Demographic Profile of U.S.-Mexico Border
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Population
The United States and Mexico share a 2000 mile border that joins four U.S. and six Mexican states and extends 62 miles on either side of the legal boundary.

More than nine million people live in the 23 U.S. counties and 39 Mexican municipalities that touch the border, with 5.2 million in the U.S. and 3.9 million in Mexico, and 86% living in one of 12 pairs of border sister cities.

The population can be characterized as young and predominately Hispanic. More than 42% overall, and, when excluding San Diego, 72% of the U.S. border population is Hispanic, with some border cities have Hispanic populations of more than 90%.

When excluding San Diego, more than 29% of U.S. border residents have less than a 9th grade level of education.

The U.S. border population is growing three times as fast as the nation's. The population of Mexico's border municipalities is predicted to double in nine years.

Poverty
Of the 313 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S., the border region contains five of the seven poorest.

In Arizona, all three main border cities have sections declared as Economic Empowerment Zones by the federal government.

Over 35% of Texas' border population lives in poverty.

New Mexico's Doña Ana County has been ranked as the 10th poorest county in the nation.

In response to the declining relative value of the Mexican peso, unemployment rates have soared, potentially worsening economic conditions along the border.

Substandard Living Conditions
According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, the border region contains hundreds of colonias, substandard developments lacking running water, sewage systems, and often, electricity. An estimated 340,000 Texans and 15,000 New Mexicans live in colonias, with more than 97% reported to be Hispanic and two-thirds born in the U.S.
Environmental Degradation, Infectious Diseases, and Shortages of Health Care Professionals
Environmental Degradation
The United States-Mexico border region is plagued with environmental health problems that are similar to those found in Third World nations. Hundreds of thousands of United States citizens lack clean water for drinking, bathing, cooking, and washing clothes and dishes, and are without basic sewage systems. Due to these poor living conditions, the border region has a much higher rate of waterborne diseases and other communicable and infectious diseases than the rest of the United States.

Some U.S. border cities violate safe air standards. Disposal of hazardous waste has become a primary concern as border industrialization has grown during the past thirty years.

In 1992, more than 32,000,000 pounds of toxic materials were released or transferred in the U.S. border region.

Lupus rates in Nogales, Arizona (94 per 100,000) have been reported to be higher than the highest published rate in medical literature, and the multiple Myeloma rate is 2.4 times the national average.

The San Pedro River in Naco, Arizona, contains 35 times the federal maximum for lead in drinking water and five times the federal maximum for arsenic. High levels of lead have been found in the soil around Douglas, Arizona.

Each day, 24 million gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Rio Grande River from Nuevo Laredo, with some parts of the river containing fecal bacteria counts as high as 22,000 bacteria per milliliter (200 per milliliter is considered unsafe for swimming). For many border communities, the Rio Grande is the only source of water for drinking, bathing, cooking, and washing clothes and dishes.

California's New River is the most polluted in the U.S., containing more than 100 industrial chemicals and receiving 76 million liters of raw sewage each day.

Each day, 46 million liters of raw sewage flow into the Tijuana River, and five million gallons of contaminated water flow from the River into the Pacific.

Communicable and Infectious Diseases
In the U.S. border region, the rate of tuberculosis is twice the national rate, and, in some cases, up to three times as high. In 1993, in a selected population near El Paso, 43% of TB cases involved single- or multiple-drug-resistant strains of the disease.

In the U.S., the rate of Hepatitis A along the border is three times the national rate, with some strains five times as high. In a colonia near El Paso, Texas, a 1987 study showed that Hepatitis A infected over one-third of children by the age of eight and 90% of adults by age 35. On the Mexican side, the rate of Hepatitis A infection along the border is more than double the Mexican national rate.

Salmonella and shigella dysentery occur in the colonias at three to four times the rate of the rest of the U.S., and on the Mexican side, the salmonella rate is 26% higher than the rest of Mexico.

The border has experienced rabies outbreaks, and cases of leprosy have been reported in San Diego, El Paso, and Tijuana.

Weak Public Health Infrastructure
Every county along the border has at least a partial shortage of primary care health professionals, with 25 percent of the counties rated as having the most severe degree of shortage. Recent public health clinic closings and cutbacks in the border region exacerbate the shortage of primary health care services.

The lack of public work facilities such as access to potable water, adequate sewage treatment systems, and adequate street and drainage systems in the border region remains one of the most severe problems affecting the area.

With more than 35 percent of its population living in poverty, the border region's tax base is woefully inadequate for developing an improved public health infrastructure.

The Impact: Border Health is a National Concern
The health problems that plague the U.S.-Mexico border region pose a national concern to both the U.S. and Mexico. Demographic mobility patterns such as relocating families, travelers, tourists, and migrant workers, contribute to the diffusion of health problems and public concern in both countries. Every day, an average of 1.6 million people cross the border, making the border region a single epidemiological zone.

Reports of salmonella infections, mosquito-transmitted malaria, measles, and tuberculosis across the United States have been traced to Mexico or the border area.

Rates of HIV infection and drug abuse are reported as higher in northern border areas of Mexico than in other parts of the country. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]