Food Insecurity and Mexico’s Non-Contributory Pension: Evidence from Older Adults Living Alone and Without Social Support

This study assesses the impact of the Pension for the Well-Being of Older Adults in Mexico on food insecurity among elderly individuals living alone and those living alone without social support. Using microdata from the 2022 National Survey of Household Income and Expenditures (ENIGH), we implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design based on the program’s age eligibility threshold of 65 years. To strengthen causal identification, we adopt a local randomization approach. Results indicate that receiving the pension significantly reduces the probability of food insecurity—by 7.3 percentage points for older adults living alone and by 10.1 percentage points for those living alone without social support. These findings highlight the potential of the Pension for the Well-Being of Older Adults to alleviate food insecurity among highly vulnerable elderly populations, where traditional social programs—including other non-contributory pensions—may be less effective due to limited mobility, health challenges, and emotional vulnerability.