The Latin America region (Fig. 1) is a vast aggregate of more than 21 million km2 and more than 548 million inhabitants. The region includes: the coastal countries and the Mexico wich is in the North America, as well as the countries around of Caribbean Sea.

The population of Latin America is an amalgam of ancestries and ethnic groups. The composition varies from country to country. Some have a predominance of a mixed population, some have a high percentage of people of Amerindian origin, some are dominated by inhabitants of European origin and some populations are primarily of African origin.In three countries the Amerindians make up the largest segment of the population: in Guatemala and Bolivia they represent a majority of over 50%, and in Peru they constitute a plurality of just under 50%.

Spanish is the predominant language in the majority ofthe countries. Portuguese is spoken primarily in Brazil, where it is both the official and the national language. French is also spoken in smaller countries, in the Caribbean, and in French Guiana. Dutch is the official language on various Caribbean islands and in Suriname on the continent; however, as Dutch is a Germanic language, these territories are generally not considered part of Latin America.

The primary religion throughout Latin America is Roman Catholicism. Latin America, particularly Brazil, is active in developing the quasi-socialist Roman Catholic movement known as Liberation Theology. Practitioners of the Protestant, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Mormon, Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Bahá'í, and indigenous denominations and religions exist. Various Afro-Latin American traditions, such as Santería, and Macumba, a tribal- voodoo religion are also practiced. Evangelicalism in particular is increasing in popularity.
The rich mosaic of Latin American cultural expressions is the product of many diverse influences, derived mainly from :

• Native cultures of the peoples that inhabited the continents prior to the arrival of the Europeans.

• European cultures, brought mainly by the Spanish, the Portuguese and the French. This can be seen in any expression of the region's rich artistic traditions, including painting, literature and music, and in the realms of science and politics. The most enduring European colonial influence was language. Italian and British influence has been important as well.

• African cultures, who were part of a long history of New World slavery. Peoples of African descent have influenced the ethno-scapes of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is manifest in the Caribbean through dances such as, the rumba, the mambo, the samba, the bomba, the plena, the candombe, the cumbia, the merengue, and the salsa, to mention but a few.

Latin America has the most unequal income distribution of any region in the world: 40% of total income is received by wealthiest 10% of the population, and 25% is received by the top 5% alone. These indicators represent the highest concentration of income among developing regions, and are almost double those prevailing in developed countries, where, on average, the wealthiest 5% of the population receive 13% of total income. Another dimension of inequity in the income distributions of Latin America countries is urban-rural polarity. Differences between the countryside and the city remain a basic source of social inequality and an expression of economic polarization.

The number of people living in poverty in Latin America reaches today 225 million, representing 44% of the total population. The living conditions in the arid and semi-arid regions are particularly worst due to the fragility of the ecosystem and the low productivity of the land. For instance, the Brazilian semi-arid represents 18% of the national territory and shelters 29% of the population. It encompasses an area of 858.000 km2, where approximately 18.5 million people live, of which 8.6 million live in rural area, located among the poorest in the country, with quality of life indexes much lower than the national average.