The paper presents an inequality composite index of three components: wealth distribution, factorial income distribution and personal income distribution. This index allows us to analyze different results for the various Latin American economies and for the region as a whole in the period 1980-2016. In addition, the paper assesses a dispersion analysis for each of the index components. Finally, we evaluate the effects of the inequality index on economic growth for each Latin American economy by using Ordinary Least Squares (ols) and dynamic panel data models. The negative coefficient for the entire region shows that the greater (lower) social inequality, the lower (greater) the percentage variation of Gross Domestic Product (gdp).