Street in Bogota, Colombia. Anthony Devlin / PA Archive/Press Association Images
The explanatory factors for the expansion of the middle class in Colombia are similar to the ones at play in the rest of Latin America: economic growth and, to a lesser extent, social policies focused on the reduction of extreme poverty. Far from consolidated, this is a vulnerable middle class, because its upward mobility has been based on an increase in consumption through access to credit. It is a debt-ridden middle class.
Three aspects of the middle class growth in Colombia – which, according to Angulo, Gaviria and Morales (2014), increased from 16% to 27% between 2002 and 2011 -, should be taken into consideration. First, to what extent do the pillars of the National Development Plan (PND) respond to the expectations of prosperity promised by President Juan Manuel Santos, and how much do they contribute, or otherwise, to the consolidation of the middle class. Second, the demands of the recent social mobilisations and their relationship, or otherwise, with specifically class-orientated claims - for the building process of the middle class does not in itself guarantee its alignment to a particular agenda. Finally, the impact that the reforms agreed upon in the ongoing negotiation process to end the armed conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will have on the demands and expectations of emerging social sectors.
