The basic basket of 80 food products that are essential for families is beyond the means of 52 million Mexicans, or 43 percent of the population.
According to the study by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), this represents a 3.5-percent improvement from last year, when 46.5 percent were unable to afford basic food requirements, which total 1,276 pesos a month (US$83).
The study also showed that poverty fell 2.4 percent in the first trimester of the year, bringing an end to the rises seen in the five continuous trimesters since 2013. The figures represent the greatest fall in poverty since 2010.
Leticia Armenta, the director of the Center for Economic Analysis in Tec de Monterrey, considers the statistics positive, but described the 2.4-percent reduction as marginal.
“We can attribute the fall which we are seeing to inflation. Some products have not risen so much, and at lower prices purchasing power increases,” Armenta said. “But that does not mean that wages in these first months are higher than in 2014.”
Armenta added that in the decade from 2005 to 2015 the purchasing power of workers in Mexico has declined by 25 percent.