Impact of Social Policies: Poverty and Inequality Decrease in Mexico

More than five million people have left the condition of poverty they were in, which has had a direct effect on reducing inequality, highlighted Raquel Buenrostro Sánchez, head of the Ministry of Economy of the Mexican government.

During the presentation of the Fourth National Voluntary Report at the 2024 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) of the United Nations, the official detailed that in 2018, people in the richest decile earned 21 times more than those in the poorest decile, while in 2022 this difference was reduced to 15 times during the current administration.

In Mexico, it is clear that among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of the most pressing to fulfill is eradicating poverty. Thanks to social policies, such as doubling the minimum wage, universal pensions for people over 65, along with the historic moment for commerce, investments, and employment, good results can be reported for the most pressing SDG.

Additionally, farmers are reforesting over a million hectares in our country through the Sembrando Vida program, nearly three million apprentices are entering the workforce thanks to a partnership between the public and private sectors, and indigenous movements continue to resist the appropriation of their cultural heritage.

Each initiative from its field of influence merges with others; they are not isolated efforts but part of an integral vision. This report starts from the premise that the SDGs are not an abstract agenda, nor distant from the people.

At the Forefront of Accountability

On the contrary, it was intended to show that behind each progress towards a goal, there are millions of stories of women and men committed to positively impacting their environments.

Especially, she mentioned, that this report was not only translated into English but also into Nahuatl and Maya, two of the 68 indigenous languages that constitute Mexico’s rich cultural heritage. To achieve the proposed goals, it is essential to bring the SDGs to the territory under this approach. Over the past few years, close collaboration with state and municipal governments has been promoted, which have joined through the preparation of their local voluntary reports, reaffirming their commitment to this shared agenda.

As a result, Raquel Buenrostro announced that before the end of the year, Mexico will have presented more than 35 local reports, positioning the country as one of the nations worldwide that has rendered the most accounts through this mechanism.

In line with this, social actors such as companies, unions, and academia have dedicated themselves to reporting their contributions to the SDGs through sectoral reports, efforts that not only represent an innovative participation experience but also contribute to democratizing the 2030 Agenda.

Thus, the sum of all these efforts has allowed expanding the reflection in Mexico around the 2030 Agenda and the importance of promoting actions for a more sustainable future.

However, she asserted that for all this to come to fruition, it is necessary to build a vision of Shared Prosperity, in which everyone can see themselves reflected, which begins by leaving no one behind and no one out.