Women live 6.1 years longer than men. Welfare Programs grant more than 80 thousand pensions to people over 60 years of age in this entity.
La Paz, Baja California Sur.- In this state, life expectancy in 2026 reached 77.5 years, only in the last 16 years it increased by one year and three months, which is part of the gradual aging process of local society, where women live on average 6.1 years longer than men.
And although the youth bonus in Mexico and the state is better than that of many countries, the increase in years of life in the population represents challenges in terms of pensions and health, but also opportunities, as stated by economist Alberto Torres García, professor at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (UABCS).
“The fact that today we live longer in Mexico and in particular in Baja California Sur is profoundly transforming the way of life of families and communities. The sustained growth of the elderly population forces us to rethink key issues such as the economy, work, and health.”
The aging of the population represents challenges in terms of pensions and health services / Photo: Raymundo León / El Sudcaliforniano
He mentioned that institutions such as the ISSSTE and the IMSS face increasing financial pressure, since they must pay pensions for more years with a shrinking base of active contributors, to which is added the increase in medical spending, due to the fact that chronic diseases and prolonged care are more frequent in old age.
For the federal government, the Welfare Pension represents a permanent fiscal commitment that is covered with public resources and conditions the priorities of social spending.
Despite these challenges, she said, it is essential to recognize that people over 60 not only require support, but also provide experience, unpaid family care, consumption and social cohesion.
“The main challenge is to stop seeing aging as a problem and assume it as an opportunity through reforms to pension systems, flexible employment schemes that favor labor integration and solid preventive health policies,” he said.
The statistics
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in 2010 the average life span of people in Baja California Sur was 76.2 years, 73.5 years in men and 79.2 years in women; In 2015 the expectation improved slightly to 76.3 years, 73.7 in men and 79.1 in women.
More than 80 thousand elderly people receive welfare pensions in BCS / Photo: Raymundo León / El Sudcaliforniano
In 2020, a critical year of the Covid-19 pandemic, life expectancy fell worldwide and Baja California Sur was no exception, the average went to 72.1 years, 69.7 in men and 75.7 in women; but in 2026 the trend of age growth was resumed and reached 77.5 years, 74.6 in men and 80.7 in women, historic figures for the state.
In Mexico, life expectancy in 2010 was 74.2 years, 71.4 in men and 77.2 in women, while in 2026 it is 75.9 years, 72.7 in men and 79.2 in women. These data specify that the average life expectancy in Baja California Sur is higher than the country’s average and that women generally live longer than men.
The data are surprising when comparing the growth in the life expectancy of the population in the last 90 years in Mexico, since in 1930 the average in general was 34 years, an amount that doubled at the end of the nineties and reached 74 years in the year 2000. In 1930, women in the country barely lived an average of 35 years and men 33.
In the 2020 INEGI population census, the adult population over 60 years of age in Baja California Sur was 75,605 people and the most numerous age groups from that age onwards were those from 60 to 64 years old with 27,095 people, from 65 to 69 with 19,274 people. and from 70 to 74 years old with 12 thousand 545 people. At the beginning of this decade in Baja California Sur there were 55 people over 100 years old.
Staff of the health at home program has detected few cases of elderly people in abandonment in BCS.
Wellness Supports
The federal delegate of welfare in Baja California Sur, Diphna Yanssén Weichselbaum, reported that in the tours they make of the health at home program they have only found three cases of abandonment of older adults, which were channeled to the DIF authorities who through their Attorney General’s Office call the relatives to attend to them.
He explained that the home health program is in charge of monitoring the beneficiaries, so family members who do not take care of their elderly are urged to do so because that is what the welfare pension that is granted to them is for. “It’s not like the program card they were given and we don’t see them again because they’re already receiving their support directly.”
He specified that in Baja California Sur 15,300 women from 60 to 64 years of age are currently supported with the welfare pension and 65,500 adults over 65 years of age. The former receive 3,200 pesos per two months, while the latter receive 6,400 pesos.
Together, more than 80 thousand people over 60 years of age are supported with welfare pensions that are universal, since it does not matter if they also have their IMSS or ISSSTE pensions.
The delegate highlighted the goodness of this program because it is a pension that women over 60 years of age and adults over 65 years of age, in general, will receive throughout their lives.
Wellness Supports
The federal delegate of welfare in Baja California Sur, Diphna Yanssén Weichselbaum, reported that in the tours they make of the health at home program they have only found three cases of abandonment of older adults, which were channeled to the DIF authorities who through their Attorney General’s Office call the relatives to attend to them.
He explained that the home health program is in charge of monitoring the beneficiaries, so family members who do not take care of their elderly are urged to do so because that is what the welfare pension that is granted to them is for. “It’s not like the program card they were given and we don’t see them again because they’re already receiving their support directly.”
He specified that in Baja California Sur 15,300 women from 60 to 64 years of age are currently supported with the welfare pension and 65,500 adults over 65 years of age. The former receive 3,200 pesos per two months, while the latter receive 6,400 pesos.
Together, more than 80 thousand people over 60 years of age are supported with welfare pensions that are universal, since it does not matter if they also have their IMSS or ISSSTE pensions.
The delegate highlighted the goodness of this program because it is a pension that women over 60 years of age and adults over 65 years of age in general will receive throughout their lives.
Before, what we did find were pensions of one and two thousand pesos from the insurance, and today a family at least has these three thousand 200 or six thousand 400 pesos guaranteed every two months.
Yanssén Weichselbaum said that the population has aged in Mexico and Baja California Sur and the reality is that many older adults continue to work, so their quality of life has improved. In addition, the pension program for the elderly began with eight million supports in the country and today is almost 14 million.
He pointed out that the age for receiving the pension was lowered from 68 to 65 years old, so the universe of support was increased and today there are adults over 90 and one hundred years old who continue with their lives.
Source: El Sudcaliforniano
