10 CAUSES OF POVERTY IN MEXICO - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Some causes of poverty in Mexico are economic inequality between classes, unemployment, corruption, educational problems, low incomes in many jobs, and unbalanced population growth.

Despite the fact that many Latin American countries have managed to significantly reduce poverty levels in their nations, Mexico is one of the few that still struggles 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.

Added to this, Mexico's annual economic growth is rather low (between 2% and 3%), which causes a greater increase in poverty.

The increase only benefits the percentage of the population that belongs to the middle and high social strata. It should be noted that the states with the highest poverty rate are Chiapas, Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Yucatán and Guerrero.

These data are curious, since Mexico is among the top 15 countries for its economic wealth. So why is there so much poverty in this country?

You may also be interested in the social problems of Mexico.

Main causes of poverty in Mexico

1- Inequality in the educational system

People with the greatest economic resources are those who have access to a quality educational system. For its part, the educational system that low-income people can access is of low quality.

This means that poor people do not have great opportunities to improve themselves, since if they do not attend quality institutions, it is very unlikely that they will be able to opt for jobs that are well paid.

2- Unequal distribution of wealth

As already explained, Mexico is among the first 15 countries for its economic wealth and, nevertheless, it has high poverty rates.

This is largely due to the unequal distribution of wealth and national production among members of the population.

In this nation, only a group of people (the elite, businessmen and magnates) benefits from the country's production, which by justice should affect everyone, while 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, the imperialism of other nations over Mexico is one of the causes of poverty. This means that other nations make investments in this country and then appropriate its natural resources.

This is a situation that is favored by the rich groups of Mexico, who are the only ones in the nation that benefit from the wealth obtained from these investments.

4- Unemployment

As stated 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 generated 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 generally very poorly paid, which does not improve the conditions of the poor.

5- Low income

Because the jobs in which the poor are accepted generate low income, the poor do not have opportunities for self-improvement that allow them to get out of poverty.

According to the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the average income per household has decreased by 3% since 2012, which has considerably affected families from the lower social strata.

6- Decline 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 makes the amount of money available to the poorest families less, increasing their poverty condition.

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 in this area may present.

It should be noted that 60% of the population does not have social security, so they cannot go to private health centers.

In addition to this, about 30% of the population has nutritional problems because their condition of poverty does not allow them to supply themselves with the nutrients required for a healthy diet.

8- Population 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 wealth must be distributed grows, negatively affecting poverty rates.

9- Corruption

Mexico presents 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 (a fundamental piece of this religion), Jesus was poor and cared for all the poor.

Furthermore, 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.

Since 80% of Mexicans are Catholic and a large percentage of these are devout practitioners, it is no wonder that there is so much poverty in Mexico.

References

1. Poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from en.wikipedia.org
2. 10 facts about poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from borgenpreoject.org
3. Corruption and poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from thehuffingtonpost.com
4. Poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from poverties.org
5. Fighting Poverty and Hunger in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from freedomfromhunger.org
6. Mexico's Rising Poverty Rate. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from cnsnews.com
7. Why isn't Mexico Rich? Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from freakonomics.com
8. Causes. Poverty in Mexico. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from sites.google.com.