Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Middle class declines by 6.3 million people due to pandemic, says INEGI

The size of Mexico’s middle class shrank by 6.3 million people between 2018 and 2020 due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the national statistics agency INEGI.

The middle class was made up of 53.5 million people in 2018 but the number declined to 47.2 million last year, according to INEGI estimates based on data collected by the National Income and Household Spending Survey (ENIGH). The figures include adult and child members of middle class families.

INEGI’s adjunct director of research Gerardo Leyva told the newspaper El Universal that the reduction in the size of the middle class further entrenches Mexico’s status as a country of predominantly lower class people.

The size of the lower class grew by 8.6 million to 78.5 million in 2020 from 69.9 million in 2018, while the upper class shrank to just over 1 million from 1.8 million two years earlier.

“More than 99% of the population of Mexico is lower class or middle class,” Leyva said.

“The middle class is 37.2% of the population and the lower class is 62%. So Mexico continues to be basically a lower class country,“ he said, adding that the data shows that a claim in a 2010 academic book that Mexico is a predominantly middle class country is incorrect.

“The middle class declined because of the pandemic,” the INEGI official said.

Mexico’s GDP shrank by a whopping 8.5% last year as the pandemic and associated restrictions crippled the economy, and millions of people lost their jobs or earned considerably less.

“… The majority of the population is still concentrated in the lower class and I believe it will take some years of progress to be able to change this situation and make the middle class the majority,” Leyva said.

Based on ENIGH data, INEGI also estimates that 42.2% of households across Mexico are middle class.

The percentage of middle class households is higher than the national average in 13 states, among which Mexico City ranks first.

INEGI estimates that 58.9% of households are middle class in the capital. Ranking second to 13th for the highest proportion of such households are Colima, 54.6%; Jalisco, 53.6%; Baja California, 53.1%; Sonora, 51.9%; Baja California Sur, 51.1%; Querétaro, 50.5%; Sinaloa, 50%; Nayarit, 49.9%; Quintana Roo, 45.7%; Nuevo León, 45.6%; Michoacán, 44.6%; and Chihuahua, 43.3%.

The average income of households considered middle class was 22,297 pesos per month (US $1,080) in 2020, while for lower class and upper class households it was 11,343 pesos (US $550) and 77,975 pesos (US $3,775), respectively.

With reports from El Universal 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Tractor trailer with undocumented male migrants inside being ordered out by a man with a National Immigration Institute uniform. Near him are other migrants already outside the truck and a Mexican soldier in a military gear and holding an automatic weapon stands guard.

In 1 day, authorities find hundreds of migrants in Chihuahua, Oaxaca

0
In a 24-hour period, Mexican authorities took into custody a total of 331 migrants in Oaxaca and Chihuahua, some of whom were being held for ransom.
The newspaper El Financiero reported that the commencement of Sheinbaum's six-year term in October "injected optimism" into Mexicans in terms of their perception of the national economy.

Consumer confidence soars to historic high in October

0
The 49.4 score in October is the highest reading since the first National Survey on Consumer Confidence (ENCO) was conducted in 2001.
Volcanoes peak through the clouds during a cold front

Incoming cold front to bring heavy rain and freezing temps to 10 states

0
Strong winds ranging between 50 and 70 kilometers per hour are also forecast for parts of central Mexico this week.