Almost Half of Young Mexicans are Below the Poverty Line

New figures from Mexico’s National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval) reveal that 44.3% of young Mexicans aged 15-29 are living in poverty, resulting in them leaving them country or resorting to “illicit activities”.

Furthermore, figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) show that 66.6% of 15-29 year-olds do not attend school, 5.8% are unemployed, 59.5% work in informality, and 15.2 million live in poverty by income.

Studies also found that higher education is not preparing young people to face the labor market. Around 52.8% of young people reported having a basic level of education; 41.8% had at least one baseline degree, and 4.1% had at a degree in higher education.