Evolution and Magnitude of Poverty in Mexico

Abstract

The characteristics of the Integrated Poverty Measurement Method (IPMM), here applied for the first time at a national level, are emphasized while showing the characteristics and magnitude of poverty in Mexico. Calculated with the Poverty Line method (PL), in its Normative Basket of Essential Satisfiers (NBES) variant, poverty incidence diminished during the period 1963-1981 while a complete reversal in this tendency took place after that year and up to now, when a steady growth in poverty was observed. Both this measurement and the one obtained for 1989 by applying IPMM, show that poverty is a bigger problem than usually considered: more than two thirds of the mexican population are poor and nearly half of them (45%) are extremely poor. Although there are more poor people in the urban areas, when the intensity of deprivation is also considered one arrives at the conclusion that there is more poverty in the rural areas. From a methodological point of view, the analytical properties of ipmm are revealed. The level of poverty incidence this method calculates tends to be in between the levels derived from the partial methods of Unsatisfied Basic Needs (UBN) and PL.