联合国文件/part0251

For 2004, it is estimated that it has declined to less than 1 per cent.

Paragraph 43 (a)

In compliance with the provisions of Article 4 of the Political Constitution, the Federal Government has undertaken several programmes to guarantee the nutritional standards of the population, especially its most vulnerable members.

With its “Contigo” (“with you”) strategy, it has made a special effort to extend capacities, to create new earnings opportunities in order to build up assets, and to provide protection against any circumstances which might negatively affect the population's capacities and accumulated wealth.

In July 2004, the World Bank issued a report entitled “Poverty in Mexico: An assessment of conditions, trends and government strategy”.

The report notes that our country has achieved significant progress in terms of overcoming poverty, as shown by the fact that extreme poverty was reduced by some 16 per cent between 2000 and 2002, which means that 3.1 million inhabitants managed to rise above that condition.

In 2003, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) issued a document entitled “Social Panorama of Latin America 2002-2003” giving information on the trends in poverty levels in the countries of the region.

In the case of Mexico, the same general tendency is observed as in the World Bank report, although the actual figures are different as a result of using a different method of measurement.

Also in July 2003, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published its Human Development Report, which shows that Mexico reached a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.800, higher than the 0.791 index for 2000.

According to the 2004 Human Development Report, the country rose two places in the rankings, thanks to achieving an HDI of 0.802, coming 53rd out of 177 countries.

These trends are consistent with the official results based on the 2002 National Survey of Household Incomes and Expenditure, which shows, amongst other indicators, that between 2000 and 2002 the percentage of persons in conditions of nutritional poverty fell from 24.2 to 20.3 per cent.

Paragraph 43 (b) (i)

In all countries and population groups, sources of nutritional energy are related to income.

As income increases, consumption patterns tend to evolve along fairly predictable lines.

The lack of income is one of the main causes preventing the population from achieving an adequate diet.

According to information taken from the National Survey of Household Incomes and Expenditure (ENIGH), prepared by the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Technology (INEGI), the nutritional intake in the poorest households is limited to a few types of food.

According to available statistics, the figures for the distribution of total available expenditure in households of the mobile decile (the sector of the population living in critical conditions, with a total available income close to the cost of a basic food basket designed to satisfy minimum nutritional requirements) in urban and rural areas show that the worst shortages appear in the areas of food, education, leisure and housing: households belonging to the mobile decile in rural areas devote approximately 45 per cent of their total available expenditure to food and drink within and outside the household (compared with 40.8 per cent spent by families of the urban mobile decile).

On the other hand, for the population group of households possessing few assets - with enough financial resources to meet the cost of the basic food basket, but not that of other goods and services considered to be essential - more than 40 per cent of total available expenditure (41.7%) is also devoted to food and drink for members of the group, while most of the remaining resources are spent on items such as education and housing.

The type of household expenditure, whether in terms of cash or otherwise, is another of the indicators analysed in the survey, because of the importance of the fact that domestic groups either depend on cash resources for their daily sustenance or else rely on other sources to meet the cost of the basic food basket.

The above statistics show that among households affected by either nutritional or patrimony development poverty the amount of non-cash expenditure on food, drink and health care accounts for a significant proportion of total available expenditure.

In the case of households affected by food poverty, non-cash expenditure on food and drink accounts for almost 23 per cent of total expenditure under this heading, while eight per cent of the amount comes from gifts received by the household.

This means that among households whose total available expenditure is not sufficient to purchase the goods included in the recommended basic food basket, a significant proportion of the food and drink which they eventually consume is the result of gifts received from persons outside the domestic group.

With regard to the structure of the expenditure of households classified as poor in terms of patrimony development, it may be said that a little more than 80 per cent of the resources devoted to food and drink for consumption within and outside the household is derived from cash sources and a little under a fifth from non-cash sources.

Gifts account for a significant proportion within this category, although the relative amount is less than in the case of households in the food poverty category.