Are you aware that 20 million people in Mexico live on less than two dollars a day? Sixty million people, half the Mexican population, live in poverty, and 20 million of them live in extreme poverty. Most of the time, garbage is their food, and some days, they don’t even eat anything. This critical situation in Mexico is caused by individual, geographic and political factors. The purpose of this essay is to analyze these three main causes of poverty in Mexico.

The first and immediate cause of poverty in Mexico is the individual condition. This cause refers to circumstances and characteristics of poor people. For example, the amount of education, skill, intelligence, health, and prejudice all have an influence on poverty . The lack of education is one of the most significant factors that contributes to poverty. There is no access to jobs for non-educated people.

The second cause of poverty has to do with geography. For example, statistics show that people who live in rural areas far away from the cities are poorer. This is caused by the lack of communication and transportation in remote rural areas. Because of this, governments can’t provide essential services such as potable water, affordable food, primary health care, and education. People who live there are totally isolated from the rest of the society.

The third and most significant cause of poverty in Mexico is the political economy of the country. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank-prescribed structural adjustment policies have been applied in Mexico because the government doesn’t carry out enough policies to encourage successful development. They cannot, for these international institutions lend money to Mexico on the condition that the nation open up its economy and cut social expenditures to repay the loans. The IMF and World Bank programs are supposed to reduce poverty, but actually they are increasing it.

Unless the Mexican government works on the causes of the poverty which are the individual condition, the geographic factor, and the political economy of the country, the problem is going to get worse. Nobody likes to see poor children eating out of garbage cans. Mexico needs a new political economy designed by Mexican economists and politicians, people who are committed to Mexico and to the future of its society.

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