Women are the main recipients of remittances in Mexico, although men are keyly represented when receiving dollars from immigrants living in the United States, according to a recent analysis by the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies.
By Jesus Garcia | La Opinion | JUNE 1, 2022
Almost 12 million Mexicans receive money from their relatives living in the United States and highlights that a high percentage of households have women as heads of household.
"When considering only households receiving remittances, it turned out that in 37.4% of them the head of household was a woman and such a percentage varied from 33.4% in the West and Bajío region to 43.3% in the South and East Center," says an analysis by the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA) and the Latin American and Caribbean Remittance Forum.
The data were obtained from the National Financial Inclusion Survey (ENIF) 2021, carried out by the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
It is indicated that 11.1 million adults were recipients of remittances, of which 4.6 million were men and 6.5 million were women.
There are 4.9 million households that receive funds from immigrants in the United States, and 1.8 million women are the recipients, considered "head of household."
The region with the highest number of recipient households was the West and Bajío with 1,604 million and highlights that Mexico City has the fewest households with 112,065.
"In the results, it stands out that 13.6% of households in the country, 1 in 7.4 households, receive remittances ... but the corresponding percentage was 12.4% in those headed by men and 16.1% in those who were headed by women," he explains. "Thus, remittances are received in 1 in 6.2 households where the head of household is a woman."
The region of the country with the highest number of recipients of remittances was Occidente-Bajío, since it concentrates 33% of the recipients, or 3.5 million people.
"This region brings together the states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Querétaro, Colima and Zacatecas and, in 2021, received 37% of the country's total remittances," he says. "In fact, that region is the most important recipient of remittances and includes the three main receiving states: Jalisco, Michoacán and Guanajuato."
How much money is sent?
The average monthly money sent is $337, the report indicates, which takes into account the remittances received in the 12 months of the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021, that is, $44,962 million.
"This remittance varied from $274 per month in the Northwest region, to $383 dollars in the West and Bajío region and $795 dollars in Mexico City," he says.
In the case of Mexico City, the figure can be "trap", since it contemplates those people who receive money in the Metropolitan Area, mainly the State of Mexico.
"By integrating Mexico City with the Central South and East region (states of Mexico, Hidalgo,
Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala and Veracruz) is an average monthly remittance per adult of $334 per month," the report states.
