Some Causes of poverty in Mexico Are economic inequality between classes, unemployment, low incomes in many jobs and population growth.
Although many Latin American countries have managed to significantly reduce the levels of poverty in their nations, Mexico is one of the few that still struggle against this social problem.
In fact, about half of the population of this country is located in the lower social stratum. In addition to this, 10% of the population lives in extreme poverty; More than 20 million children live in poverty and, of these, at least 5 million live in extreme poverty; More than 25 million Mexicans earn less than $ 14 a day and a quarter of the workforce is unemployed. These figures have increased since 2006.
Added to this, Mexico's annual economic growth is rather low (between 2% and 3%), which only increases poverty in the nation.
In any case, the increase only benefits the percentage of the population that belongs to the middle and upper social strata. It should be noted that the states with the highest poverty rates are Chiapas, Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Yucatan and Guerrero.
These data are curious, since Mexico is among the top 15 countries because of its economic wealth. So why is there so much poverty in this country?
10 reasons and causes of poverty in Mexico
1- Inequality in the education system
The people with the greatest economic resources are those who have access to the quality education system. For its part, the educational system that low-income people can access is of poor quality.
This means that poor people do not have great opportunities to overcome themselves, since if they do not attend quality institutions, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to choose jobs that are well paid.
2- Uneven distribution of wealth
As already explained, Mexico ranks among the top 15 countries because of its economic wealth and yet has high poverty rates.
This is due in large part to the unequal distribution of wealth and national production among members of the population.
In this nation, only a group of people (the elite, the businessmen and the magnates) benefit from the production of the country that for justice should touch all, while the other individuals are excluded from the distribution of goods.
In this way, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
3 - Imperialism
Along with the unequal distribution of wealth, imperialism Of other nations over Mexico is one of the causes of poverty.
This means that other nations invest in this country and then natural resources of the same.
This is a situation that is favored by the wealthy groups of Mexico, who are the only ones in the nation who benefit from the wealth obtained from these investments.
4- Unemployment
As discussed in the first cause of poverty, poor members of the population do not have access to good job offers because they have not received quality education.
Thus, a vicious circle is created in which the poor do not receive jobs, which increases the unemployment rate and this in turn increases poverty in the country.
The few jobs in which the poor are accepted are jobs that do not require skilled labor and are usually poorly paid, which does not improve the conditions of the poor.
5- Low income
Because jobs in which the poor are accepted generate low economic incomes, the poor do not have opportunities for improvement that will enable them to get out of poverty.
According to the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure, the average income per household has decreased by 3% since 2012, which has affected considerably the families of the low social stratum.
6- Decrease in economic growth
According to data from the National Institute of Geography and Statistics, economic growth has fallen to 2% or 3% in the last five years.
This reduces the amount of money available to the poorest families, increasing their poverty.
7- Lack of health and food services
More than half of the population does not have access to health facilities that meet the necessary conditions to solve the problems that individuals may present in this area.
It should be noted that 60% of the population does not have social insurance, so they can not go to private health centers.
Added to this, about 30% of the population presents nutritional problems because their poverty condition does not allow them to supply the nutrients required by a healthy diet.
8- Demographic growth
According to the National Institute of Geography and Statistics, between 2012 and 2014 the population of Mexico grew by 2.7 million.
In this way, the number of people among whom the wealth is to be distributed grows, negatively affecting the indices of poverty.
9- Corruption
Mexico has corruption at various levels of the state, which favors the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.
10- The Catholic Church
According to sociologists, one of the elements that influence poverty is the doctrine imposed by the Catholic Church, which praises poverty and punishes wealth.
The Church favors poverty because, according to the bible (fundamental piece of this religion), Jesus was poor and cared for all the poor.
In addition, in many Gospels, the Bible indicates that it is easier for"a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Obviously, it refers not only to material wealth but also to spiritual wealth.
Because 80% of Mexicans are Catholics and a large percentage of these are devout practitioners, it is no wonder that there is so much poverty in Mexico.
References
- Poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from en.wikipedia.org
- 10 facts about poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from borgenpreoject.org
- Corruption and poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from thehuffingtonpost.com
- Poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from poverties.org
- Fighting Poverty and Hunger in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from freedomfromhunger.org
- Mexico's Rising Poverty Rate. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from cnsnews.com
- Why is not Mexico Rich? Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from freakonomics.com
- Causes. Poverty in Mexico. Retrieved July 3, 2017, from sites.google.com.