San Simón Zahuatlán, in Oaxaca, is a municipality located in the northeast of the state and is part of the Oaxacan Mixtec region. With a population of 4,940 inhabitants, according to Inegi, this municipality is the poorest in the country, since 99.6% of its population lives in this condition, revealed in Coneval during the presentation of the Municipal Poverty Measurement 2020.
It is a condition that has not changed in the last 10 years, because according to the records of the Coneval, this municipality has remained among the five with the highest percentage of population in poverty.
Read more | In Mexico there are 3.8 million new poor and 15 million without access to health increases: Coneval
The other four municipalities that have remained in the top positions are: Aldama, Chanal, Chalchihuitán and San Juan Cancuc in Chiapas. All of them indigenous municipalities and their population in poverty have represented percentages higher than 98%.
In general, Coneval stressed, in 9 out of 10 indigenous municipalities in the country, at least 60% of its population lives in poverty.
If extreme poverty is concerned, the municipality with the largest population in this situation is Santiago Amoltepec, also in Oaxaca, since 84.4% of its population is in this situation.
“From 2015 to 2020, 233 municipalities saw an increase of at least five percentage points in extreme poverty. Among the municipalities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants and in this range of increase, some that belong to metropolitan areas stand out, such as: Chilpancingo de los Bravo (Guerrero); Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán (Oaxaca); Milpa Alta and Xochimilco (Mexico City); San Martín Texmelucan (Puebla), and Almoloya de Juárez (State of Mexico),” Coneval announced.
The 5 municipalities that have remained with the highest percentage of the population in a situation of poverty in the decade 2010-2020 were: Aldama, Chanal, Chalchihuitán and San Juan Cancuc in #Chiapas; as well as San Simón Zahuatlán in #Oaxaca.#PobrezaMunicipal2020https://t.co/Xr1bHDyczo pic.twitter.com/9QmhxRYgH4
— CONEVAL (@coneval) December 15, 2021
At a press conference, José Nabor Cruz Marcelo, executive secretary of Coneval, explained that within the group of 15 municipalities with the highest percentage of the population in poverty, the characteristics they share is that they are all located in high and mountainous areas of the south of the country and their population ranges between 312 and 47,837 inhabitants.
“14 of them are indigenous municipalities where the population is mainly engaged in primary sector activities. Six out of 10 people reside in localities with accessibility to low or very low paved roads,” said Coneval.
Knowing the situation of poverty at the municipal level, stressed the Coneval researcher, Claudia Maldonado, is more than pertinent to understand what the specific situation of each territory is and thus be able to promote public policies according to the needs of the population of each of the municipalities.
In 2020, the municipalities with the highest percentage of the population in poverty were located in #Oaxaca, #Chiapas and #Guerrero; the lowest percentage were located in #NuevoLeón, #CDMX, #Sonora, #Chihuahua and #Coahuila.#PobrezaMunicipal2020https://t.co/Xr1bHDyczo pic.twitter.com/XmOyAposE5
— CONEVAL (@coneval) December 15, 2021
León, Guanajuato, is the metropolitan municipality with the largest population in poverty
In the last 10 years municipalities such as Ecatepec, in the State of Mexico; and Iztapalapa, in Mexico City, have been two metropolitan municipalities with a high population concentration that have been among the first three with the highest number of inhabitants living in poverty, however, by 2020, the municipality of León, in Guanajuato, which had remained in fourth position, tops the list.
According to the Municipal Poverty Measurement 2020 that Coneval announced this Wednesday, December 15, it is about 816 thousand 934 inhabitants in León, Guanajuato, who are in a situation of poverty.
It should be noted that, for example in 2010, it was just over 545 thousand people who in 2015 fell to 522 thousand 736, however, for this 2020 it increased by just over 290 thousand people which makes this municipality has risen to the first place.
The capital of Puebla, after in 2015 being placed as the second metropolitan municipality with more people in poverty, in this 2020 is located in the fourth position.
“Between 2015 and 2020, the largest increases in the percentage of the population in poverty (greater than or equal to 5 percentage points) were observed in 339 municipalities, among which are: Tulum in Quintana Roo; Atil in Sonora; Santa Maria Coyotepec in Oaxaca; Mazatecochco by José María Morelos in Tlaxcala; Huixquilucan in the State of Mexico, and Akil in Yucatan, with increases of more than 20 percentage points,” Coneval reported.
Meanwhile, from 2010 to 2020 only the municipalities of San Pedro Garza García, in Nuevo León; Huépac, en Sonora; and the mayor’s office Benito Juárez, in Mexico City, were among the lowest percentage of the population in extreme poverty.
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