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Database of Equivalent Fiscal Pressure in Latin America and the Caribbean - 1990-2021: Update and Status in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery

By Fiscal Management Division (VPS/IFD/FMM)

The Database of Equivalent Fiscal Pressure (EFP) for Latin America and the Caribbean offers a more complete measure of the total public resources mobilized across the region than conventional tax-to-GDP ratios alone. Built on the IDB-CIAT methodology — a joint approach developed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) — the database is designed to give policymakers, researchers, and analysts a comparable, long-run view of fiscal effort across countries. This release is the third update of the database and reports its status in the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery.

What Equivalent Fiscal Pressure measures

The EFP captures the full set of compulsory resources a society contributes to the public sphere, comprising four components: (1) traditional tax revenues from general government, including subnational governments; (2) public contributions to social security; (3) mandatory contributions to private social security schemes; and (4) non-tax revenues from natural resource exploitation. By combining these, the EFP provides a more precise picture of total resource mobilization than tax revenues alone.

Key findings

Following the upward trend that began in the 1990s, the average EFP for 25 countries rose by more than 6 percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP), increasing from 17.3% to 23.6% between 1990 and 2021. Medium-term dynamics are primarily driven by tax revenues, which grew from 13.5% to 18.0% of GDP over the same period. At the individual country level, there is significant heterogeneity in both the levels and the evolution of tax revenues and EFP.

What the data covers

The dataset spans 1990 to 2021 across the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is delivered with a data dictionary and provides both a complete version with detailed country tables and a user-friendly synthetic version, alongside an accompanying report (PDF), in formats such as XLSX suitable for analysis.

Access and citation

The database is openly available through the IDB Open Data portal under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license and carries a DOI for stable referencing in research and policy work.

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Metadata & use

Identifier https://doi.org/10.60966/fen2-jg37
License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Citation

Morán, Dalmiro, et al. (2023). Database of Equivalent Fiscal Pressure in Latin America and the Caribbean - 1990-2021: Update and Status in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery. IDB Open Data. https://doi.org/10.60966/fen2-jg37
Published date 2023-12-12
Modified date 2026-06-25
Tags/Keywords Fiscal Pressure · Latin America And The Caribbean · Taxes
Language
  1. Spanish
In Series Latin America and the Caribbean Equivalent Fiscal Pressure Databases
Temporal coverage 1990-2021
Country
Antigua & Barbuda
Argentina
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guatemala
Guyana
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
St. Lucia
Trinidad & Tobago
Uruguay
Region Latin America and the Caribbean
Publisher
Inter-American Development Bank
Author
Morán, Dalmiro
Solera, Marco
Barreix, Alberto Daniel
Díaz de Sarralde, Santiago
Data collection type Administrative Data
Statistical type Panel Data
Data structure Structured Data
Data notes

What is Equivalent Fiscal Pressure (EFP)?

Equivalent Fiscal Pressure is a measure that captures the total compulsory resources a society contributes to the public sphere, providing a more precise picture of resource mobilization than traditional tax revenues alone.

What four components make up the EFP?

The EFP comprises: (1) traditional tax revenues from general government, including subnational governments; (2) public contributions to social security; (3) mandatory contributions to private social security schemes; and (4) non-tax revenues from natural resource exploitation.

What is the IDB-CIAT methodology?

It is the methodology underlying the database, developed jointly by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) to measure fiscal pressure consistently across countries.

What time period and region does the database cover?

The database covers the period 1990 to 2021 across the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

How has EFP changed over the period?

Following an upward trend since the 1990s, the average EFP for 25 countries rose by more than 6 percentage points of GDP, from 17.3% to 23.6% between 1990 and 2021. Tax revenues, the main driver, grew from 13.5% to 18.0% of GDP over the same period.

Is fiscal pressure uniform across countries?

No. At the individual country level there is significant heterogeneity in both the levels and the evolution of tax revenues and EFP, which is why the database provides detailed country tables.

What files and formats are included?

The dataset includes a data dictionary, a complete version with detailed country tables, a user-friendly synthetic version (all in XLSX), and an accompanying report in PDF.

Who is this database useful for?

It is useful for policymakers, fiscal and tax researchers, economists, and analysts who need a comparable, long-run measure of fiscal effort across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Under what license is this dataset available?

It is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which permits sharing and adaptation for any purpose, including commercial, provided appropriate attribution is given.

How do I cite this dataset?

Cite it as: Morán, Dalmiro, et al. (2023). Database of Equivalent Fiscal Pressure in Latin America and the Caribbean - 1990-2021: Update and Status in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery. IDB Open Data. https://doi.org/10.60966/fen2-jg37

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