This work aimed to systematize the purposes, results and challenges of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Latin America and the Caribbean since its foundation until today. To establish the analysis, Paraguay and Peru, from the South American area, Mexico and Haiti, from the Central American and Caribbean area, were taken as examples. For the information gathering, the Historical-Logical methods were used to summarize the economic, political and social history in the member countries. Analysis-Synthesis to critically know the economic, political and social reality of these nations and the Bibliographic Review to compile theoretical information relevant to the topic, which was extracted mainly from scientific journals indexed in international databases, books and chapters of scientific books. The result was a critical appreciation of the IDB’s purposes, results and challenges, which, when contrasted with theoretical information, reveal the need to develop comprehensive projects focused on overcoming the main gaps that hinder the progress and development of their peoples, and to establish an analysis beyond the economic field that will make it possible to plan new regional development strategies in the medium and long term to mitigate poverty and underdevelopment through the moderate and sustainable use of the economic, human, technological and environmental resources accumulated by the nations under study.