Every day, thousands of people are affected by gentrification caused by the arrival of foreign individuals to the Mexican Republic. According to specialists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), this phenomenon is a process that occurs with the arrival of new residents with a higher purchasing power than the inhabitants of a certain area; which ultimately causes a general increase in prices, such as housing, food, and services.
One of the main effects of gentrification is that native people from a locality are displaced from their places of residence due to increases in housing costs, food, and services. In this regard, the UNAM has stated that the most affected people by gentrification are those with low resources, as they are the ones who can no longer afford the increase in services and goods in a certain area.
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How many Americans currently live in Mexico?
The states most affected by the gentrification phenomenon in Mexico are those that have tourist destinations such as Mexico City, Oaxaca, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Guanajuato, and Nayarit. Similarly, the foreigners who reside the most in Mexico are Americans, who increasingly prefer to live in Mexico, since housing costs are more accessible for them.
According to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), until the past year of 2022, a total of 11,518 Americans received the temporary resident card in Mexico. This figure represents an increase compared to 2021, when 9,086 were counted; while in the pandemic years, 2019 and 2020, only 5,393 cards were issued to citizens originating from the United States.
Who are the Americans who prefer to live in Mexico?
In this regard, the Segob has warned that in the last two years there has been an increase in the flow of foreigners coming from developed countries such as Canada and the United States: from 2020 to 2022, the number of procedures for the Permanent Resident Card and the Temporary Resident Card for Canadians increased from 2,442 to 5,961, an increase of 45.2 to 141 percent.
For its part, studies from the Yearbook of Migration and Remittances Mexico 2022, a publication of the National Population Council, identified that the majority of the population born in the United States residing in Mexico is young, under 20 years of age, and is mainly located in states on the northern border of the country, in states such as Baja California, Chihuahua, and Jalisco, where housing rents are more accessible for those earning in dollars.