MEXICO CITY (appro).- Poverty levels in the general population improved between 2018 and 2022, but that did not prevent the number of Mexicans living in extreme poverty from increasing from 8.7 to 9.1 million, according to the data provided by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval).
This amount reveals that 7.1% of the population had in 2022 income less than the value of the food basket and had at least three social deficiencies.
But that is not all, since the percentage of people who presented deficiencies due to access to health services increased from 16.2% to 39.1% between 2018 and 2022, that is, the number skyrocketed from 20.1 to 50.4 million people in that situation. .
According to the multidimensional measurement of poverty in Mexico, in 2022 the highest percentage of people with access to health services reported being affiliated with the IMSS (38.3%); in second place were those who declared they had the right to INSABI services (13.1%), the latter component that was aimed at providing health services to people without social security.
The greatest lack
On the other hand, the percentage of people with deprivation due to access to social security went from 53.5% to 50.2% between 2018 and 2022, which translates into a decrease from 66.2 to 64.7 million people with this deprivation in that period.
“Despite having shown a decrease between 2018 and 2022, this deficiency continues to be the one with the greatest presence in the Mexican population,” said Coneval.
Among the components of the lack of access to social security, it stands out as the main challenge that, in 2022, 63.6% of employed people lacked access to social security for labor benefits.
Older adults without program or pension
On the other hand, 29.3% of people aged 65 or over did not have an income from programs for the elderly, a percentage equal to or higher than the average of the Extreme Poverty Line by Income, and did not have a pension (retirement) in the same period.
In other words, approximately 70.0% of the population aged 65 or over had access to a non-contributory pension (income from programs for the elderly) that allowed them to purchase the food basket or they had access to a contributory pension (retirements and pensions).
In general, between 2018 and 2022, the percentage of the population in a situation of multidimensional poverty at the national level went from 41.9% to 36.3%, which represented a drop from 51.9 to 46.8 million people in a situation of poverty at the national level.
In other words, in 2022, out of every 100 people in Mexico, approximately 36 had at least one social deprivation and had insufficient monthly income to purchase a food basket made up of food and non-food products to cover their needs.
