Country Report Mexico STUDY ON POVERTY AND DISPARITIES IN CHILDHOOD

Transcription

1 Country Report Mexico STUDY ON POVERTY AND DISPARITIES IN CHILDHOOD

2 The cover design of this report was inspired by the Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities, a multi-country initiative to leverage evidence, analysis, policy and partnerships in support of child rights. The overlapping, multi-coloured frames symbolize the national, regional and global contributions to the Global Study, which form the basis for exchanging experiences and sharing knowledge on child poverty. The design encapsulates three central tenets of the Global Study: ownership, multidimensionality and interconnectedness. Ownership: Although children s rights are universal, every country participating in the study has its own history, culture and sense of responsibility for its citizens. The analyses aim to stimulate discussion and provide evidence on how best to realize child rights in each country. Multidimensionality: No single measure can fully reflect the poverty that children experience. A multidimensional approach is therefore imperative to effectively understand and measure children s wellbeing and the various forms of poverty that they experience. Interconnectedness: Today s world is increasingly interconnected through economic, social, technological, environmental, epidemiological, cultural and knowledge exchanges. These exchanges have important implications for child poverty and can also help provide avenues for its reduction.

3 Acknowledgement The present Country Report is an input for the elaboration of a Global Study on Poverty and Disparities in Childhood performed by UNICEF in 40 countries of located in 7 regions (Central and East Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States; east Asia and the Pacific; east and south Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and West and Central Africa.) The purpose of the global study is to place boys and girls at the center of public policies, and to influence the assignment of resources and the design and execution of economic and social policy, as well as anti-poverty programs. The team commissioned for the elaboration of the Global Study at UNICEF headquarters will use the information contained in the reports of each country and the statistical and policies tables to perform a comparative analysis and generate recommendations oriented towards development strategies, social and sectorial protection in order to respond in a more integral and effective manner to the problems derived from poverty and disparity that obstruct the complete fulfillment of the rights of boys, girls and youth. The team will analyze and pinpoint good practices and successful experiences in matter of multidimensional measurement of poverty and programs and policies aimed at the overcoming of poverty and disparity in Mexico. We are grateful for the collaboration of the Social Development Department, of the National System for Integral Family Development, the Health Department, the National Commission for Evaluation of Social Development Policies and the National Coordination of the Opportunities Human Development Program for the fulfillment of this Project.

4 Table of contents Executive Summary... 1 Section One: Children and Development Children, poverty and disparities... 5 What does this survey on children in Mexico show? Political, economic and institutional context Macroeconomic strategies and resources allocation Chapter s Conclusions...19 Section Two: Poverty and Childhood Income poverty and deprivations that affect children Child survival and equity Causal analysis: which factors explain the levels and trends of poverty? Conclusions Section Three: The Pillars of Childhood Wellbeing Nutrition Health Child Protection Education Social Protection Conclusions Section Four: Addressing Child Poverty and Disparities a Strategy for Results What must be done? How to make this happen Conclusions Acronyms List References Annex 1. Policy and Statistics Tables Appendix 2. National Mexican Family Life Survey Appendix 3. Construction of variables of deprivation through ENIGH and ENNViH

5 Table of figures Section One: Children and Development... 5 Table Estimated numbers of children affected by deprivations targeted by the MDG's... 9 Table Population and economic growth since Table Fertility...11 Table 1.3.4: Financing from abroad Table 1.2.4: Income inequality Table 1.2.5: Introducing sub-national dimensions of development...14 Table 2. Public spending and development supports Table 3. Data related to childhood regarding Household Income Key Budget Allocation Table 4. Data related to childhood regarding Nutrition Key Budget Allocations Table 5. Data related to childhood regarding Health Key Budget Allocations Table 6. Data related to childhood regarding Infancy Protection Key Budget Allocations Table 7. Data related to childhood regarding Children Education Key Budget Allocations...19 Section Two: Poverty and Childhood Table Trends in income/consumption poverty since Table Correlates of income/consumption poverty among households with children Table Households with children younger than 17 years old Table All households Table Child poverty as multiple deprivations Table Change in the incidence/prevalence of severe deprivations over the last decade among children.. 27 Table Correlates of severe child deprivations Table Prevalence of seven severe deprivations by region and residence Table Correlation between different indicators for child poverty/disparity Table Combined child poverty incidence Table Children in public care or adopted Table Change in U5MR by wealth quintile and gender Table Under 5 and infant mortality rates and their correlates Table 2.2.3: Relationship between U5MR and income/consumption poverty at sub-national level Table Odds ratios for the probability of income/consumption poverty by individual, household and geographic dimensions Table Odd ratios for the probability that children will or will not experience deprivations Section Three: The Pillars of Childhood Wellbeing Table A Individuals under 15 years old by expense per capita group in Table B Health indicators for children age five or less, by region Table Child nutrition outcome and its correlates Table C Health indicators for children between 5 and 11 years old Table Child nutrition: supply side and uptake variables by region Table Young child health outcomes, related care and correlates... 51

6 Table Adolescent health outcomes, care and correlates Table Child and youth health: supply side and uptake variables by region Table Birth registration and its correlates Table Orphanhood, child vulnerability and their correlates Table A Child labor and its correlates Table Child labor and its correlates Table Early marriage and its correlates Table Child protection: supply side and uptake variables by region Table School attendance and correlates Table C Individuals between 6 and 14 years old by age groups and expenditures per capita Table D Information about the school where children between 6 and 14 years old assist to Table Child education: supply side and uptake variables by region Table Access to social protection and its correlates by individual, households and geographic dimensions.78 Table Social Protection: supply side and uptake variables by region Annex 1. Policy and Statistics Tables Table Table 2. Public Spending and Development Supports Table 3. Household Income Key and Relevant Budget Allocation Table 4. Childhood Results in Nutrition Key Budget Allocations Table 5. Childhood Results in Health Key Budget Allocations Table 6. Childhood Results in Infancy Protection Key Budget Allocations Table 7. Childhood Results in Education Key Budget Allocations Table Estimated numbers of children affected by deprivations targeted by the MDG's Table Females by age in household surveys Table Males in the survey Table 1.2.4: Income inequality Table 1.2.5: Introducing sub-national dimensions of development Table Total and private social expenditures Table 1.3.4: Financing from abroad (million pesos of 2002) Table Trends in income/consumption poverty since Table Correlates of income/consumption poverty among Table Odds ratios for the probability of income/consumption poverty by individual, household and geographic dimensions Table Child poverty as multiple deprivations Table Change in the incidence/prevalence of severe deprivations over the last decade among children.113 Table Percentages of severe child deprivations Table Odds ratios for the probability that children will or will not experience deprivations Table Percentage of prevalence of seven severe deprivations by region and residence Table Correlation between different indicators for child poverty/disparity Table Combined child poverty incidence Table Children in public care or adopted

7 Table Change in U5MR by wealth quintile and gender Table Under 5 and infant mortality rates and their correlates Table 2.2.3: Relationship between U5MR and income/consumption poverty at sub-national level Table Child nutrition outcome and its correlates Table B Health indicators for children age five or less, by region Table C Health indicators for children between 5 and 11 years old in Table Child nutrition: supply side and uptake variables by region Table Young child health outcomes, related care and correlates Table Adolescent health outcomes, care and correlates Alternative of Table Adolescent health outcomes, care and correlates Table Child and youth health: supply side and uptake variables by region Table Birth registration and its correlates (individual, HH and geog. Dimensions) Table Orphanhood, child vulnerability and their correlates Table Child labor and its correlates Table Early marriage and its correlates Table Child protection: supply side and uptake variables by region Alternative of Table Child protection: Number of shelters for children and teenager migrants unaccompanied (2007) Table School attendance and correlates (by individual, households and geographic dimensions) Table D Individuals between 6 and 14 years old by age groups and expenses per capita Table E Information about the school were children between 6 and 14 years old assist to Table Child education: supply side and uptake variables by region Table Access to social protection and its correlates by individual, households and geographic dimensions.144 Table Social Protection: supply side and uptake variables by region Table Correlation between child outcomes and indicators of child poverty National inventory of programs Oportunidades Nursery and children houses program Program for the Development of Marginalized Zones Food Assistance Program, DICONSA Social - Milk Supply Program, LICONSA Compensatory Actions to Fight the Lag in Initial and Basic Education Quality Schools Program (PEC) Scholarship Program for young mothers and young pregnant women Support program for Preschool and Primary Education for boys and girls form families of migrant agricultural workers (PRONIM) Popular Insurance Medical Insurance for a new generation Urban marginal child work School Breakfast Program National Net of Childhood Rights Diffusion Program for Girls, Boys and Adolescents in Frontier Zones...176

8 STUDY ON POVERTY AND DISPARITIES IN CHILDHOOD: THE CASE OF MEXICO Executive Summary Overview/ Executive Summary Mexico is considered by the World Bank (WB) to be a middle-high income country (World Bank, 2008); with a relatively high Gross National Income (GNI) of $12,580 dollars in 2007 (World Bank 2009) and a GDP per capita of $14,400 USD in 2008 (The world Factbook, CIA). However- and despite the progress achieved in social development in the nineties- Mexico still has high levels of poverty and inequality that directly affect children (for example 2006 Gini index in Mexico was 49.6, CONEVAL - National Commission for Evaluation 2008). In this Report we study different aspects of child poverty, inequality and wellbeing in Mexico, using the Mexican Family Life Survey (ENNViH in Spanish) as well as other Mexican surveys including the National Survey of Household Incomes and Expenditures (ENIGH). This Report consists of Policy Tables and Statistical Tables. The first one comprises the main documents, programs, laws and strategies that are currently in place that relate to child poverty, while the second one comprises detailed statistical al analysis on childhood, poverty, disparities; deprivations and wellbeing of the children. In the Report we demonstrate a number of areas in which Mexican boys and girls suffer disadvantages. Regarding poverty measures based on monetary income, about 25% of Mexican children (10 million approximately) lived in conditions of food poverty in 2005; in other words, they lived in homes where income was insufficient to purchase the basic food basket. (Chart ENIGH). According to international standards, 8% of the children in the country (3.3 millions) were in families who had less than one dollar per capita expenditure in 2005 (chart ENIGH). According to the analysis of deprivations, 1 we have found that close to 9% of children lived with at least two less severe deprivations in 2005 (chart 2.1.5, ENIGH). In that year, 24% of children experienced severe deprivations of housing (children who live in homes with 5 or more people per room or with dirt floors); 5% had no access to any kind of sanitation services and 7% experienced severe deprivations of information (children between 3 and 17 years old without access to Television, Internet or who do not read). By gender, however, few significant differences can be seen between deprivations of boys and girls. For example, analysis of the ENIGH demonstrates that in 2005, 24.3% of the boys and 24.5% of the girls experienced a severe housing deprivation; 6.3% of the boys and 6.9% of the girls had deprivations on information; 12.4% of boys and 13.9% of girls had deprivations in the area of education. About 9.0% of the boys experienced at 1 The deprivations analysis consists of a series of indicators regarding housing, sanitation, water, information, education, health and nutrition that enables analyzing poverty incidence from a different perspective than poverty measured by the income/expenditures of the households. Each deprivation can arise in a severe or less severe way. For example, a severe deprivation in matter of housing refers to a household with five or more habitants per room or with dirt floors and a less severe deprivation refers to a household with four or more habitants per room, with dirt floor or a ceiling with an inappropriate material (for example, laminated roof). 1

9 least two severe deprivations in 2005, versus 9.7% of girls. Over time there has been large reductions in the percentage of children experiencing severe deprivations overall in sanitation, water and information. While 23% of the children had a severe deprivation insanitation in 1994, this percentage had fallen to 5% in 2005 (ENIGH); the percentage of children with water deprivations fell from 18% to 2% during the same years and children with information deprivations fell from 15% to 7% during the same period. There are great differences in disparities between urban and rural areas; children in rural areas face more disadvantages than those in urban areas and indigenous children are generally the most vulnerable group of children in Mexico (for example, 33% of indigenous children under 5 years old were stunted in 2006, in comparison to the 12% of all the children with this age, CONEVAL 2008). This is an important result due to the fact that Mexico has one of the largest ethnical diversity in the world (with approximately 68 indigenous languages, INALI, 2005) and in general indigenous population, both adults and children, live in very precarious conditions, have low schooling levels,, high rate of grade failure and school desertion and generally have access to lower quality health and education services than the nonindigenous population. With respect to education, there are still an important number of children between 5 and 17 years of age who do not attend school (ENOE 2007 (National Survey of Occupation and Employment) (about 1.6 million boys and 1.4 million girls), and who do not finish basic education on time 2 (about 62% of girls and boys completed basic education on time). (EN- NViH 2002 Mexican Family Life Survey). In spite of the fact that elementary and junior high school are mandatory, 40% of youth fifteen years old and above cannot read and write, 9.5% of the population aged 5 to 17 years does not attend school (2005 CONTEO survey), and close to 12.5% of the children and youth work, which corresponds to approximately 3.6 million children (INEGI, 2008 National Institute for Statistics and Geography). In spite of the existing disparities, it is important to emphasize that some social indicators indicator for boys and girls have progressed. The mortality rate of children under five years old declined from 33.7 in 1995 to 18.4 in 2007 and the mortality rate of children under one year old decreased from 27.7 in 1995 to 16.8 in 2005 (CONAPO National Population Council); the proportion of boys and girls over one year old vaccinated against measles increased from 90% in 1995 to 96.4% in 2006 and the coverage of full scheme vaccination in one year old children increased from 87.9% to 95.2% (MDO's, 2006). While in % of the children under 5 were underweight, in 2006 only 5% were underweight. Similarly, while in 1992 almost 23% of the children under five were stunted, only 12.5% were stunted in 2006 (CONEVAL 2006). Only 1.6% of the children were underweight for their size in 2006 (ENSANUT). Additionally, government social expenditures have consistently increased. While in the seventies government social expenditure represented close to 4.5% of the GDP, in 2005 it represented 11% (Scott, 2008). The Federal Government has made some recent notable efforts which include the Opportunities Program- to improve the targeting of government expenditures to poorer groups. Nevertheless, there are still notorious inequalities in certain aspects of government expenditures, such as subsidies to certain goods and services, such as gasoline. Even though there adequate data sources to learn about the situation of childhood in areas such as socio-economic variables and health., there are important shortcomings in the availability and quality of the available information in areas such as child protection. In spite of the fact that there has been progress in some information areas, for instance through data presented by indicator CONEVAL), adequate information is lacking on child shelters, children employed as day farmers, adoptions, child violence, as well as unregistered boys and girls, among others. In general, these children are among the most vulnerable and are more prone to living in poverty and exclusion conditions, so that this lack of information represents an obstacle to fulfilling and respecting their rights and helping to overcome their poverty situation. In summary, this Report shows that Mexico has made important progress in the reduction of poverty and the improvement of child wellbeing in several dimensions. However, the Report also demonstrates that there is still a long way to go and that a high proportion of children in Mexico still live in unacceptable conditions. 2

10 We now turn to some conclusions and recommendations generated from the findings of this report. 1. There are a number of groups that suffer substantially higher deprivations and disadvantages in Mexico. In spite of being a country with a relatively high per capita level of income, high inequalities in a number areas have led to important population groups that live in a high level of social exclusion and deprivation, as has been broadly documented in this report. In particular, lower income groups, the indigenous and those who live in rural areas suffer more deprivations than other groups. These differences and inequalities make it clear that the government s policies must continue to focus on correcting these inequalities. Historically, in the areas of education and health, the government s expenditures shows evidence of being regressive, which can be seen, for example, in the fact that poorer children have access to worse education and health services than those children in families with a higher income. A basic principle of public expenditures is that it should be progressive rather than regressive. Health and education services offered to poor boys and girls must have the same quality than those offered to boys and girls of medium and high levels, which implies that the budget in matter of education and health destined to poor children should be larger than the budget assigned to higher income children in order to reverse historical inequalities. In this regard, a main recommendation of this report is that the government should guarantee similar education, nutrition and health services across Mexico, and particularly that a significant effort should be made to improve the quality of the services in indigenous and rural areas. This may require a larger allocation of expenditures towards investment in the areas with a lower level of services. 2. Emphasis has been placed on this report not only on monetary poverty indicator, but also on other indicators of wellbeing and fulfillment of the rights of boys, girls and youth, including health and nutrition. There are still significant populations above all rural and indigenous- where children suffer malnutrition. indicator However, it is important to note that an issue that now affects a larger proportion of the child population is obesity. Though this is not a specific topic in the Report s guidelines, we consider it important to mention that obesity has become a major public health concern, not only because of the high proportion of children who are overweight or obese in Mexico, but because of the rhythm with which this prevalence has increased among all groups of income, including the poorest. In spite of the fact that there is still a considerable proportion of boys and girls with stunting, wasting and underweight (Chart 1.1.3, ENNViH), overweight and obesity are rapidly growing among children. For example, in the group aged 5 to 11 years old, the combined prevalence of overweight and obesity increased 33% between 1999 and 2006 (ENSANUT, 2006). Parker, Rubalcava and Teruel, 2007 report that in 2005 close to 16% of the individuals under fifteen were overweight and almost 12% were obese. It is very probable that the high rates of obesity will lead to an increase on chronic diseases among children such as high blood pressure and diabetes-, which is likely to affect their life expectancy. This is currently one of the most important public health topics that affect childhood in Mexico and that require the implementation of immediate policies to reduce and prevent child obesity, in addition to addressing the consequences of the current obesity epidemic. 3. The role performed by the main social programs oriented to childhood in Mexico should be highlighted, including Oportunidades (Opportunities), the renowned social program of conditional cash transfers, that provides monetary benefits in exchange for children regularly attending school and the family attending periodical health check-ups. Oportunidades has been a revolutionary program in terms of its design, targeting mechanisms, multidimensional perspective and evaluation. However, the program still has areas where coverage could be improved, particularly urban areas, where coverage is notably less than in rural areas. Furthermore, while the impact of Oportunidades on school attendance to secondary or middle school is well documented, few significant results have been found on the cognitive development and nutritional development of children, so that it might be necessary to redesign some components of the program that could improve its impact in those areas. Additionally there are a significant number of families that are not eligible to receive Oportunidades because they live in areas where there are no close schools or health centers. In view of this situation, specific programs have been designed to service this population, such as the Program of Alimentary Support of Diconsa, which seeks to improve alimentation and nutrition of the population that does not receive the Oportunidades Program because they are located in faraway areas from schools and health centers. 4. It is worth highlighting the outstanding role of the Federal Government through the National Commis- 3

11 sion for Evaluation (CONEVAL), an new institution that is in charge of the definition, measurement and publication of the poverty rates of the population, being the official source for these statistics. We note that, based on the Social Development Act, the CONEVAL is obligated to include in the measurement of poverty variables such as income per capita, average education deficit at home, access to health services and to social security, the quality of housing and the availability of the basic services, in addition to access to alimentation and the degree of social cohesion (LGDS, 2004). The CONEVAL is also in charge of monitoring that all social programs with Rules of Operation carry out external and independent evaluations and regulates that the recommendations derived from these external and independent evaluations be followed. Furthermore, since 2007 CONEVAL is collaborating with SHCP (Treasury Department) and the Public Office Department to implement the Performance Evaluation System, which seeks to measure and evaluate the results of the programs and of the social policy to systematically improve its performance. To be able to achieve this, it is proposed that there are follow up of results through an Indicators Matrix, in which the budget of the programs is planned and conformed in a manner so as to clearly define the objective to which they were created; and also to advance in the efforts to the full instrumentation of the budget based on results. The preceding reflects a notable effort from the Federal Government and an important step towards the development of a social policy based on the integration of programs, encouraging those program that work well and removing those that do not. The success of the Oportunidades Program represents an excellent example of a social program where rigorous external evaluations that have been carried out ever since its initial phases have allowed to distinguish positive results, and that have also put in evidence some of its weaknesses or negative aspects of the program. Thus it is recommended to continue the implementation begun CONEVAL of carrying out rigorous external evaluations of social programs; and also to continue using the results of the evaluations to improve and/or expand programs with positive outcomes and reduce or even eliminate programs with few positive impacts on the beneficiary population. In summary, This Report has made two important contributions in matters of findings and in methodological terms. First, it has shown that, in spite of the advances in matter of social development, the disparity in social expenditures persists. Education and health services continue to have a differential quality between the poor and non poor population, quality is much higher in urban populations and for those of higher income. To eradicate these gaps in access to health and education services of equal quality, progressive government expenditures is necessary with a general emphasis on increasing services for those boys and girls who live in rural, indigenous, or marginalized 2 receives priority. Secondly, this report takes advantage on the multidimensional character of the Mexican Family Life Survey (ENNViH) to study poverty not only in monetary terms but also in terms of deprivations and other indicators indicator (such as wealth, mother s education and indigenous condition) which allow to crossing diverse information and thus elaborate on the poverty of children in Mexico, which could not be made with any other poll in Mexico. This Report adds to a very advanced trajectory of social policy in Mexico that seeks to deepen the multidimensional analysis of poverty and, strengthen the actions that have been carried out in Mexico to improve social development, such as the creation of the Social Development Act, the CONEVAL and the Oportunidades Human Development Program. Finally, it is important to point out that this Report establishes a conceptual link between the multidimensional approach of poverty and the integrality of human rights (specifically the rights of children and youth). That is, the multidimensional measurement of poverty strengthens the analysis of the causes that prevent the fulfillment of rights and the effect of such non-fulfillment, by encompassing all the dimensions under which boys, girls and teenagers may face situations of poverty, exclusion or deprivations. 2 For more information and data to this regard, see Parker, Susan (2008). Poverty and Education in Mexico. UNDP. Parker, Susan (2008). Health and Nutrition in Mexico. UNDP. Parker, Susan; Rubalcava, Luis y Teruel, Graciela (2007). Quality of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean Region: The Mexican Case. Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID - The Inter American Bank for Development). 4

12 STUDY ON POVERTY AND DISPARITIES IN CHILDHOOD: THE CASE OF MEXICO Section One: Children and Development In this chapter we present the objectives of the research, synthesize the main results and describe the precedents and the analysis of the characteristics of Mexico that are relevant to the survey of childhood poverty. 1.1 Children, poverty and disparities Mexico is a Latin American country classified by the World Bank as of medium-high income, with a GDP per capita of $14,400 USD in 2008 (The World Factbook, 2009). The main language is Spanish, though there are approximately 68 indigenous languages (INALI, 2005) spoken by over six million people above five years of age (COUNT, 2005). In 2005, the population of Mexico was close to 103 million people (CONAPO, 2005), of which 41 million were between 0 to 17 years old (ENIGH, 2005). Close to 10 million of people lived in conditions of alimentary poverty, this is, they lived in households with insufficient means to purchase a basic food basket. This Report presents the situation of Childhood in Mexico from a perspective of poverty, disparity and deprivations. The survey uses a variety of sources of nationally representative information to provide an up to date panorama on the wellbeing of children in Mexico. The Report provides statistics and analysis in three levels: country, home and individual. At the country level, an analysis on the general economic and social conditions that affect the situation of childhood is presented, as well as the social policies aimed at improving childhood wellbeing. Surveys are also used to construct aggregate indicators on childhood wellbeing in Mexico, both at home level and individually. In matter of deprivations, indicators of housing, sanitation, water, information, alimentation, health and education are used. In the first place, poverty indicators based on income (for example, total income or expense) were constructed with information on home level, while the indicators such as malnutrition were constructed based on individual information. One of the main purposes of this report survey is to present multidimensional information, which allows measuring poverty and deprivation from several different dimensions, (including income, nutrition, education and household dwelling characteristics). The Report shows that, while there are significant correlations between the different indicators of poverty and disparities, there are also important differences in the incidence of different deprivations. This Report is based on, in great extent, the Mexican Family Life Survey (ENNViH), and the National Survey of Household Income and Expenses (ENIGH), on Government reports and on other surveys such as the National Survey of Youth s, among other data sources. One of the main advantages of the ENNViH is that it brings together in one sole source information on income, health and nutrition, among other topics, which enables to present an integral analysis of all the deprivations using a single source. 5

13 ENNViH Main Purpose: collect within one instrument information on socioeconomic, demographic, crime, health and community indicators pertaining to the Mexican population. Multi-thematic data base and of longitudinal nature. It started in 2002 with a follow-up round in 2005; two more rounds will be carried out in 2009 and It collects information at individual, home and community level about: o Expendituresse and consumption patterns, savings decisions, ownership of assets and family wealth. o Social programs. o Level of schooling, attendance and permanence at school. o Types of employment, mobility and work participation. o Use of time. o State of health: self perception and expectations, habits; anthropometric measurements (weight and size), biological markerss (blood pressure, hemoglobin,glucose. o Reproductive health. o Crime and victimization. o Quantitative and qualitative information about schools, health centers and small health suppliers. o Home equipping, services, vehicles, appliances and items. ENIGH* Main Purpose: provide information on the distribution, amount and structure of income and expenditures of households. Cross section data base. Provides some socio-demographic characteristics, activity condition and occupational characteristics of the family members of 12 and older, in addition to household dwelling characteristics. Statistics are available for years: , 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005 and It collects information on: o Dwelling characteristics. o Residents and home identification at the dwelling. o Socio-demographic characteristics. o Activity condition and occupational characteristics of the family members of 12 and older. o Household services, vehicles, appliances and items. o Total expenditures of the homes. o Current non monetary expenditures. Total income of the household, both monetary and non monetary. o Current total money and nonmonetary income of the homes. In particularly, ENNViH was used to present the main analysis on monetary poverty, deprivations and the pillars of information wellbeing, due to the wealth of information it provides in a solo survey. (for example, ENNViH allows to analyze health, child work and education indicators according to the wealth levels of households, parental level of schooling, by indigenous status and by region) 3, which is not possible to do with any alternative survey in Mexico. * During 2008 CONEVAL and INEGI designed a module of Socio-economic Condition inside ENIGH, which incorporated data on health, income, education, social security, quality and dwelling s spaces, basic services, alimentation and social cohesion, to fulfill provisions in articles 36 and 37 of the LGDS. What does this survey on children in Mexico show? (Main conclusions) In spite of the fact that Mexico is a country with medium high income that has had important progress in matter of social development during the nineties 4 a large proportion of the population still lives under poverty and disparity conditions. Disparity among urban and rural areas, as well as among indigenous and non-indigenous locations is evident. Almost one fourth of the population lives in communities with less than 2,500 individuals. Due to their general isolation, rural areas tend to have lower access to basic health and education services, an important correlate to its high levels of poverty. 3 It is important to mention that, due to the fact that the weights for the second round of the ENNViH corresponding to 2005 were not ready at the time the analysis was made, the analysis in this report uses the first round of data, that is Specifically, Mexico has had an increase in the coverage of basic services, especially for the population of lower income; the expectation of life at birth has increased and poverty has reduced in an important form since 1996 (CONEVAL, 2008). 6

14 This research has shown that Mexican children suffer disadvantages in several areas. With regard to monetary income measures, close to 25% of the children lived in conditions of alimentary poverty in 2005 (Chart ENIGH). As per international standards, 8% of the children in Mexico lived in households with less than one dollar per capita per day to survive (Chart 2.1.1, ENIGH) With regard to the deprivations analysis, we have found that 9% of the children in Mexico lived with at least two severe deprivations in About 5% of children had no access to any type of sanitation (close to 2 million). Close to 2% of children used rivers or wells to get water. With regard to information, 17% of children had no access to Internet (2.2 million), to televisions or to books (ENIGH 2005). With regard to education, there are still an important number of children that do not attend school (as per ENNViH 2002, more than a million and a half between 6 and 15 years old, a number that increases to 3.2 million if we consider those between 6 and 17 years old). There are also an important number who do not finish primary education on time. That is, on time implies that for children between 6 and 15 years, the difference between their age and their education plus six is equal to or less than one. Close to 2.1 million children and 2.4 million girls, in conjunct little more than 20% of the total population between 6 and 15 years old, ENNViH 2002 do not finish primary school on time). This is associated with the high degree of repetition and dropout existing in Mexico. To this regard, at the beginning of school term 2006/2007 the group of boys and girls from 12 to 14 years old was the one that represented the highest fallback rate (persons who are enrolled two grades or more below what would otherwise normally correspond as per their age) of 9.3%. When differentiated by state we find that while in the Federal District this rate was 3.8% and in Nuevo Leon 3%, in Chiapas it was 20.2% and in Oaxaca 21.3% (INEE 2007). With respect to repetition, close to 5% of the children repeated first grade during the term and 1.2% repeated first grade of secondary or middle school in the same term (INEE 2008). Furthermore, in spite of the fact that basic education, which includes preschool, primary and secondary are mandatory, 40% of fifteen years old and older had not finished junior high in 2005, close to 10% of the five year and older population did not read and write, and close to 9.5% of the population 5 to 17 years old did not attend school (Mexican Conteo Survey 2005). With respect to deprivations in the area of health, approximately 25% of children (9.9 million) in 2002 reported either not having received vaccination or not having seen a doctor to treat a respiratory disease, or both. 5 Almost 40% of the children (15.7 million) had not received additional vaccines after the age of two (ENNViH 2002). In spite of the fact that there are an important proportion of l children who are mal nourished (Chart 1.1.3, ENNViH), currently the proportion of children overweight and obese are rapidly growing. For example, Parker, Rubalcava and Teruel, 2007 show that in 2005, close to 16% of individual under fifteen were overweight and almost 12% were obese. In turn, the ENSANUT 2006 shows that 16.5% of boys between 5 and 11 years old were overweight in 2006 and 9.4 suffered obesity, while 18.1% of the girls within the same range of age were overweight and 8.7% obese. The high rates of obesity are likely to cause an increase in chronic diseases among children, such as hypertension and diabetes, which would threaten to reduce their life expectancies. In spite of the existing disparities, it is important to emphasize that there has been important progress in some of the social indicators for children. For instance, while in % of the children lived in conditions of alimentary poverty, in 2005 this percentage had fallen slightly to 25% (close to 10 million of children). In terms of poverty of capacities, in % of the children suffered this type of poverty, while for 2005 this percentage had fallen to 33% (13 million children). In as much as patrimonial poverty, in % of the children lived in these conditions, while in 2005 this percentage had fallen to 57% - approximately 23 million children- (ENIGH 1992, 2005). 6 The proportion of children who have no access to a sanitary service of any kind has greatly diminished over time (from 23% in 1994 to 5% in 2005); those who use rivers, wells, or walk 30 minutes or longer to get water (from 18% to 2% in the 5 That is not inconsistent with the high rates of coverage of vaccination with full scheme reported on children one year old, because the definition of severe deprivation by UNICEF applies only to children from 0 to 18 years old and furthermore, the definition is not only based on vaccination but also on clinic visits with regard to respiratory diseases. 6 In 2002, under the supervision of the Technical Committee for Measurement of Poverty (CTMP), three official lines of poverty were created in Mexico used by the Federal Government to monitor the changes in poverty as per the income of the homes and using the ENIGH as reference base. The first line corresponds to alimentary poverty, the second one to poverty of capacities, and the third one to patrimonial poverty. Alimentary poverty refers to the incapacity to obtain the basic food basket, even using the whole of the available income at home purchasing only the goods of the said basket. Poverty of capacities refers to the insufficiency of the available income to purchase the value of the food basket and make the necessary pay the necessary expenses on health and education, even assigning the total income of the household for nothing more than these purposes. Patrimonial poverty refers to insufficiency of the income available to purchase the alimentary basket, and also to perform the necessary expenses for health, education, clothing, housing and transportation, though the total income of the household were used exclusively for the acquisition of these goods and services. 7

15 same years), and who have no access to television, Internet or to reading materials(from 15% in 1994 to just 7% in 2005, ENIGH). In education, during the past three decades the average of schooling of the Mexican population more than doubled, from 3.4 in 1970 to 7.6 years in 2000 (Census). In 2005 the inhabitants 15 years old and older had on average 8.1 grades of schooling (about 2 years of secondary school). By state, there are significant differences, for instance while in 2005 in the Federal District the population s average years of schooling was and in Nuevo Leon 9.7, in Chiapas these were 5.6 and in Oaxaca 6.1 (INEE, 2006). Additionally, it is important to remark that, government social expenditures has increased importantly in real terms. While in the decade of the seventies the social expenditures represented close to 4.5% of the GDP, in 2005 it represented 11% of the GDP (Scott, 2008). This clearly reflects a greater effort of the Federal Government to improve both expenditures and the targeting of these expenditures (including the Oportunidades Program)- to improve the focalization towards the poorest groups; although some regressive expenditures persist. Additionally, recently the Mexican Government has implemented a careful system of evaluation and monitoring to measure poverty and the impacts of of the social development programs it has created. The Social Development Act (LGDS) of 2004 brought with it the creation of the National Commission for Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) in 2006, an institution in charge of monitoring and regulating that the government s main social programs be evaluated. Currently CONEVAL is working on the measurement and follow-up of poverty in Mexico based on a multidimensional approach of poverty. These innovations represent an important step forward for Mexico to improve the effectiveness and impacts of its social policy. In addition to this, in matter of equity of gender, in Mexico has followed diverse strategies that seek to reduce disparities between men and women. Among these, the ratification of the Inter American Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1981 exists, and the Inter American Convention to Prevent, Sanction and Eradicate Violence against Women (Convention of Belem do Para) in 1998, which seeks to guarantee women the full enjoyment of their rights in conditions of equality with men; and also the approval of several laws, national and state to prevent and sanction violence and discrimination based on gender. It is also worth mentioning the implementation of the Woman s National Program in 1996, which sought to incorporate the perspective of gender into the planning, design and execution of public policies, and the creation of the National Institute for Institute (INMUJERES), in 2001, as a federal government s organization, the institution in charge of directing the national policy to achieve equality of opportunities among men and women. These efforts have contributed to a better legal and institutional platform for the promotion and fulfillment of women s rights, which are now beginning to show positive results through the indicators such as the Index for Development Related to Gender (IDG), which adjusts the level of IDH (Human Development Index) according to gender disparity and the Index for Development of Gender (IPG), which measures women s participation in : legislative power, managing posts and labor income, both elaborated by the UNDP (United Nations Program for Development). With regard to the IPG, defined between 0 and 1, where zero means no participation of women in the public sphere and one implies total parity in the components of the indicator, in 2000, 19 of the 32 federal entities in this country had a value of IPG less than 0.5, 11 entities had values between 0.51 and 0.60, and two entities obtained a IPG over 0.61 (only the Federal District had a value over 0.70); by 2005, 9 federal entities registered a IPG less than 0.5 (half with regard to that observed five years before), 12 reached values between 0.51 and 0.6 and 11 entities reached values over 0.61 (again the Federal District had the highest value, this time with a IPG slightly over 0.80) 7. Finally, it is important to mention that this Report establishes a conceptual link between the multidimensional approach of poverty and the integrality of the human rights (specifically the rights of childhood and adolescence). This is, the multidimensional measurement of poverty strengthens the analysis of the causes that prevent the fulfillment of children s rights. Childhood and the MDO's (Millennium s Development Objectives): progress and disparity Mexico has carried out social policies and strategies that have allowed significant progress towards the fulfillment of the MDO's. Furthermore, Mexico has committed itself to fulfilling a series of additional 7 Indexes of Human Development and Gender in Mexico , UNDP Mexico, 2009, p

16 Table Estimated numbers of children affected by deprivations targeted by the MDG's Percentage of Mexico, Mexican Family Life Survey, 2002 hholds with such children or youth girls or women of this age in this category boys or men of this age girls or women of this age not in this category A. Nutrition poor 1. Underweight children under five years of age (MDG 1 Indicator 4) B. Education poor 2. Enrolled in primary education (MDG 2 and 3 Indicator 6 and 9, between 5 and 14 years old) 3. Completing the final year of primary education in proper age (MDG 2, Indicator 7 proxy) 4. Attending primary and secondary school in proper age (MDG 3, Indicator 9) C. Health poor 7. Number of 1 year-olds immunized against measles 9. Households and/or children with sustainable access to an improved water source (MDG Goal 7 Indicator 30) 10. Households and/or children with access to improved sanitation (MDG Goal 7 Indicator 31) REFERENCE/SOURCE: Mexican Family Life Survey 2002 (MxFLS-1) goals called beyond the millennium, among which them are:: to reduce in half the proportion of persons with less than the minimum recommended level of consumption of proteins by the year 2015; insure that 90% of youth 12 years and older who enroll in secondary or middle school finish within the official term (three years), and achieve that students of primary level and secondary education reach satisfactory levels in Spanish and Math as per the exams established by an independent evaluation organism. (Millennium s Objectives, 2000). Prior to the current financial crisis, the country had advanced somewhat in the reduction of extreme poverty, between 2000 and 2005, it has reduced in over half the percentage of persons with income under one dollar a day, going from 8.6% in 2000 to 3.5% in 2005 (MDO's, 2006). The preceding can be explained in part due by economic growth and low inflation, as well as targeted conditional transfers by the Federal Government such as the Oportunidades Program- 8, 8 The governmental transfers of Oportunidades have contributed to increase the total net income per capita of alimentary poor families in rural areas in almost 58% between 1992 and 2006 (Coneval, 2008). and by the effect of remittances. In countries such as Mexico, the remittances are a key tool for the reduction of poverty, 57% of remittances are used to pay for essential expenses such as clothes, food and lodging and the remainder is generally saved or invested in small businesses, properties or education, (BID 2008). The progress to achieve the Millennium s Development Objectives in matter of health has been significant. Child mortality for children under five fell from 33.7 in 1995 to 18.4 in 2007 (CONAPO); the proportion of boys and girls one year old vaccinated against measles increased from 90% in 1995 to 96.4% in 2005 and the coverage of full scheme vaccination of one year old children increased from 87.9% to 95.2% (MDO's, 2006). However, there still are several challenges for the fulfillment of the MDO's, above all in education. In 2002, only 65% of the girls and 63% of the boys had completed the last year of primary level at an adequate age (Chart 1.1.3, ENNViH, 2002). Likewise, 80% of the girls and 77% of the boys attended 9