[Coverage of the pension systems and factors associated with access to a retirement pension in Mexico]

This paper is aimed at obtaining estimates of pension coverage or retirement retreat indicators for the Mexican population over 65 years, and assessing the impact of pension systems in transitions to retirement of adults in middle and advanced ages in Mexico. To do this, microeconomic data from the Mexican National Survey of Health and Aging are used. The econometric analysis carried out is focused on identifying socio-demographic, economic, and institutional factors that are associated with having access to a retirement pension or to rely on other sources of income. Moreover, the relationship between social protection and labor market is examined. The main result of this research is that in Mexico the transition to retirement from the labor market in the advanced stages of the life cycle, measured by having access to retirement pensions, are limited due to the characteristics of highly contributory pension schemes, which favor the population with formal and more stable career paths associated to: 1) gender characteristics, 2) educational opportunities and 3) potential integration into the labor market.