Mexico, Mar 12: A small enclave in Mexico City starkly illustrates the country’s deep wealth divide, where modest cinder-block homes stand in sharp contrast to nearby luxury apartments and gated communities, according to a recent report highlighting persistent income inequality in Mexico.
Residents of Santa Lucía Reacomodo, a working-class neighbourhood wedged between upscale developments and the city’s affluent Santa Fe district, say the contrast has become more visible over the past two decades as infrastructure development attracted wealthy investors and high-end residential projects to the area.
The report by the international anti-poverty organisation Oxfam Mexico found that the richest 1 per cent of Mexicans own about 40 per cent of the country’s wealth, while millions of people still struggle to meet basic needs.
Nearly 19 million citizens face difficulties securing adequate food, the report noted.Experts say the concentration of wealth has grown steadily in recent decades. Public policy analyst Viri Ríos said inequality in Mexico is “almost inconceivable,” adding that extreme disparities have historically shaped the country’s economic landscape.
The report also highlighted that Mexico’s 22 billionaires have doubled their collective wealth in the last five years to around USD 219 billion. Business magnate Carlos Slim, the wealthiest individual in Latin America, has seen his fortune increase more than eightfold since the mid-1990s.
Despite the sharp disparities, recent years have also brought some improvements. During the six-year tenure of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, increases in the minimum wage and other labour policies contributed to a reduction in poverty levels.
Government data cited in the report indicated that about 13.4 million people moved out of poverty during that period, marking a decline of nearly 26 per cent. The number of people living in extreme poverty also dropped from nearly nine million to about seven million.According to the World Inequality Database, income inequality in Mexico had fallen to its lowest level since 2006 as of 2024.Still, analysts caution that the gap between rich and poor remains wide.
Wealthier Mexicans often live in gated communities with private services and security, while many lower-income residents inhabit densely populated neighbourhoods with limited access to public infrastructure.In Santa Lucía Reacomodo, residents say nearby luxury developments have created employment opportunities, though social and economic divisions remain evident.
While some locals have found work in construction, maintenance or domestic services in the upscale complexes, the neighbourhood itself continues to face challenges such as crime and inadequate public services.
For long-time residents, the physical wall separating their community from an adjacent gated enclave has come to symbolise the divide.“The wall separates the rich from the poor,” one resident said, reflecting the enduring economic contrast that defines much of urban Mexico.
