POVERTY

POVERTY
Poverty is general scarcity dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain
amount of material possessions or money. It is a multifaceted concept,
which includes social, economic, and political elements, poverty is the
inability of getting choices and opportunities is a violation of human
dignity.
It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals,
households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it
often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access
to clean water or sanitation.
Analysis of social aspects of poverty links conditions of scarcity to
aspects of the distribution of resources and power in a society and
recognizes that poverty may be a function of the diminished "capability"
of people to live the kinds of lives they value. The social aspects of
poverty may include lack of access to information, education, health
care, or political power.
Poverty may also be understood as an aspect of unequal social
status and inequitable social relationships, experienced as social
exclusion, dependency, and diminished capacity to participate, or to
develop meaningful connections with other people in society. Such social
exclusion can be minimized through strengthened connections with the
mainstream, such as through the provision of relational care to those
who are experiencing poverty.
The World Bank's "Voices of the Poor," based on research with over
20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which
poor people identify as part of poverty. These include:
Abuse by those in power
Dis-empowering institutions
Excluded locations
Gender relationships
Lack of security
Limited capabilities

 Physical limitations
Precarious livelihoods
Problems in social relationships
Weak community organizations
The World Bank estimated 1.29 billion people were living in absolute
poverty in 2008. Of these, about 400 million people in absolute poverty
lived in India and 173 million people in China. In terms of percentage of
regional population sub-Saharan Africa at 47% had the highest incidence
rate of absolute poverty in 2008.

ABSOLUTE POVERTY
Refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly
includes food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter and health care.
Robert McNamara, the former President of the World Bank, described
absolute or extreme poverty as, "...a condition so limited
by malnutrition, illiteracy,disease, squalid surroundings, high infant
mortality, and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable
definition of human decency".

Map of world poverty by coutry, showing porcetage of population living

on less tha $1.25 per day. Based o 2009 UN Huma Development report

CHARACTERISTICS OF POVERTY
LACK OF HEALTH
One third of deaths, some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day are
due to poverty-related causes: in total 270 million people
People of color, women and children, are over represented among the
global poor and these effects of severe poverty. Those living in poverty
suffer disproportionately from hunger or even starvation and
disease. Those living in poverty suffer lower life expectancy.According to
the World Health Organization,hunger and malnutrition are the single
gravest threats to the world's public health and malnutrition is by far the
biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases.
Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the
world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3
million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350500 million cases of
malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of
malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of
malaria victims worldwide.
VIOLENCE
According to experts, many women become victims of trafficking, the
most common form of which is prostitution, as a means of survival and
economic desperation. Deterioration of living conditions can often
compel children to abandon school to contribute to the family income,
putting them at risk of being exploited.
EDUCATION
In 2000, almost a billion people were unable to read a book or sign their
names.
Schools in poverty-stricken areas have conditions that hinder children
from learning in a safe environment. Researchers have developed a
name for areas like this: an urban war zone is a poor, crime-laden district
in which deteriorated, violent, even war-like conditions and underfunded,
largely ineffective schools promote inferior academic performance,
including irregular attendance and disruptive or non-compliant
classroom behavior

SHELTER
Poverty increases the risk of homelesness, slum-dwellers, who make up
a third of the world's urban population, live in a poverty no better, if not
worse, than rural people, who are the traditional focus of the poverty in
the developing world, according to a report by the United Nations.
There are over 100 million street children worldwide. Most of the children
living in institutions around the world have a surviving parent or close
relative, and they most commonly entered orphanages because of
poverty. Experts and child advocates maintain that orphanages are
expensive and often harm children's development by separating them
from their families. It is speculated that, flush with money, orphanages
are increasing and push for children to join even though demographic
data show that even the poorest extended families usually take in
children whose parents have died.
HUNGER
Rises in the costs of living making poor people less able to afford items.
Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than richer
people. As a result, poor households and those near the poverty
threshold can be particularly vulnerable to increases in food prices

RELATIVE POVERTY
Is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society
in which people live.
Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on
social context, Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage
of population with income less than some fixed proportion of median
income.

ASSET POVERTY
Is an economic and social condition that is more persistent and prevalent
than income poverty. It can be defined as a households inability to
access wealth resources that are sufficient enough to provide for basic
needs for a period of three months.
Basic needs refer to the minimum standards for consumption and
acceptable needs.
Wealth resources consist of home ownership, other real estate (second
home, rented properties, etc.), net value of farm and business assets,
stocks, checking and savings accounts, and other savings (money in
savings bonds, life insurance policy cash values, etc.).

POVERTY IN MEXICO
Poverty in Mexico is measured under parameters such as nutrition, clean
water, shelter, education, health care, social security, quality and basic
services in the household, income and social cohesion as defined by
social development laws in the country.It is divided in two categories:
Moderate poverty and Extreme poverty.
While less than 2% of Mexico's population lives below the international
poverty line set by the World Bank, as of 2013, Mexico's government
estimates that 33% of Mexico's population lives in moderate poverty and
9% lives in extreme poverty, which leads to 42% of Mexico's total
population living below the national poverty line.
The huge gap might be explained by the government's adopting
the multidimensional poverty method as a way to measure poverty, so a
person who has an income higher than the "international poverty line" or
"well being income line" set by the Mexican government might fall in the
"moderate poverty" category if he or she has one or more deficiencies
related to social rights such as education (did not complete studies),
nutrition (malnutrition or obesity), or living standards (including

elemental, such as water or electricity, and secondary domestic assets,

such as refrigerators).
Extreme poverty is defined by the Mexican government as persons who
have deficiencies in both social rights and an income lower than the
"well being income line".Additional figures from SEDESOL(Mexico's social
development agency) estimates that 6% (7.4 millions of people) live in
extreme poverty and suffer from food insecurity.
The concentration of poverty and distribution of wealth and
opportunities is clearly visible from a geographic perspective. ] The
northern region of the country offers higher development while the
southern states are the most impoverished. This is clearly the result of
states equipped with better infrastructure that others. The states of
Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero are among the least developed in the
country. These states hold the highest numbers of indigenous
population. As a result, 75 percent of the indigenous population lives on
moderate poverty line and 39 percent of these under extreme poverty

INEQUALITY IN MEXICO
Mexico does not promote equal opportunity employment despite
established laws forbidding most socially-recognized forms of
discrimination.

The government doesn't become sufficiently involved to promote

opportunities to all citizens; including reducing discrimination against
middle-age and elder citizens. Over a million of the unemployed face
age discrimination and 55% of all unemployed face some form of
discrimination when seeking employment.]There are virtually no
opportunities for individuals with special requirements such as the
disabled. As job seekers become older, it is harder for them to get
employed as employers tend to seek candidates within the "younger
than 35 range". Social security (IMSS) is insufficient and there is a huge
gap in proportion to the entire population (50% covered), the work force
(30% covered), and the retired (33% covered). There is no
unemployment insurance in Mexico.
Mexico is a country where investment on infrastructure has remained as
unequally distributed as income, specially in rural areas and in the
southern states. Because many people establish in rural areas, without
government permission, and without paying property taxes, the
government does not make significant efforts to invest in overall
infrastructure of the entire country, yet it has started to do so until the
1990s.
Historically, southern states like Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero have
remained segregated from the rest of the country. Their implementation
of infrastructure, social development, education, and economic growth
has been poorly accounted for. These states hold the highest levels of
illiterates, unemployment, lack of basic services such as running water
and sanitation, overall urban infrastructure, and government
establishment.As citizens of the least fortunate states have noticed
growth and improvements in others states, many have simply left
seeking better opportunities
Communities often face a combination of unpaved roads, lack of
electricity and potable water, improper sanitation, poorly maintained
schools, vandalism and crime, and lack of social development
programs. The government did not begin to focus on improving and
modernizing the federal highway system up until two decades ago when
it was composed of two-lane roads; often deathtraps and the scenarios
of head-on collisions between truckers and families on vacation.

POVERTY AND INDIGENEOUS COMMUNITIES

Indigenous communities suffer particularly from poverty causing them to
be marginalised from society. Although local and federal governments
implemented social protection programs so as to alleviate poverty
conditions and interregional disparities, in general, conditions for

indigenous people remain unchanged, (Gonzales cited World Bank,

2005). Studies have shown that ethnicity is an important cause for
inequality in income distribution, access to basic health care services
and education, which in turn explain the significant difference in
earnings between indigenous and non-indigenous people.
According to the World Bank, about three-quarters of indigenous peoples
in Mexico are poor and the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous
groups is very high; the difference in poverty has been divided into
explained and unexplained components. The explained components are
the amount of the gap attributed to observable characteristics such as
education, age, occupation, region of residence and so on, (World Bank,
2005) which account for three quarters of poverty. The unexplained
components are related to the level of discrimination and explain a
quarter of the poverty. Indigenous people in Mexico are faced to
significant disadvantages in economic and social outcomes and although
discrimination against them appears to be decreasing, the government
needs to improve education and government services to reduce the
poverty gap. Based on their research, the World Bank suggests the
promotion of equal health care access for indigenous peoples though
the implementation of a head start program that focuses on maternal
and child health issues, (World Bank, 2005) as well as improving data
collection efforts related to identifying indigenous populations, (World
Bank, 2005) to better monitor progress over time.

CAUSES OF POVERTY IN MEXICO

The reasons for poverty in Mexico are complex and widely
extensive. There is a consensual agreement that a combination of
uneven distribution of wealth and resources sponsored by economic and

political agendas to favor the rich and powerful is a major contributor to

the millions left behind
LACK OF EDUCATION
As population has grown, the number of students enrolled in schools
throughout the country has grown tremendously since the 1950s. At the
same time, government efforts to accommodate the growing student
population, improving the quality of instruction and promoting prevalent
school attendance has not been enough and therefore education has not
remained among priorities for families who must struggle with
poverty.700,000 students grades 1-9 dropped out of school in 2009 in all
of Mexico.7.9 percent (almost 9 million) of the population is
illiterate.73% of Mexican households have at least one member without
education or education below the 7th grade.40 percent of people in the
states
of Chiapas, Veracruz,Hidalgo, Oaxaca and Guerrero have
education below the 7th grade
UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment in Mexico has been continuous. In 2009, the
unemployment rate was estimated at 5.5 percent (over 2.5
million).] Although that figure is far below the unemployment indexes in
the rest of Latin America, the European Union, the United States and
much of Asia, Mexico faces a serious problem generating jobs. In spite of
splendid macroeconomic indicators that currently exist: continuing low
levels of inflation and stability in the nations currency exchange rate; a
sufficient number of formal jobs at least one million every year to keep
up with the growing population have not been created in over ten
years. With the abundance of natural resources in the country- as well as
its petroleum wealth, these benefits don't seem to reach many of the
people of Mexico who lack job opportunities and the means to raise their
standards of living out of poverty and marginalization.
In order to improve present day employment opportunities in Mexico,
existing laws and regulations must be replaced for efficient instruments
with greater legal certainty; encourage private investment; increase the
collection of taxes; stimulate the productivity of businesses and the
training of workers; and create more and better jobs.
UNDEREMPLOYMENT

Getting an education does not immediately translate to landing better

paying jobs or overcoming underemployment in Mexico: According to
data compiled by the Civic Observatory for Education, fewer than 20% of
recent graduates manage to find an appropriate position during their
first round of job-hunting. Although the country has made great strides
in education and professional training, the absence of a serious
employment policy means that economic expansion is sacrificed so that
higher prices can be avoided. That exerts a negative impact on the labor
market in both the short and medium term, and on new professionals
most of all. Situations like this have cause the standard of living among
the urban middle class to deteriorate and as a consequence brings on
emigration from this sector to other countries, mainly the United
States and Canada.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE
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