The income of Mexico’s 10 richest citizens is more than the total revenue earned by 50 percent of the country’s poorest people, the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said in a new report.
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The ECLAC report, “The inefficiency of inequality” published Thursday showed that though the affluent members in Mexican society have not significantly grown in number over the past 15 years, their fortune has expanded consuming seven percent more of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“We are talking about 10 people have the same as 60 million Mexicans," said ECLAC rector, Enrique Graue Wiechers. "As poverty grows and the inequality gap widens, opportunities are scarce, despair grows, social tensions and insecurity are generated, privilege culture fuels corruption and families of social satisfaction lead to environmental deterioration," the ECLAC rector said.
#BoletínUNAM El ingreso de los 10 mexicanos más ricos equivale al de 60 millones de mexicanos pobres > https://t.co/Oj8Zdn6h05 pic.twitter.com/etQPiC3upl
— UNAM (@UNAM_MX) August 29, 2018
"#BoletínUNAM the income of the 10 wealthiest Mexicans is equivalent to the 60 million of poor"
The study also analyzed the damaging effects brought on the low-income sectors due to discrimination, lack of health care, and poor education.
"The document reflects the lacerating inequality, which is like a monster that feeds itself, and if we do not fight it, it will destroy us because of its own inefficiency," said Graue Wiechers said.
Executive Secretary of ECLAC Alicia Barcena agreed, calling for an end to “privilege culture,” saying, "It's about equalizing in order to grow, because inequality is unjust, inefficient and unsustainable, and generates institutions that do not promote productivity and innovation, because it punishes class, ethnicity, and gender belonging, and brings to its maximum consequence the culture of privilege that naturalizes inequalities, which is unacceptable.
“If we are able to go from the culture of privilege to the culture of equality, we can achieve a social benefit that includes not only current generation, but also future ones,” she said.
The ECLAC recommended Mexico revolutionize its fiscal policies through a macroeconomic vision by developing institutions that will promote equal opportunities for the public “as indicated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”