Poverty levels continue to rise in Mexico, with the latest statistics from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval) showing that over 53 percent of the population can no longer afford to pay for the basic food basket.
The number of poor people rose from 52.8 million in 2010 to 53.3 million (45.5 percent of the population) in 2012, while according to Coneval, 11.5 million people (9.8 percent of the population) live in extreme poverty and lack basic services such as health, food, education and housing. The number of people without social security also rose from 69.6 million in 2010 to 71.4 million in 2012.
Children and young people are the worst affected, with 53.8 percent living in poverty across Mexico, while the indigenous population and those living in remote rural areas also remain disproportionately affected by poverty. The poorest states in Mexico are Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca, while those that saw a significant rise in poverty levels are Nayarit, Quintana Roo, Nuevo Leon and Jalisco.According to Coneval, the number of poor people in Jalisco grew by 10.3 percent from 2.7 million in 2010 to 3.5 million (39.8 percent of the population) in 2012. The number of those living in extreme poverty also rose by 13.7 percent from 392,000 in 2010 to 446,000 (5.8 percent of the population) in 2012.