UNAM: Only 19.3 Percent of Mexican People are Non-Poor, Non-Vulnerable Emir Olivares Alonso - La Jornada
go to original March 18, 2013

Only 19.3 percent of Mexico's population has the decent conditions to be considered within the group of non-poor and non-vulnerable. In contrast, 25 percent of Mexicans have no social or economic capacity to meet their food needs. Thus, experts said, comprehensive, horizontal polices focused on different types of poverty and territories are required, because the assistance delivery strategies have proven to be inefficient.

During the second day of the conference "Poverty and Social Inequality: Challenges for the Reconfiguration of Social Policy", organized by the National School of Social Work at the National Autonomous University of Mexico [UNAM], discussed the urgency of undertaking action to eradicate this scourge that affects nearly half of the Mexican population (52 million people).

Ricardo Aparicio, Deputy Director General of poverty analysis of the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), explained that poverty is not only measured by lack of financial resources, but must include deficiencies in six [categories] of social needs: education, health services, social security, housing quality and space, food and degree of social cohesiveness.

Based on this, he detailed (using 2010 data) that Mexico has 52 million people in poverty (46.2 percent of the population) with an average of 2.5 deficiencies. The figure increased over the last measured in 2008, when there were 48.8 million total in poverty. Of the total Mexicans in that condition, 11.7 million (10.4 percent) suffer extreme poverty and have an average of 3.7 deficiencies; while 40.3 million (35.8 per percent) are classified as moderately poor and have 2.1 deficiencies.

The data presented by Aparicio reflect two categories of vulnerable conditions:

• Social deprivation (income is sufficient to meet food [needs], but any of the six social needs are lacking); 32.3 million (28.7 percent), with an average of 1.3 deficiencies; and by
• Income vulnerability (do not lack social needs, but financial resources are insufficient); 6.5 million (5.8 percent of all Mexicans).

On the other hand, 21.8 million of Mexicans (19.3 percent) are not poor, vulnerable or present social or economic deprivation.

One of the sectors most vulnerable against inequality, Aparicio said, are the indigenous peoples: eight out of ten are poor; of these, four out of ten live in extreme poverty.

See Spanish original

Posted by Jane Brundage at Mexico Voices

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