The social, political and economic components of Sonora are the characteristics in the political organization, demographic distribution, education, health and economic-industrial development that describe the current situation of the state of Sonora.
Sonora is one of the 30 states that make up the United Mexican States or Mexico, as it is often called in a shorter way. It limits to the north with the United States of America, to the south with Sinaloa and the Gulf of California, to the east with Chihuahua and Sinaloa, and to the west with the Gulf of California and Baja California.
Cathedral of the Assumption in Hermosillo, Sonora. Mexico.
The state of Sonora includes in its jurisdiction the islands of El Tiburon, San Esteban, Lobos and other islets (H. Congreso del Estado de Sonora, 2017, p. 6)
Its territorial extension is the second largest in the country, after Chihuahua and occupying 9.2% of the national territory (National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 2017, p. 6).
It has 72 municipalities, of which one is Hermosillo, which is home to the state capital with the same name: Hermosillo.
Political components
Mexico is a politically organized country as a democratic, representative and federal republic.
Consequently, the state of Sonora is free and independent from the Federated States with regard to its administration and internal regime, but subjecting itself to and putting the General Constitution of the Mexican Republic before it (H. Congreso del Estado de Sonora, 2017, p. 9).
This is set forth in Article 25 of Chapter II (Form of Government) of the Constitution2, in which it adds the attributes of "secular" and Popular.
Sovereignty resides mainly over the people who elect, through free, authentic and periodic elections, the Governor of the State, the deputies to the State Congress and the members of the city council.
The public body in charge of the elections is the State Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute. It divides its functions under the 3 traditional branches of public power: executive, legislative and judicial.
The executive is headed by the State Governor for a period of 6 years beginning on September 13 after the election.
The position is currently held by the militant of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Claudia Pavlovich until 2021. The Governor and his cabinet are in charge of carrying out the government plan proposed by the then candidate for State Governor, which must align with the national development plan from the national administration.
In the legislature is the collegiate body of the Congress of the State of Sonora composed of 33 deputies: 21 directly elected with their respective alternates and 12 indirectly elected by proportional representation (Article 31 of Section II Regarding the election of deputies). Its primary job is to create laws and effect political control.
In the judicial branch are the Supreme Court of Justice, Regional Circuit Courts, the Courts of First Instance and the local Courts. Its main function is the administration of justice (H. Congreso del Estado de Sonora, 2017, p. 38).
As we mentioned previously, Sonora is made up of 72 municipalities that are administered by the City Councils (deliberative collegiate bodies), made up of a Municipal President, a Trustee and the Councilors (Chapter I, Article 130) (H. Congress of the State of Sonora, 2017, p. 43).
Social components
Hermosillo is the capital of the state and the most populated city with 701,838 inhabitants, followed by Ciudad Obregón with 357,800, Nogales with 193,517, San Luis Rio Colorado 157,076 and Navajoa 144,598 (History, 2017). It was founded on January 10, 1824.
The state of Sonora for 2010 had a population of 2,662,480 inhabitants (INEGI. National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 2017), of that figure, 50.3% are men and 49.7% are women.
The indigenous community residing in the state that identifies itself as members of an autochthonous ethnic group and speakers of an indigenous language is 60,310, that is, 17.8% (National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 2017, p. 19).
The most common indigenous languages in the state are: May (44.6%) and Yaqui (28.2%) (National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 2017, page 19). Only 0.1% consider themselves Afro-descendant.
Regarding the literacy level of people over 15 years of age, 50% have basic education, 25% higher secondary education, 22% higher education and 3% have no schooling (National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 2017, p.. 18). Access to university education continues to be a challenge for the development of the region.
Sonora's education system is one of the most prestigious in Mexico (History, 2017). The most prominent educational institutions are the Universidad del Noreste, Universidad de La Salle, Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora and the Universidad de Sonora (History, 2017).
86% of the population subscribes to the health system (2,289,732), distributed as follows: 55% belongs to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the other 31% to Seguro Popular and other institutions.
Economic components
Sonora contributes 2.9% of the national GDP (394,121 million Mexican pesos).
Regarding employment, 63% of the population is economically active (National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 2017, p. 26). Of the above figure, 60% are men and the remaining are women.
The economic sector that employs the most workers is commerce and services with 61%; followed by the industrial sector with 29% and 10% in the agricultural sector (National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 2017, p. 25).
The unemployment rate fell between 2005 and 2014, but from that year on, the economy contracted and unemployment increased, from 3.4% in 2010 to 5.5% in 2014 (Gobierno del Estado de Sonora, 2017, p. 63). For this reason, informal work has skyrocketed and incorporation into the labor market becomes more difficult.
The North American Free Trade Agreement signed in 1994 between Canada, the United States and Mexico in 1994 represented a great opportunity to capitalize on the proximity of the border with the United States to boost its own economy and built assembly plants or maquilas for the production of goods for North American auto, appliance and food companies (History, 2017).
Despite this, the added value that it adds to assembled goods is very little (Gobierno del Estado de Sonora, 2017, p. 66).
As a result of this problem, one of the challenges of the State Development Plan 2016-2021 is to promote competitiveness so that the formation of agricultural and automotive clusters is encouraged.
Sonora also depends a lot on its agricultural activity, especially cattle and cattle raising, ranking first and fifth respectively at the national level.
Unfortunately, the problem of insufficient added value in the automotive industry is also transferred to primary activities that are generally not transformed or commercialized (Government of the State of Sonora, 2017, p. 66).
References
- Government of the State of Sonora. (12 of 7 of 2017). Sonora works. State Development Plan 2016-2021. Obtained from the Government of the State of Sonora: sonora.gob.mx
- Sonora State Congress. (12 of 7 of 2017). Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Sonora. Obtained from the Congress of the State of Sonora: congresoson.gob.mx
- History. (12 of 7 of 2017). Sonora. Retrieved from History: history.com
- INEGI. National Institute of Statistic and Geography. (12 of 7 of 2017). Mexico in figures. Sonora. Obtained from INEGI. National Institute of Statistics and Geography: beta.inegi.org.mx
- National Institute of Statistic and Geography. (12 of 7 of 2017). Knowing Sonora. Obtained from INEGI. National Institute of Statistics and Geography.: internet.contenidos.inegi.org.mx.