Ethnic Minorities and Social Inequities: A Diagnostic Assessment about the Mexican Indigenous Population

Susana Carolina Guzmán-Rosas^*

Ph.D. Program on Science, Technology and Society, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico.

DOI: 10.4236/jss.2015.38002                

Abstract

This paper analyzes the social inequities lived by the Mexican indigenous population beginning from its condition as a minority group, focusing particularly on the case of health, it being understood that it reflects the conditions that are in other spheres of the social structure. As such, with a design of quantitative nature and an explorative scope, during the period of November 2012 through October 2013, a diagnostic assessment was conducted on the situation experienced by the Mexican indigenous population, utilizing a methodology of ethnic focus proposed by the Pan American Health Organization, finding that such group presents notable disadvantages and inequities in the distinct main topics that are integrated in the analysis, which contrasts it with the recorded data of the non-indigenous population of the country. The previously stated allows confirming that in Mexico the ethnic origin factor is a determining aspect for the living social inequities and affects the conformation of the minority groups.

Keywords

Ethnicity, Indigenous Population, Ethnic Minorities, Social Inequities, Indigenous Health, Multidimensional Poverty, Human Development, Marginalization, Infant Mortality, Life Expectancy at Birth, Health Service

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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