But the change owes less to a sudden increase in actual wealth and wellbeing for the country’s poor than to unannounced changes in the methodology for measuring household earnings.
The changes make comparing poverty rates from one year to the next impossible – something acknowledged by the National Geography and Statistics Institute (Inegi).
But the tweak will allow image-conscious politicians to claim success in their anti-poverty programs and economic stewardship, even though public discontent over stagnant wages and rising prices remains widespread
This is true, despite data showing improvement in nearly every sector. Wages are not stagnant, they are rising, long-term. Prices are not rising, they are falling, long-term.
If the poverty measures were not regularly updated they would become obsolete because almost no one would be poor by sufficiently antiquated standards.