed to produce a video like this is would take days/weeks. Keep going i like it!
Social strata are a classification deeply ingrained in the minds of Colombians. It’s not that we are constantly questioning which stratum we belong to, but we are aware of it. We know it when we interact with one another, based on the schools or universities we attend, the friends we have, even in the way we dress and speak. These classifications often lead to significant prejudices. For example, people from stratum 1 are often stereotyped as poor, rude, lacking manners, thieves, or criminals. On the other hand, those from stratum 6 are perceived as wealthy, snobbish, pretentious, selfish, or living in a bubble. While this dynamic exists throughout the country, it is particularly pronounced in Bogotá.
I'm Colombian, and I've seen with my own eyes people from stratum 1 whose houses look like any other ghetto/slums from the outside, but when you get inside, they are stratum 6 or higher and full of luxuries.
You started your video with lies. A broad generalization that contradicts all my life as a Colombian in the Capital. Many people make protest because the government does not invest in parks, streets and public transportation. Also a big proportion of the country lives in rent, so the argument of the taxes could only apply to the minorities that does have state.
It might be less explicit, but stratification is a thing in Europe too. The idea that you're changing class based on merit is wild. Most rich people are born rich or at least relatively wealthy over here. Since money attracts money, the poor stay poor. Since work doesn't provide enough to make a meaningful difference, education and housing will keep you far enough away from the walled gardens and gated communities.
Gated communities aren't that much of a reality in France, outside of a shitty city called Marseilles. That said, the other thing we admire is that the stratification is goes in 2 directions: there's monetary richness and cultural richness. Especially in France, kids from teachers for example are at a massive advantage to their peers.
Quick note: Vergonzante refers to “Shameful Poverty”. It is a term used more in the political and institutional context. It is not used colloquially, but it is true that people in the higher strata who no longer have economic means are embarrassed and constantly judged by their upper strata peers.
14:02 Funny, that's the same sentiment in the UK. Even poorer folks look at you as if your "above yourself" or "think too highly of yourself" and should "come down from your high horse." Which discourages people from improving "their standing".
I think you lacked proper research for this one, the Strata is only for the location, that's all. People dont have strata, or Caste, no one ask you your strata, you can live wherever you want. Strata do not appear con ID cards. because the strata IS FOR THE LOCATION, NOT THE PEOPLE. Thats why you can have different strata on the same place, you only have to cross the street for changing the strata. For a channel called "Factually" you need to check your facts.
Poverty in colombia is not just by colombian causes but entire world dinamics, this sistem has worth in the sense that for example strates 4, 5 and 6 has been getting fast development and consolidating great areas that nowdays are like first and second world, being powers of million people inside the country, this is earning relevance in world economy and are givend advantage to the full of the country and the areas close to this strates are getting development too, for example in the last decade we rise 3 cities to at least mid class promedy when before the implementation of this sistem the full of the cities were low class promeddy with vagage areas of development, is inequal but is getting developmen and great life quality areas at the same time, is part of the way we find
This is the reason why gentrification is a chaos nowadays in Colombia. Specially in cities such as Medellín, Cartagena or Bogotá, where the arrival of foreigners that get properties, build or rent houses or apartments, or the mearly arrival of tourists, starts to high up priceses and estate prices. Entire neighborhoods that were low class or middle in Medellín are now totally owned by foreigners, leaving them just for the extremely rich
This is also present in class systems of airlines. The 4% and 1% of Business class seats are where the real profits of airlines whilst the economy class just covers break even of the operator cost.
I am Colombian and as much as it hurts many of my compatriots, it is a fairly big truth that the stratum system is stupidly badly designed and in general the whole tax issue in the country: - In Colombia it is not common for people to pay taxes on their earnings, half of the people in the country work informally (black economy) where they do not report their earnings and everything is done with cash. This is especially evident in the periphery of the country where these values are 3 out of 5 people - Let's suppose that you are lucky and you work formally, you have your salary and you have your social security payments and all this is deposited into your bank account, the great majority of them earn between 300 dollars and 500 dollars. You are not obliged to tell the government how much you earn if you earn less than 800 dollars per month, for which reason you are not charged income tax - Only between 4% and 5% of the population earns more than 800 dollars per month. This means that in Colombia the money collected from the population as such is very little and this forces the state to have high taxes on companies which means that they cannot hire as many people as they would like - Since the population that has to pay these taxes is so small, the value of these is quite high, this has caused that culturally it is considered bad to pay taxes since they are a theft (due to how high they are and how these are so poorly designed) and a part of these people are politicians so there are legal tricks that they use to be able to evade/deduct taxes. Normally this could be solved with a tax reform that increases the tax base in people, reduces taxes in companies to increase legal hiring and in this way reduce informality and finally ensure that evading taxes is difficult. The problem is that such an ambitious reform would topple any government due to the protests (It's been tried before, it does not matter which party is in the government, the opposition will complain and will not allow it to be approved). The average Colombian does not care that the system is broken, those with low incomes like to receive subsidies no matter how small they are, and the high-income population likes this system because it segregates the population and creates bubbles within the cities that allow them to get away from people with lower incomes.
13:55 Up to the point there has been several songs about it, it reminds me of how my family played that song on the Christmas and one of my aunts told me to hear and understand the lyrics, i couldn't catch them properly until now, the ignorance its terrible these days.
Perfectly well summarise! I think in the future the stratification method of Colombia will be studied as one of the worst way to organize a society. Thanks!
Colombia, despide being a Capitalist country, has never been able to close the inequality gap. As such, many people live under the so called "informal economy". That is people without working contracts or in general banking services. That means that the government doesn't really have a good way to know what people earn. So determining whether or not you get subsides had to be done based on your address. But I don't defend the strata system. It was a solution meant to treat a symptom, not the root cause.
Capitalist countries aren't particularly known for closing inequality gaps. They boost the economy, usually helping everyone, but closing gaps seems antithetical to capitalism.
Capitalist economies suffer from a big inequality when they are in their first phases of development such as Western Europe and the US in the 19th century, but once they have developed and the wealth created is large enough it starts to get distributed and cascaded to the rets of the society. Colombia is still far from that.
Very interesting from a Colombian (black and raizal) pov, I find that part of the caste system is also racially motivated and for some areas it’s inspired from a colonial standpoint as well. If we see a white Colombia it has the best infrastructure and education; however when you go to black , indigenous and its current colonial territory these are marginalized from an infrastructure and educational standpoint, the welfare system encroaches and creates a dependency on the government! Very good video
Funny enough in some rich neighborhoods, people built their own roads and their own water waste systems so the goverment can't place them higher than estrato 5 to avoid paying higher taxes
Hola desde Colombia, a lot of those phrases I never heard before but it’s so true what you say in this video there are many people who don’t need the subsidies and they prefer to live really bad instead instead of paying taxes, that’s so sad.
Colombiano aquí, el problema con los estratos es que mucha gente con dinero miente en las encuestas y se hacen pasar por estratos bajos, eso se ve muy seguido aquí, entonces las ayuda s que deberían ir para gente pobre van para gente no tiene necesidad, en si la sociedad colombiana está podrida, desde la gente promedio hasta la élite, la mayoría son corruptos.
It’s absolutely true-everything you’ve said. The government is focusing on the wrong question: “Where do poor people live?” Instead, they should be addressing the core issue by understanding informal employment and job structures to accurately assess individual earnings and implement fair taxation. But let’s be honest-that’s politically suicide.
I remember when I lived in Boston and explained this system to a wealthy American lady in her sixties. She immediately replied: "but that is socialism!"
The reason why address is used instead of income is likely to avoid what happens in the american system where the most wealthy often pay no taxes at all bc they find loopholes to have a luxurious lifestyle while technically having no income, like by keeping their assets in the stock market entirely or by exploiting the tax cut for donations systems and stcking their own galleries with overvalued artworks their friends make, etc. The alternative to our system is having all the wealthy pay nothing in taxes at all by using loopholes. As for the "you are where you live" thing, that is not necesarily the case as this is why there are social programs to allow people from low income backgrounds to be more likely to get accepted into more prestigious schools and universities, allowing them to accrue wealth and eventually move up. Otherwise its not too dissimilar from other systems (say again, the american one) where you are identified by living in a ghetto with the stereotypes that come from it, or if you live by the beachside in Malibu with all the status that also comes along with. Your analysis basically seems to paint Colombia as exceptional when its not unless you go out of your way to compare us to Germany or some such place.
Colombian here. Facts: there is not such a thing as strata 1. If you're not completely homeless you are strata 2 or 3. Middle class is supposed to be strata 4, but under any first world standard, that's actually being poor. Strata 5-6 are not rich but actually middle-low class. There are actually some rich people, most of which are people involved in the drugs business or any other criminal activities, or they are corrupt public servants that, as funny as it might sound, they have all sort of subsidies. For instance, a congressman, has a salary that is 2-3 times higher than someone with the same position on the government in the US, Swiss or any other rich country. Finally, as fun fact, criminals and people involved in the drugs business are called by local media as "entrepreneurs".
Como vas a decir que alguien de estrato 6 es clase media baja? Vivir en un apartamento de 300 metros cuadrados, tener multiples autos de gama alta y vivir mejor que el 90% de la poblacion del mundo es "clase media baja" deje de decir estupideces.
colombian society is like any country. Proletarians depends on their own work, and secondary economy is the exit to troubles. People that belong to families that own lands from colonial times are divided by halves: Sisters and Brothers. Sisters get married with narc-paramilitaries as second marriage. Brothers are ussually intelectuals and single. So there are 2 pools of proletarians, black and white proletarians that depends of the work, and white intellectual proletarians (brothers).
It is a very curious case: The strata in Colombia were created to give preferential rates to the poor in public services. Over time it became a real caste system, that is, reproductively closed. For example, a woman from stratum 6 (Upper class) would never have children with a man from stratum 1 (Lower class). In colonial times, in Colombia there was another 6-level caste system: 6) White born in Europe, 5) White born in Colombia, 4) White+Indigenous Mestizo, 3) White+Black Mestizo, 2) Indigenous, 1) Black,... Now the caste system in Colombia is less racist, but there is still a strong correlation between skin color and socioeconomic status. Why does the caste system still exist in Colombia? Very simple: Because Euro-centrist colonialism never left. Independence was declared, but the structure of exploitation and exclusion that Europe imposed still exists, nuanced and with a different discourse, but it remains there.
The inequality index fails to capture the full reality of lived experiences. In Bolivia, poverty is widespread, and because the majority of the population faces similar economic hardships, the society appears more “equally poor.” This uniformity in economic status reduces measurable inequality, but it does not mean the standard of living is adequate or comparable to more developed nations. Inequality metrics like the Gini coefficient focus on the distribution of wealth without reflecting the absolute level of poverty or the quality of life within a country.
La constitución de 1886 no tenia como modelo de gobierno un modelo federal. La Constitución de 1863 (Constitución de Rionegro) sí tenía modelo federal.
Very well done video. You'll soon have many more subscribers. I wonder when the world will finally realize that this "chasing of poor people to help them" is ridiculous and insulting. Ridiculous because it clearly doesn't work. Insulting because it infantilizes them and removes all their agency. Interesting to see the young lady accusing a group of judging based on group ... a bit circular and non-sensical. I think it's called hypocrisy.
I appreciate the analysis however the focus is only on the negative and not on the positive effects. It’s not a perfect system but it’s a South Americans solution to a South American problem. The entire world is not Europe. It would be extremely difficult to have a subside system based on income given that a high % of the population work informally. A lot of the issues of inequality would be there regardless of having estratos or not. The price difference on real estate or groceries is normal everywhere in the world. Again too much negative focus. You didn’t touch about the positive effects like most Colombian having access to affordable water and electricity, something that is not the norm in other Latin American countries. It’s important to understand the context and not get carry away with unrealistic European solutions. I think most people actually want to progress and move and have better neighborhoods . The stigma needs a solution but the system brings a lot of good. Even the rich try to use water carefully due to the height cost. Brazil doesn’t have the system and the stigmas are there
The strata system works. Poverty in Colombia has been cut in half over the last 40 years. Where you live matters. People with actual wealth refuse to live in poor neighborhoods and the middle class works overtime to live in the "good" neighborhoods. The sons of rich never do their MANDATORY military service in the Colombian Army so the LEAST they can do is keep poor people in the hills from sitting in the dark at night!
En realidad no solo se oculta la riqueza y la pobreza real con gente pobre en casas grandes pero no cuidadas en chico y personas ricas con fachadas pobres en el sur de Bogotá 😂😂😂😂....
Most Colombians avoid military service because the military is segregated. If you are a soldier, being a businessman and politician is impossible, it is not a business unless you are the best bitch del presidente.😂
This is so misinformative. This is completelly incorrect information. I live in Bogotá, Colombia. And MOST of the video clips are from very poor regions very far away from Bogotá.
@@j.c.mgomez2515 no funciona asi, ten en ceunta que no importa que tan grandes sean los impuestos el 4% de la poblacion no puede pagar por el otro 96%. Ten en cuenta que si ganas 3 millones doscientos sos considerado parte de ese 4%...
![ร้อยพ่อพันแม่ - WanMai [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XY2pNYASEbg/mqdefault.jpg)
Stratas do not appear on Colombian ID cards and ‘vergonzantes’ is not a word we use. Where did you even get that?
I agree.....I have the old school cedula(the laminated green one with no expiration date) and there is no mention strata
@@JohnMosquera-Colombia En la nueva tampoco, en ningún documento oficial de identificación personal aparece el estrato.
I think this video is just rage-bait
Vergonzante se usa en la media colombiana, pero no mucho en la población
There have been several news reports even in tv news reports from RCN and Caracol calling it as “pobreza vergonzante”; and is true, growing in the wealthiest sectors of Bogotá, is not uncommon to see people from stratum 6 accruing credit card debt to pay for their kids school, while refusing to sell an old BMW car, to not lose social status among their peers
There's no Colombian federal government
Hello, Colombian here, the problem with our government's stratification by housing location and condition, without taking into account each person's income, is because our economy is highly informal, the vast majority of Colombians did not have bank accounts until recently (when fintechs like nubank became popular).
The vast majority of the population does not pay taxes on their income either, because of this it is very difficult to keep track of the real socio-economic status of each household.
I am Colombian and as much as it hurts many of my compatriots, it is a fairly big truth that the stratum system is stupidly badly designed and in general the whole tax issue in the country:
- In Colombia it is not common for people to pay taxes on their earnings, half of the people in the country work informally (black economy) where they do not report their earnings and everything is done with cash. This is especially evident in the periphery of the country where these values are 3 out of 5 people
- Let's suppose that you are lucky and you work formally, you have your salary and you have your social security payments and all this is deposited into your bank account, the great majority of them earn between 300 dollars and 500 dollars. You are not obliged to tell the government how much you earn if you earn less than 800 dollars per month, for which reason you are not charged income tax
- Only between 4% and 5% of the population earns more than 800 dollars per month. This means that in Colombia the money collected from the population as such is very little and this forces the state to have high taxes on companies which means that they cannot hire as many people as they would like
- Since the population that has to pay these taxes is so small, the value of these is quite high, this has caused that culturally it is considered bad to pay taxes since they are a theft (due to how high they are and how these are so poorly designed) and a part of these people are politicians so there are legal tricks that they use to be able to evade/deduct taxes.
Normally this could be solved with a tax reform that increases the tax base in people, reduces taxes in companies to increase legal hiring and in this way reduce informality and finally ensure that evading taxes is difficult. The problem is that such an ambitious reform would topple any government due to the protests (It's been tried before, it does not matter which party is in the government, the opposition will complain and will not allow it to be approved: The right does not like to raise taxes, and the left would consider increasing the tax base inequality)
The average Colombian does not care that the system is broken, those with low incomes like to receive subsidies no matter how small they are, and the high-income population likes this system because it segregates the population and creates bubbles within the cities that allow them to get away from people with lower incomes.
@@segiraldovi la mejor explicacion de la situacion sociopolitica de mi pais que alguna vez halla leido, saludos desde Barranquilla.
Colombian here. amazing deep dive review considering the international scope of this channel. I’d like to point out the phenomenon of wealthy ppl living in low strata is called “riqueza oculta” (hidden wealth)
There is also "hidden poverty", referring to individuals living in areas considered to be of high socioeconomic status but whose income is insufficient to sustain that standard of living. They choose not to move to more affordable neighborhoods due to the social stigma among other upper-class members who might judge them for living in a poorer area.
yeah... i have been in houses that from the outside looks like low income house, once you enter, turns out to be little palaces whit all the gadgets you can imagine! and thats done in order to pay low bills :V
Colombian federal government? What?
Colombia is not a federal government, as your video suggest, but rather a unitary, centralist republic. Indeed a federal vs a centralist government was a really debated topic in the eighteenth century leading to one of the bloodiest wars of Colombia's history.
On the other hand, you suggest that stratification was done by dividing the land of the city into poorer or richer regions instead of surveying the people, making us believe that it was a rather foolish idea by the bureaucrats. However, you fail to address that Colombia is a country deeply affected by informal jobs, meaning that almost 40% of the people working in the country don't pay taxes based on their salary. So the government can't reliably make their decision as they do not have enough statistics nor a well functioning tributary system that adequately taxes its citizens.
It is a decentralized unitary republic with special districts and greater autonomy in each department since 1991, especially in local elections for governors and mayors.
Most taxes in Colombia are indirect, since 56% of the population, although formal, does not have the necessary income to declare and the other 44% barely survives on 100 dollars perrmonth
Ninenteeth century. Around 1860 and 1890 several wars forged the current centralist way of guvernmemt
The central government (Colombia isn't a Federal country) are making some changes in the way they measure the strata and is trying to make a multidimensional review based on the multiple conditions of poverty that population faces. However, strata are deep rooted into collective psyche and it's very difficult to remove it. Personally, I live in a 3 strata neighborhood and I don't see myself living in a further strata.
Some things:
1: the people who do the stratification studies DO enter your house, and althought they don't say it they DO keep in mind the interior of the houses; it is pretty normal for people to hide their electrodomestics when there's a demographic census here, as these also serve as stratification studies.
2: Stratification also was a respone to the problems brought up by the (so called in Colombia) "período de liberación económica" (economic liberation period), globalization and opening of our market to foreign companies.
3: Stratification has been made worse with time, as AirBnB's and gentrification became the norm in the more "touristy" cities, making them more and more expensive to live in for poor people, reducing the standards of living for most; if you live in your little tugurio (a wooden or plastic scrap house), around properties that are getting more expenseive as time passes by it is assumed that you have the money to live in that place.
Si sabes que nos liberalizamos tarde y mal cierto? Porque cuando te liberalizas tarde lo que debes hacer como país es que la competencia arrase con lo que tenga que arrasar, y aquí cuando empezó a pasar eso nos volvimos a cerrar para luego al darnos cuenta de que nos quedábamos atrás volvernos a abrir. Fue todo un desastre y lo único que sé consiguió fue empobrecer más al país a costa de favorecer una supuesta industria nacional.
Colombian here, the strata system is far from perfect but can lead to good things, i was born and raised as a "Estrato 1", the lowest of them all and via a government issue scholarship only for the poorest citizens i was able to go to a private university and climb my way up, right now im sitting in my own apartment in a "Estrato 6" zone
I guess the problem is that, you had to escape your "zone" and go to a rich area. That way the poverty is geografically isolated and remains in squalor, while the money for infrastructure is spent on the rich áreas only
May be you are programmer
@@sobakssobak2447 I am!
If true, consider yourself extremely lucky. The chances of someone from a very low socio-economical level to reach even middle class are pretty low. In colombia, most people brought up in strata 1, will have several children before being 20, and never will see their 30th birthday as they are victims of their surroundings. If your success story was the norm, there wouldn't be poor people!
@@chafuldifornio3 Nope there's level 3 houses in level 6 neighberhoods.
Great analysis, as a Colombian Ive never heard of 'the ashamed' though. On the other hand the stratum idioms are correct, we also talk about 'being stratum 0' which is an exaggeration for poverty and lack of means.
We also have an unbelievably expensive electricity on the caribbean region of the country. It could be another story you can cover.
I’ve seen the phenomenon called as “pobreza vergonzante” in News papers and the main TV News, like RCN and Caracol
The quality of the video is very high for such a small channel, and the research needed to produce a video like this is would take days/weeks. Keep going i like it!
Which is not 100% accurate
Social strata are a classification deeply ingrained in the minds of Colombians. It’s not that we are constantly questioning which stratum we belong to, but we are aware of it. We know it when we interact with one another, based on the schools or universities we attend, the friends we have, even in the way we dress and speak. These classifications often lead to significant prejudices.
For example, people from stratum 1 are often stereotyped as poor, rude, lacking manners, thieves, or criminals. On the other hand, those from stratum 6 are perceived as wealthy, snobbish, pretentious, selfish, or living in a bubble. While this dynamic exists throughout the country, it is particularly pronounced in Bogotá.
as a Colombian, this was a great eye-opening video! it explains lots.
I'm Colombian, and I've seen with my own eyes people from stratum 1 whose houses look like any other ghetto/slums from the outside, but when you get inside, they are stratum 6 or higher and full of luxuries.
Colombia is not a federal country
You started your video with lies. A broad generalization that contradicts all my life as a Colombian in the Capital. Many people make protest because the government does not invest in parks, streets and public transportation. Also a big proportion of the country lives in rent, so the argument of the taxes could only apply to the minorities that does have state.
It might be less explicit, but stratification is a thing in Europe too. The idea that you're changing class based on merit is wild. Most rich people are born rich or at least relatively wealthy over here. Since money attracts money, the poor stay poor. Since work doesn't provide enough to make a meaningful difference, education and housing will keep you far enough away from the walled gardens and gated communities.
Statistically 80% of millionaries (net worth $1m+) are self-made.
Gated communities aren't that much of a reality in France, outside of a shitty city called Marseilles.
That said, the other thing we admire is that the stratification is goes in 2 directions: there's monetary richness and cultural richness. Especially in France, kids from teachers for example are at a massive advantage to their peers.
Quick note: Vergonzante refers to “Shameful Poverty”. It is a term used more in the political and institutional context. It is not used colloquially, but it is true that people in the higher strata who no longer have economic means are embarrassed and constantly judged by their upper strata peers.
14:02 Funny, that's the same sentiment in the UK. Even poorer folks look at you as if your "above yourself" or "think too highly of yourself" and should "come down from your high horse." Which discourages people from improving "their standing".
Social mobility is not guaranteed... acting as if other people can talk you out of a game of chance is insane.
I think you lacked proper research for this one, the Strata is only for the location, that's all. People dont have strata, or Caste, no one ask you your strata, you can live wherever you want. Strata do not appear con ID cards. because the strata IS FOR THE LOCATION, NOT THE PEOPLE. Thats why you can have different strata on the same place, you only have to cross the street for changing the strata. For a channel called "Factually" you need to check your facts.
Poverty in colombia is not just by colombian causes but entire world dinamics, this sistem has worth in the sense that for example strates 4, 5 and 6 has been getting fast development and consolidating great areas that nowdays are like first and second world, being powers of million people inside the country, this is earning relevance in world economy and are givend advantage to the full of the country and the areas close to this strates are getting development too, for example in the last decade we rise 3 cities to at least mid class promedy when before the implementation of this sistem the full of the cities were low class promeddy with vagage areas of development, is inequal but is getting developmen and great life quality areas at the same time, is part of the way we find
Many of the images on the video aren’t even in Colombia
This is the reason why gentrification is a chaos nowadays in Colombia. Specially in cities such as Medellín, Cartagena or Bogotá, where the arrival of foreigners that get properties, build or rent houses or apartments, or the mearly arrival of tourists, starts to high up priceses and estate prices. Entire neighborhoods that were low class or middle in Medellín are now totally owned by foreigners, leaving them just for the extremely rich
This is also present in class systems of airlines. The 4% and 1% of Business class seats are where the real profits of airlines whilst the economy class just covers break even of the operator cost.
I am Colombian and as much as it hurts many of my compatriots, it is a fairly big truth that the stratum system is stupidly badly designed and in general the whole tax issue in the country:
- In Colombia it is not common for people to pay taxes on their earnings, half of the people in the country work informally (black economy) where they do not report their earnings and everything is done with cash. This is especially evident in the periphery of the country where these values are 3 out of 5 people
- Let's suppose that you are lucky and you work formally, you have your salary and you have your social security payments and all this is deposited into your bank account, the great majority of them earn between 300 dollars and 500 dollars. You are not obliged to tell the government how much you earn if you earn less than 800 dollars per month, for which reason you are not charged income tax
- Only between 4% and 5% of the population earns more than 800 dollars per month. This means that in Colombia the money collected from the population as such is very little and this forces the state to have high taxes on companies which means that they cannot hire as many people as they would like
- Since the population that has to pay these taxes is so small, the value of these is quite high, this has caused that culturally it is considered bad to pay taxes since they are a theft (due to how high they are and how these are so poorly designed) and a part of these people are politicians so there are legal tricks that they use to be able to evade/deduct taxes.
Normally this could be solved with a tax reform that increases the tax base in people, reduces taxes in companies to increase legal hiring and in this way reduce informality and finally ensure that evading taxes is difficult. The problem is that such an ambitious reform would topple any government due to the protests (It's been tried before, it does not matter which party is in the government, the opposition will complain and will not allow it to be approved).
The average Colombian does not care that the system is broken, those with low incomes like to receive subsidies no matter how small they are, and the high-income population likes this system because it segregates the population and creates bubbles within the cities that allow them to get away from people with lower incomes.
Thank you for making this video, I would always here Colombian people say "estrato" and never knew what that was. Now I do, what a weird concept.
13:55 Up to the point there has been several songs about it, it reminds me of how my family played that song on the Christmas and one of my aunts told me to hear and understand the lyrics, i couldn't catch them properly until now, the ignorance its terrible these days.
What’s the name of the song?
Perfectly well summarise! I think in the future the stratification method of Colombia will be studied as one of the worst way to organize a society. Thanks!
badly researched
Colombia, despide being a Capitalist country, has never been able to close the inequality gap. As such, many people live under the so called "informal economy". That is people without working contracts or in general banking services. That means that the government doesn't really have a good way to know what people earn. So determining whether or not you get subsides had to be done based on your address.
But I don't defend the strata system. It was a solution meant to treat a symptom, not the root cause.
Es un país capitalista a medias
Capitalist countries aren't particularly known for closing inequality gaps. They boost the economy, usually helping everyone, but closing gaps seems antithetical to capitalism.
That's just the average liberal capitalist country
Capitalist economies suffer from a big inequality when they are in their first phases of development such as Western Europe and the US in the 19th century, but once they have developed and the wealth created is large enough it starts to get distributed and cascaded to the rets of the society. Colombia is still far from that.
Very interesting from a Colombian (black and raizal) pov, I find that part of the caste system is also racially motivated and for some areas it’s inspired from a colonial standpoint as well. If we see a white Colombia it has the best infrastructure and education; however when you go to black , indigenous and its current colonial territory these are marginalized from an infrastructure and educational standpoint, the welfare system encroaches and creates a dependency on the government! Very good video
Funny enough in some rich neighborhoods, people built their own roads and their own water waste systems so the goverment can't place them higher than estrato 5 to avoid paying higher taxes
Hola desde Colombia, a lot of those phrases I never heard before but it’s so true what you say in this video there are many people who don’t need the subsidies and they prefer to live really bad instead instead of paying taxes, that’s so sad.
This is true, I've seen programmers earning a lot of money living in 2 strata to pay low taxes and taking advantage of the system
Colombia la India Latinoamerica 😅
Colombiano aquí, el problema con los estratos es que mucha gente con dinero miente en las encuestas y se hacen pasar por estratos bajos, eso se ve muy seguido aquí, entonces las ayuda s que deberían ir para gente pobre van para gente no tiene necesidad, en si la sociedad colombiana está podrida, desde la gente promedio hasta la élite, la mayoría son corruptos.
The concep of "caste" is becoming very popular
It’s absolutely true-everything you’ve said. The government is focusing on the wrong question: “Where do poor people live?” Instead, they should be addressing the core issue by understanding informal employment and job structures to accurately assess individual earnings and implement fair taxation. But let’s be honest-that’s politically suicide.
I remember when I lived in Boston and explained this system to a wealthy American lady in her sixties. She immediately replied: "but that is socialism!"
The reason why address is used instead of income is likely to avoid what happens in the american system where the most wealthy often pay no taxes at all bc they find loopholes to have a luxurious lifestyle while technically having no income, like by keeping their assets in the stock market entirely or by exploiting the tax cut for donations systems and stcking their own galleries with overvalued artworks their friends make, etc.
The alternative to our system is having all the wealthy pay nothing in taxes at all by using loopholes.
As for the "you are where you live" thing, that is not necesarily the case as this is why there are social programs to allow people from low income backgrounds to be more likely to get accepted into more prestigious schools and universities, allowing them to accrue wealth and eventually move up.
Otherwise its not too dissimilar from other systems (say again, the american one) where you are identified by living in a ghetto with the stereotypes that come from it, or if you live by the beachside in Malibu with all the status that also comes along with.
Your analysis basically seems to paint Colombia as exceptional when its not unless you go out of your way to compare us to Germany or some such place.
Colombian here, came to say: What are you fucking talking about?
Colombian here. Facts: there is not such a thing as strata 1. If you're not completely homeless you are strata 2 or 3. Middle class is supposed to be strata 4, but under any first world standard, that's actually being poor. Strata 5-6 are not rich but actually middle-low class. There are actually some rich people, most of which are people involved in the drugs business or any other criminal activities, or they are corrupt public servants that, as funny as it might sound, they have all sort of subsidies. For instance, a congressman, has a salary that is 2-3 times higher than someone with the same position on the government in the US, Swiss or any other rich country. Finally, as fun fact, criminals and people involved in the drugs business are called by local media as "entrepreneurs".
Como vas a decir que alguien de estrato 6 es clase media baja? Vivir en un apartamento de 300 metros cuadrados, tener multiples autos de gama alta y vivir mejor que el 90% de la poblacion del mundo es "clase media baja" deje de decir estupideces.
colombian society is like any country. Proletarians depends on their own work, and secondary economy is the exit to troubles. People that belong to families that own lands from colonial times are divided by halves: Sisters and Brothers. Sisters get married with narc-paramilitaries as second marriage. Brothers are ussually intelectuals and single. So there are 2 pools of proletarians, black and white proletarians that depends of the work, and white intellectual proletarians (brothers).
It is a very curious case: The strata in Colombia were created to give preferential rates to the poor in public services. Over time it became a real caste system, that is, reproductively closed. For example, a woman from stratum 6 (Upper class) would never have children with a man from stratum 1 (Lower class).
In colonial times, in Colombia there was another 6-level caste system: 6) White born in Europe, 5) White born in Colombia, 4) White+Indigenous Mestizo, 3) White+Black Mestizo, 2) Indigenous, 1) Black,... Now the caste system in Colombia is less racist, but there is still a strong correlation between skin color and socioeconomic status.
Why does the caste system still exist in Colombia? Very simple: Because Euro-centrist colonialism never left. Independence was declared, but the structure of exploitation and exclusion that Europe imposed still exists, nuanced and with a different discourse, but it remains there.
The inequality index fails to capture the full reality of lived experiences. In Bolivia, poverty is widespread, and because the majority of the population faces similar economic hardships, the society appears more “equally poor.” This uniformity in economic status reduces measurable inequality, but it does not mean the standard of living is adequate or comparable to more developed nations. Inequality metrics like the Gini coefficient focus on the distribution of wealth without reflecting the absolute level of poverty or the quality of life within a country.
Congratulations for this video, I bet it took a lot if research!! Keep it up
Wow what a high quality video and that too with a lot of information
La constitución de 1886 no tenia como modelo de gobierno un modelo federal.
La Constitución de 1863 (Constitución de Rionegro) sí tenía modelo federal.
caste word comes from spanish word casta so how the hell it come from india
Trough English that picked up from Spanish.
Very well done video. You'll soon have many more subscribers.
I wonder when the world will finally realize that this "chasing of poor people to help them" is ridiculous and insulting.
Ridiculous because it clearly doesn't work.
Insulting because it infantilizes them and removes all their agency.
Interesting to see the young lady accusing a group of judging based on group ... a bit circular and non-sensical. I think it's called hypocrisy.
Incredible content, keep it up!
Great Video; Loved It
Nice informative video, subscribed !!
Many rich people in Colombia are strata 1, if you know what I mean ;]
I appreciate the analysis however the focus is only on the negative and not on the positive effects. It’s not a perfect system but it’s a South Americans solution to a South American problem. The entire world is not Europe. It would be extremely difficult to have a subside system based on income given that a high % of the population work informally. A lot of the issues of inequality would be there regardless of having estratos or not. The price difference on real estate or groceries is normal everywhere in the world. Again too much negative focus. You didn’t touch about the positive effects like most Colombian having access to affordable water and electricity, something that is not the norm in other Latin American countries. It’s important to understand the context and not get carry away with unrealistic European solutions. I think most people actually want to progress and move and have better neighborhoods . The stigma needs a solution but the system brings a lot of good. Even the rich try to use water carefully due to the height cost. Brazil doesn’t have the system and the stigmas are there
The strata system works. Poverty in Colombia has been cut in half over the last 40 years. Where you live matters. People with actual wealth refuse to live in poor neighborhoods and the middle class works overtime to live in the "good" neighborhoods. The sons of rich never do their MANDATORY military service in the Colombian Army so the LEAST they can do is keep poor people in the hills from sitting in the dark at night!
En realidad no solo se oculta la riqueza y la pobreza real con gente pobre en casas grandes pero no cuidadas en chico y personas ricas con fachadas pobres en el sur de Bogotá 😂😂😂😂....
Most Colombians avoid military service because the military is segregated. If you are a soldier, being a businessman and politician is impossible, it is not a business unless you are the best bitch del presidente.😂
There is no mandatory military service
@@vids9190Yes there is, although there are plenty of exceptions, not just for rich kids
Non sense, subsidized living is not eliminating poverty. If they depend on the gov, they're poor.
For anyone wondering, this channel is completely Ai made, so any info here might just be not right at all!
That is not true, not sure where you get that from.
Is it because the Channel is new?
Eu reconheço esse sotaque!
This video is completely exagerated and does it really "get it" - source: I am colombian.
This is so misinformative. This is completelly incorrect information. I live in Bogotá, Colombia. And MOST of the video clips are from very poor regions very far away from Bogotá.
Caste is pronounced the same way as the word cast, /kast/.
Again equity and equality are bad ideas
11:05 this is not colombia
Que sea basado en la declaracion de renta y se acabo el problema..
4% de la poblacion declara renta...
@segiraldovi por eso seria el mismo sistema pero pagaria ese 4% que si realmente tienen el patrimonio.
@@j.c.mgomez2515 no funciona asi, ten en ceunta que no importa que tan grandes sean los impuestos el 4% de la poblacion no puede pagar por el otro 96%. Ten en cuenta que si ganas 3 millones doscientos sos considerado parte de ese 4%...
Oh man a lot of things wrong with this video but the way you say Medellin is just horrible ask google translate next time 😂
Leftist propaganda
stop it already, Petro 😭
I could swear the thumbnail is a photo from Mexico, Mexico City, Santa Fe
A lot of misinformation here, this kid has no idea about life in Colombia