Mexico’s long-term economic underperformance Like many countries, during most of the last and the present century, Mexico experienced significant progress on the basis of several indicators of human development. In the last hundred years, the country transformed itself primarily from an agrarian to an urban, service-oriented economy, while undergoing an extensive industrialization process.
During this period, access to better health and education conditions broadened substantially. For example, from 1950 to 2010, life expectancy at birth rose from 34 to 75 years; infant mortality declined from 96 to 13 per thousand live births; the illiteracy rate fell from 43 to 8 percent; and average schooling increased from 2 to 9 years.