SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERIZATION OF BOCAS DEL TORO IN PANAMA: AN APPLICATION OF MULTIVARIATE TECHNIQUES

Abstract

The objective of this work was to identify the main socioeconomic characteristics of the villages with an agricultural vocation in the Bocas del Toro district, Panama, through multivariate techniques. The two principal components that accounted for 84.0% of the total variation were selected using the Principal Components Analysis. This allowed a classification in three strata, discriminating the populated centers of greater agricultural activity in the district. The study identified that the factors with the greatest impact on the characteristics of the population studied were: the development of agriculture in indigenous territories, the proportion of economically inactive people and economic occupation other than agriculture; This characterization serves as the first approach to the study of sustainable land management in indigenous territories.