The water poverty index for Mexico: a comparison with OECD countries

Motivated by concerns about water scarcity in the world and the persistence of low rates of development and high levels of marginalization, poverty, inequality and environmental deterioration, the purpose of this research is to probe the water poverty (WP) of Mexico, by means of implementing a procedure to calculate the Water Poverty Index (WPI), ranging from 0 as maximum and 100 as least poverty, and compare it with a non probabilistic sample of countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which Mexico is a member. The countries included in the study are selected under the criterion of existence of the indicators chosen to estimate WP. The WPI is estimated using the composite index method, statistically balanced with the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to detect the correlation between its aggregated variables to avoid double accounting. As a result of the calculation procedure, any elimination of variables was found unnecessary and the five indicators, Resources, Use, Access, Capacity, and Environment, were maintained. The estimation showed that the WPI in Mexico was the lowest (higher WP) compared to that observed in the sample of countries, in accordance with the country's lag regarding socioeconomic factors, findings that confirm the need for comprehensive attention to the water issues in order to avoid the incomplete vision that represents the sole measuring of coverage of water and sanitation services.