THE 17 MOST SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN MEXICO - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The social problems of Mexico are those situations that collectively afflict Mexican citizens residing in the territory and that originate from various causes. Corruption, poverty, crime and food stand out.

From poverty, all kinds of problems arise in Mexico. In fact, according to different indicators, in 2020 the greatest concern of Mexicans was poverty and unemployment.

Mexico City

Another common factor that social problems have is that they are difficult to overcome. For example, people living in extreme poverty have a harder time generating wealth, obtaining good jobs, or creating businesses.

Mexico is a country that belongs to Latin America, and consequently, its social problems are, for the most part, the same that affect the region. Latin America is a territory where all the problems that arise are usually the consequence of poverty, which, although it varies between different countries, tends to have the same structure and patterns.

They generally have historical motivations that over the years have shaped their inhabitants and have become problems that temporarily affect Mexican society.

Overcoming these problems does not depend solely on social policies; generally requires a change in the social and cultural worldview of the country.

10 social problems in Mexico today

1- Poverty

Girl wanders the streets of Mexico DF

Poverty is the main social problem that afflicts Mexico, as well as all Latin American countries. Most of the social problems suffered by Mexican society are derived from it.

Poverty is measured by parameters such as income, malnutrition, lack of access to public services, housing, education, access to health, among others.

The Mexican government subdivides the phenomenon of poverty into five categories: moderate poverty, Coneval level (National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy), relative, absolute and extreme.

Almost half of the population of Mexico lives below the poverty line. This represents a total of 53 million 300 thousand inhabitants of the territory approximately.

According to the standards issued by the World Bank, which are mainly restricted to analyzing the economic income of the population, more than 50% of the Mexican population is below the international poverty line and is lower class.

2- Crime

Although the macro problem is poverty, in Mexico crime is the other great concern of its population.

Although this is a widespread and systematized problem throughout the Latin American region, in Mexico urban and rural violence has consolidated, with special emphasis on organized crime.

The rankings indicate that Ciudad Juárez, the most populous city in the northern state of Chihuahua, is the second most violent city in the world.

Acapulco, Torreón, Chihuahua and Durango are also among the top ten positions in the ranking. The crimes range from urban robberies to homicides and kidnappings.

3- Corruption

Elba Esther Gordillo, former leader of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) and accused in February 2015 of embezzling 200 million dollars

According to different corruption indicators, Mexico is the most corrupt country among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Corruption in Mexico transcends the strictly governmental sphere and it is common to find it in the different police forces of the states.

On the other hand, corruption in the assignment of contracts is so frequent that it reaches business areas. The use of public money in an illicit way in Mexico is widespread in most areas of the economy.

4- Access to food

Access to food in Mexico is far from being universal. In addition to that, this factor is intrinsically related to the economic poverty suffered by citizens. Regarding child malnutrition, it predominantly affects the south of the country, also doubling if they live in rural areas.

In this same vein, the risk of a Mexican indigenous child dying from curable diseases such as diarrhea is three times greater than the risk of a non-indigenous child.

5- Access to health

One of the biggest problems afflicting the different Latin American societies is access to health.

In Mexico, the health area depends on different entities such as the hospitals of the Ministry of Health, the Mexican Institute of Social Security, the Institute of Social Security and Services for State Workers, or even companies such as Petróleos Mexicanos.

However, universal coverage is far from being achieved. There are still more than 4 million Mexicans who do not have access to public health.

6- Access to education

Image via News Urban

Education is the other great pending task for the states of Latin America. In the Mexican Republic, the right to education is enshrined in article 3 of the Political Constitution. Education at the initial, primary and secondary levels is compulsory and free and can be provided by State institutions.

Mexico is the OECD country that invests the most in education, however, the majority of the budget allocated to this subject is intended to pay for teaching staff and not to develop plans to universalize access to education.

In addition to this, in Mexico only half of the schools have the necessary infrastructure, equipped with all basic services.

There are still regions in which there are infants who do not attend school due to agricultural work or physical handicaps.

7- Pollution

As Mexico is such a populated country, air pollution is the order of the day. Especially in regards to Mexico City, its capital, this problem has claimed the lives of 9600 deaths every year.

Mexico fails to comply with the regulations imposed by organizations such as the World Health Organization in this matter.

Pollution in Mexico City is directly related to its population, since its metropolitan area has more than twenty million inhabitants. On the other hand, light pollution is another great social problem that affects the Mexican population.

Mexico City, Ecatepec, Guadalajara or Puebla are cities whose levels of light pollution are similar to those of metropolises such as Hong Kong in China.

8- Housing

Marginal settlement in «Colinas del Río», located in the Benito Juárez municipality, Nuevo León.

The United Nations Organization has established access to decent housing as a universal human right.

75% of Mexican land is destined for housing, which in many cases due to their high costs are not accessible, especially for people living below the poverty line.

Most of the population does not have access to the purchase of houses. The State generally does not build housing, so the population requests subsidies and aid from the different public institutions.

9- Inclusion of minorities

Indigenous people of Jalisco

Like all countries in the world, Mexico is a country with minorities that have historically been discriminated against. Despite the large population in the country, the group most affected by inequality are indigenous people.

The most frequent causes of discrimination in Mexico are due to disability, health condition, physical appearance and finally sexual orientation.

10- Unemployment

Currently, 10% of Mexican citizens are unemployed or work less than 15 hours per week. In addition, another 15% work less than 35 hours a week, having monthly income below the minimum wage.

It should be noted that if a person works at least one hour a week in an informal trade, they are not unemployed.

Another worrying issue related to the unemployment problem in Mexico is the underemployment of the labor force. There are many Mexican citizens who have the possibility and availability to work longer hours, but do not find the opportunities to do so.

11- Informal work

The problem of informal work in Mexico is directly related to unemployment. In the country, almost 30% of the people live from the execution of informal jobs.

These jobs depend on the use of domestic resources, and are characterized by operating without records of any kind, or paying taxes.

Informal work in Mexico is difficult to classify, since it is not registered and it is difficult to separate it from activities that take place on a daily basis within the domestic sphere.

The operation of this type of business is usually small-scale, another reason why it is difficult to detect. Another problem derived from labor informality in Mexico is the lack of ties to the social security system of workers in the country.

Approximately 57% of the inhabitants of Mexico are not linked to any type of labor protection protected by the state. This happens because many jobs that are considered formal do not actually issue any type of contract between the employer and the employee.

12- Illiteracy

Despite the fact that basic education in Mexico is free, in many states young people cannot attend school. This leads to high illiteracy rates in the country, and many people over the age of 15 are unable to write or read.

It is estimated that the percentage of illiterate people over the age of 15 covers almost 6% of the Mexican population. This means that almost 5 million people in Mexico cannot read or write.

In relation to this issue, women are at a disadvantage compared to men. 6% of women in Mexico cannot read, while in the case of men, 4% are illiterate.

13- Machismo and violence against women

As in several Latin American countries, machismo in Mexico still affects all spheres of society. Women are constantly physically, psychologically and verbally assaulted.

A high percentage of women in Mexico have been the victim of some act of violence, at least once in their lives.

The most common types of violence include emotional, physical, economic, sexual, discriminatory, or family violence.

An important element that must be taken into account within this social problem is that the main aggressors of women in Mexico are their partners.

Among the most common acts of violence in this area are rape, physical abuse and harassment.

14- Child Exploitation

Historically, the problem of child exploitation has affected the American continent in a generalized way. Mexico is no exception and it is estimated that 4 million children under the age of 17 are working.

Furthermore, of those 4 million, one million of those children are under the age of 14. This means that you are working illegally in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Labor Law.

Although it is difficult to estimate exactly, it is believed that 2/3 of working children are boys, while 1/3 are girls.

The working child population in Mexico is located mainly in rural areas, with women in charge of doing domestic chores, and men working in the fields.

15- Bad application of the law

Mexico is among one of the countries with the worst application of justice in the world. In America, the only country that has worse rates of application of both civil and criminal justice than Mexico is Venezuela.

Verification, adjudication, and prosecution systems in Mexico are inefficient and widely permeated by the phenomenon of corruption.

On the other hand, state forces are in a permanent battle against violence, trying to protect citizens, which is why they are unable to focus on the exercise of justice against higher and corrupt government bodies.

16- Gambling

Gambling is a problem that affects public health since 1992. It affects anyone regardless of their socioeconomic rank, gender or age. However, the most typical profile is that of a middle-aged woman, with a low income and who frequents casinos or betting houses.

The problem is that the rates of compulsive gambling are increasing, with young people being the most proliferating cases throughout the country.

Gambling causes addiction problems, economic instability in the home and possible loss of employment.

17- High rates of obesity

Source: pixabay.com

Mexico is one of the countries with the highest obesity rates in the world. It is only surpassed by the United States and it does not seem that it will take long to overcome it.

Although the government has tried to implement measures to solve this problem (taxes on sugary drinks for example), obesity cases continue to increase, mainly affecting minors.

Themes of interest

Colombia's social problems.

Social problems of Peru.

Guatemala social problems.

References

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