[Opportunity cost approximation of underage caregivers in Mexico]. / Aproximación al costo de oportunidad de los cuidadores menores de edad en México.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To calculate the cost assumed by society for having underaged individuals who do not study and provide care to dependent older adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Mexican Health and Ageing Study (MHAS) 2015 was used to calculate the number of underage caregivers who do not attend school. The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH) 2018 was used to estimate wage differences between populations of working age with complete elementary and complete high school education. Those differences were then converted to present value, added, and multiplied by the number of underage caregivers. RESULTS: The total annual cost of having underage caregivers who drop out of school adds to 1 112 179 210 pesos. CONCLUSIONS: The topic concerning underage caregivers has not received enough attention from specialized literature, and there is still a large research gap in this area.