Abstract

BOLTVINIK, Julio  and  DAMIAN, Araceli. La pobreza ignorada: Evolución y características. Pap. poblac [online]. 2001, vol.7, n.29, pp.21-53. ISSN 2448-7147.

Zedillo's government neglected extreme poverty (EP) in the urban areas: it concentrated 93 per cent of expenditure targeted to its alleviation in the rural areas. Fox's government has not corrected this bias. The paper shows that this bias was based in an overestimation of the Engel coefficient (% devoted to food), which lead to an underestimate of EP and its urban proportion and thus concluding that EP is mainly a rural problem. Data analyzed (EP estimates with various methods, food poverty estimates, and poverty estimates applying the Integrated Poverty Measurement Method), as well as the methodological criticisms presented, show that urban poverty does in fact represent two thirds of national poverty and urban EPP represents more than 50 per cent of national totals. The paper presents also the deprivation and sociodemographic profile of diverse poverty groups. The paper concludes with some suggestions to overcome this anti-urban bias.

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