Recent Population and Education Trends on the Yucat´an Peninsula
3.4 Age and Sex Composition
A comparison of the 1970 and 1990 age–sex pyramids of the Yucat´an peninsula reveals important demographic changes over this period (Figure 3.4). In 1970 the general age–sex structure of the peninsula was typical of an underdeveloped area, with a broad base, a marked indentation in the third level indicating high infant mortality, and a constant narrowing of the pyramid’s vertex pointing to a small pro-portion of old people. Although the age–sex pyramids of the states of Campeche and Yucat´an indicated a slowing of the birth rate and a deficit of males, in Quintana Roo all the evidence pointed to a continued high birth rate and an important influx of predominantly male migrants. By 1990, all three states showed a small reduc-tion in the proporreduc-tion of young children (between 0 and 4 years old), which was, however, more marked in Campeche and Yucat´an than in Quintana Roo.[5]
A glance at the age–sex pyramids of the different socioecological regions, or SERs (Figure 3.4), shows that in 1990 the population under the age of 15 continued to represent a large proportion of the total population throughout the peninsula (averaging 38.5%). Proportionally, the group was less important in the urban areas (less than 36%) than in the rural areas (more than 40% of the population) because of the latter’s higher birth rates, shorter life expectancies, and smaller job markets for women. In the case of the tourist–urban region, the relative importance of the young population was reduced (representing 35.6%) because of the large proportion of adult immigrants. In 1990, the adult population (between 15 and 65 years of age) fluctuated as a proportion of the total population between 51.4% and 55.9% in rural areas and between 59.4% and 60.5% in urban areas, the difference being caused by rural–urban migration.
Although the proportion of old people (over 65 years) in 1990 was consistently small (4.5%) over the whole peninsula, the number of old people per 100 young people was above the national average (11.6 on the peninsula versus 10.8 in the country as a whole). Life expectancy was considerably higher in the state of Yu-cat´an than in other parts; it was especially high in the metropolitan region of M´erida and the former henequen-producing region, where people over 65 years old repre-sented 5.8% and 6.4% of the population, respectively, compared with only 1.3% in the tourist–urban region. An unusual, and so far unexplained, characteristic of the population structure on the peninsula as a whole in 1990 was the higher proportion of men than women in the adult groups, generally being above 110 males per 100 females in rural areas and reaching the extreme case of 139.7 men per 100 women in the old-age group in the southern block-fault basin.
The 1990 age–sex pyramids for the majority of the rural areas showed some initial signs of the demographic transition (Figure 3.4), although these were weak-est in the Candelaria and northern and southern block-fault regions. The maize-producing region showed the most extreme characteristics of underdevelopment.
61
21º 00'
Agesex pyramids for the Yucatán peninsula (1970, 1990) and the
socioecological regions (1990).
C AR I BB EA N S EA 0 10 20 30 40 50 km
Proyección cónica conforme de Lambert
© CARTA FRANCA S.L. - FAUADY - UCM 1996
G U L F OF M E X I CO
Yucatán peninsula 1970 1990
% 8 7 654 3 2 1 01 2 3 4 56 7 8
(I A)
(I B) (II A)
(II B) (V B)
(V A)
(III A) (III C)
(III B)
(I V)
(V C)
e3.4.Age–sexpyramidsfortheYucat´anpeninsula(1970and1990)andtheregions(1990).SeeTable3.1forregionnames.
The former henequen-producing region was the most highly distorted by emigra-tion. The tourist–urban region was severely distorted by the effects of immigraemigra-tion.
In contrast, the Campeche region and the metropolitan region of M´erida had the most in common with developed-country patterns.
3.5 Urbanization
Compared with industrial countries, the rate of urbanization remains low on the peninsula.[6] Despite having increased from 34% in 1970, it was still only 55.5%
in 1990. Moreover, its urban structure is extremely concentrated and badly artic-ulated between its different hierarchical levels (see Figure 3.1). The backbone of the structure is represented by M´erida, the dominant center and principal provider of services since colonial times, whose metropolitan area has spread to such an extent that it now includes Progreso on the coast and Kanas´ın in the southeast. In range and quality of services offered, M´erida surpasses all other urban centers on the peninsula, except Canc´un in the case of tourist services.
Even today, the Yucat´an peninsula has few cities, defined here as settlements of over 15,000 inhabitants (Unikel et al., 1976). In 1970 it had six cities, three of them located in the state of Yucat´an; today there are 18, now more evenly dis-tributed over the peninsula. Four of these cities – Campeche, Ciudad del Carmen, Canc´un, and Chetumal – have grown very rapidly over the past 30 years, creating a solid structural level below M´erida and somewhat reducing the latter’s relative im-portance. However, the next level down, exemplified by Tizim´ın in Yucat´an, repre-sents an enormous reduction in terms of quantity and quality of services provided.
In Campeche and Quintana Roo, the gap is less extreme but sufficient to stimulate the process of outward rural migration and accelerate urban concentration in the top two hierarchical levels. Finally, the smallest urban areas are extremely varied, with some (such as Oxcutzcab and Tekax) having most of the functions of a city despite their small size and others (such as Esc´arcega) being little more than large villages.
The proportion of the population that still lives in settlements of fewer than 2,500 inhabitants remains high (24.4% in 1990), although there is a clear downward trend. Despite being statistically small, settlements of one or two dwellings are spatially significant in that they characterize the landscape pattern of large areas of southern Campeche and Quintana Roo. Moreover, they are socially important in that they present the development planners with one of their thorniest problems:
how to integrate the rural population and provide it with urgently needed infra-structure and services without jeopardizing the survival of Maya culture.
3.6 Migration
Over the past 30 years the Yucat´an peninsula has served as a receptor of large mi-gratory flows (see Figure 3.3). Two factors can explain its enormous attraction: the spectacular growth of Canc´un and policies of directed colonization, which reached a peak during the presidency of Luis Echeverr´ıa (1970–1976) and whose effect was to move large numbers of landless people from the north and central parts of the Republic to the sparsely populated interior of the Yucat´an peninsula. Quintana Roo represents an extreme case of migration-driven growth, with annual average migration rates of 9% between 1970 and 1990 and 7.4% between 1990 and 1995.
Although Canc´un has acted as a magnet attracting people from all over the country, many of the migrants have come from the state of Yucat´an. This is partly because historically it has always had a higher concentration of people than the other two states; but more importantly, it is also a result of the protracted economic decline of its rural areas, particularly the former henequen-producing region. In a state of crisis for decades, the contraction of the henequen industry has forced most of the population to leave. The maize- and cattle-producing regions have also actively contributed to this process, as agriculture in general has failed to provide the jobs and economic growth required by the expanding population.[7] Between 1985 and 1990, 74% of the emigrants from Yucat´an went to neighboring Quintana Roo, while only 5.7% moved to Campeche.
Within the SERs, migration rates have varied greatly, from a high of more than 12.9% per year in the northern block-fault basin region to a low of –2.16% in the former henequen-producing region (see Figure 3.3). The rates of out-migration have, however, begun to slow, especially in the maize- and cattle-producing re-gions. For some years the former henequen-producing region has experienced a slowing of its out-migration and now forms a “commuter belt” around M´erida, populated by low-paid workers and domestic servants whose economic strategy depends on maintaining their roots in the countryside and traveling on a daily or weekly basis to M´erida (Ba˜nos Ramirez, 1992). Although traditionally more men migrated than women because of the urban demand for bricklayers, it is now of-ten easier for women to find work. Low-paying jobs as domestic help, as workers in maquiladoras, or in the service sector are still available, and it has been shown that employers frequently prefer women for their greater reliability, their capacity to endure tedious work, and ease of management. Even a cursory glimpse of vil-lages in the henequen zone, however, is sufficient to reveal the extent of the social problems there, such as alcoholism among men, unattended children, and drug ad-diction, etc., which have increased dramatically with the new pattern of working women and underemployed men.
Migration from the Yucat´an peninsula to the United States was relatively com-mon in the 1960s, when the bracero programs encouraged Mexican campesinos to
0 10 30 50 70 90 1970
1990 20 40 60 80
Percentageofpopulation
IA IB IIA IIB IIIA IIIB IIIC IV VA VB VC
Primary sector Secondary sector Tertiary sector
0 10 30 50 70 90
20 40 60 80
Percentageofpopulation
IA IB IIA IIB IIIA IIIB IIIC IV VA VB VC
Region
Figure 3.5. Occupation by economic sector in 1970 and 1990. Primary sector:
agriculture, fisheries, and forestry; secondary sector: industry; tertiary sector: com-merce and services. See Table 3.1 for region names.
work as farm laborers in the neighboring country. Although some movement to-ward the United States continues, it has become much less frequent in recent years because of the difficulties encountered at the border.
3.7 Employment
In 1970, the Yucat´an peninsula was considered an economically depressed area. Its main economic indicators demonstrated performance well below the national aver-age. While per capita gross domestic product was 3,222 Mexican pesos nationally, in Yucat´an it was only 1,906 pesos. At the same time, even though the region was considered basically agricultural, its agricultural capitalization index was only 271 pesos, versus a national average of 768 pesos (Garc´ıa de Fuentes, 1979).
The most notable occupational change over the past 30 years has been the dra-matic growth of the tertiary (service) sector of the economy (Figure 3.5). Whereas
in 1970, 53% of the economically active population was engaged in primary ac-tivities (agricultural, forestry, and fishing) and only 26% in the service sector, by 1990 the situation had been completely reversed, so that slightly above 50% was employed in the tertiary sector and only 27.8% in primary activities. This reversal can be seen most spectacularly in the former henequen-producing region, where primary occupation fell from 81% of the economically active population in 1970 to 49% in 1990. Even in the metropolitan region of M´erida, the least agricultural SER in 1970, 18% of the economically active population was still engaged in the primary sector. By 1990, however, this figure was only 4.9%. At the same time there was a corresponding expansion of the tertiary sector, which grew from occu-pying 47.9% to 66.3% of the economically active population over the same period.
Although this rapid growth of the service sector is a result of different factors in the different SERs, it is closely tied to the generally unbalanced structure of the region’s economy. While in Canc´un it is clearly a consequence of the growth of the tourist industry and in M´erida it can be at least partially explained by the city’s status as a regional service supplier, in the rest of the SERs it is more a result of the growth of the informal sector and of the contraction of other economic activities, particularly the henequen industry in Yucat´an and forestry activities in Campeche and Quintana Roo.
Whereas crop production dominated Yucat´an’s agricultural sector in the 1970s, by the 1990s animal production, particularly extensive cattle ranching and inten-sive pig and poultry production, had taken over as the most economically impor-tant activities, causing ever-greater competition for land and other resources with traditional milpa while requiring far less labor.[8] Organized around subsistence needs and first developed by the ancient Maya to take maximum advantage of the difficult soil and climatic conditions but great biodiversity in Yucat´an (Ter´an and Rasmussen, 1994; Xolocotzi et al., 1995), milpa is ill-suited to compete with mod-ern agriculture and has suffered a marked process of decomposition and decline over the past 30 years. This decline has, in turn, resulted in a reduction of the rural population’s self-sufficiency, standard of living, and access to resources.
While agriculture has declined, industry (the secondary sector) has expanded very little over the past 30 years: in 1970 it employed 15% of the economically active population on the peninsula, and by 1990 that figure had only grown to 22%
(Figure 3.5) versus the national average of 28%. Industry’s present modest par-ticipation in the economy as a whole can largely be explained by the decline of the henequen industry over this period and the conspicuous failure of other indus-tries to replace it as a massive employer and driving force in the regional economy.
Apart from the dominant henequen industry, Yucat´an’s industrial activities in 1970 were limited to the production of food, beer, and soft drinks and the small-scale production of shoes and cloth. By 1990, while the henequen industry had all but
disappeared, some new and technologically more advanced industries had emerged (such as food oils and animal feed, plastics, and construction materials) and a small number of maquiladoras had been established, but not on the scale necessary to boost economic growth.
Concentrated in the state of Campeche, particularly in Ciudad del Carmen and to a lesser degree all along the peninsula’s coast, the fishing industry was an impor-tant source of employment and income in 1970. Largely due to fishing, industry as a whole employed 18% of Campeche’s economically active population. By 1990, however, despite the discovery of oil in the Gulf of Mexico just off Campeche, this figure had only increased to 22.2%. The oil industry, managed by the parastatal oil company Pemex, has been limited almost exclusively to off-shore drilling in Campeche, leaving very few lasting benefits for the region’s economy derived from the growth of only minor oil-related industries (see Chapter 5). Moreover, it has been responsible for causing severe contamination of the once highly productive but fragile marine ecosystems around Campeche. By 1990, Campeche’s fishing industry was in marked decline, partly as a result of the pollution but also because of the overexploitation of marine species and the failure of the fishing industry to modernize its fleet.
In the 1970s Quintana Roo’s industrial sector basically consisted of two state-run enterprises involving the production of wood and sugar. By the 1980s, both were in crisis. On the one hand, Quintana Roo’s tropical forests had been severely depleted, leaving the wood industry without an adequate supply of raw material and forcing it to close down. On the other hand, the state-run sugar industry was in need of complete restructuring and modernization at the national level. In Quintana Roo it was sold to the Coca-Cola Company, which, after investing heavily, has succeeded in revitalizing the industry, converting it into an important source of rural employment in the southern part of the state. Quintana Roo’s success also depends on the tertiary sector, in particular tourism, which has taken full advantage of the state’s natural beauty, transforming it into a world-class vacation area all along the Caribbean coast.
The labor dependency rate, an indicator of the number of people who do not work in comparison with those who do, is high on the Yucat´an peninsula. Accord-ing to official statistics, for every worker on the peninsula in 1990 there were 2.2 people who did not work. The rural regions, such as the maize-producing and hills and valleys regions, showed considerably higher labor dependency rates (2.8 and 2.7, respectively) than the urban ones, such as the tourist–urban region (1.6). On the whole, women are still very underrepresented in the labor force: for every 100 male workers in 1990 there were only 26.2 female workers. Again, regional differences are quite pronounced, ranging between a high of 41.3 in the metropolitan region of M´erida (and only marginally less in the Campeche and tourist–urban regions) and
a low of around 13 in the maize-producing and hills and valleys regions. It should be noted, however, that these indicators are calculated in a way that hides the large work contribution made to households and the community by unpaid members of the family, especially women and children.
3.8 Income
The Yucat´an peninsula is characterized by large areas of extreme poverty (concen-trated in the rural regions) and a highly skewed pattern of income distribution (see Table 3.1). In 1990, 33.95% of the population earned less than the minimum wage (US$3.30 per day at the time). Although the official figures appear to indicate an improvement in the earning capacity of the poorest sections of the population be-tween 1970 and 1990 (60% of the population earned less than the minimum wage in 1970), it should be borne in mind that this may be more apparent than real, because the purchasing power of the minimum wage decreased substantially over the 20-year period.[9] The welfare of people in rural areas deteriorated disproportionately more because of falling yields from traditional agriculture and their decreasing ca-pacity for self-sufficiency, brought on by globalization and the expanding influence of the market.
Over the same period there was a small increase in the proportion of the penin-sula’s population earning more than five times the minimum wage per day (US$17 in 1990): up from 1.2% in 1970 to 6.1% in 1990. This remains an extremely small percentage, indicating a very low consumer capacity (although it should be noted that the official information gives no indication of the upper range of the top salaries). Although there are marked differences in income distribution within the peninsula, it is clear that the tourist–urban region, where 15.6% of the population earns more than five times the minimum wage per day, represents an exception to the general low income pattern (see Table 3.1).
Differentiation between the sexes with regard to income distribution on the peninsula as a whole is not great: surprisingly, slightly more men than women fall into the lowest income range (34.3% men versus 32.7% women earned less than the minimum wage in 1990), whereas, not so surprisingly, more men than women occupied the highest income category (6.6% men versus 4.2% women). The most marked differences were found in Quintana Roo (see Table 3.1).
3.9 Education
Historically the Yucat´an peninsula – and the state of Yucat´an in particular – has played a leading role in spreading education among the lower classes and into rural
areas. During the first decades of the 20th century, following the Mexican Rev-olution, education was given very high priority in government programs.[10] In 1930, Yucat´an, Quintana Roo, and Campeche were among the states with the high-est school attendance rates for children between 6 and 10 years of age – 58% on the Yucat´an peninsula versus a national average of 42%. By 1990, however, the peninsula had lost its leading position and had fallen slightly behind the national average of 85.8%, with only 84% of its young children attending school.[11]
Following the general trend of decreasing illiteracy throughout the country, il-literacy rates on the Yucat´an peninsula have fallen enormously over the past 100 years, from 82.1% in 1895 to 27% in 1970 and to 14.3% in 1990.[12] However, as in the case of school attendance, the peninsula has again lost ground in rela-tion to the other states: whereas in 1930 the peninsula’s illiteracy was below the national average, in 1990 it was above the national average.[13] In 1990, through-out the peninsula illiteracy rates among women were slightly higher than those among men, indicating a fundamental gap in opportunities between the sexes that
Following the general trend of decreasing illiteracy throughout the country, il-literacy rates on the Yucat´an peninsula have fallen enormously over the past 100 years, from 82.1% in 1895 to 27% in 1970 and to 14.3% in 1990.[12] However, as in the case of school attendance, the peninsula has again lost ground in rela-tion to the other states: whereas in 1930 the peninsula’s illiteracy was below the national average, in 1990 it was above the national average.[13] In 1990, through-out the peninsula illiteracy rates among women were slightly higher than those among men, indicating a fundamental gap in opportunities between the sexes that