Latest ‘Medellin Como Vamos?’ Citizen-Survey: Most Satisfied, but More Concerns on Security, Mobility, Air Pollution

The 13th annual “Medellin Como Vamos?”survey (released April 11, 2019) on citizen perceptions of quality-of-life finds that aside from air pollution, certain security issues and worsening traffic mobility, Medellin residents haven’t changed their opinions very much between 2018 and 2017.

According to the survey of 1,514 households in all economic strata, “the satisfaction with Medellín as a place to live [in 2018] was stable in relation to the year 2017, with eight out of ten citizens satisfied.

“The aspects that the people of Medellín ranked as priority for their own quality of life in 2018 were health (at 74%), education (at 51%) and employment (at 51%), the latter falling four percentage points below what was achieved in 2017.”

The face-to-face survey — taken between September 21 and November 6 — found that 45% of Medellin households considered that their economic situation was unchanged year-on-year, while another 38% said their economic situation had improved.

As for employment, 40% of Medellín residents surveyed said that it is “not easy to find a job, compared to two out of ten who considered that it is,” according to the survey conducted by Ipsos Napoleón Franco and co-sponsored by Proantioquia, Universidad Eafit, Fundación Corona, Comfama, Comfenalco, Cámara de Comercio de Medellín and daily newspaper El Colombiano.

“In 2018, the self-perception of poverty remained stable at 18% in relation to the year 2017,” according to the report.

“By zones of the city, the central-eastern and the northeastern regions had the highest self-perception of poverty with 23% and 22%, respectively, while the lowest perception was in the southeast with 5%.

“Regarding the perceived inequality in the city during 2018 in Medellin, citizens said that the aspects where there was more unequal access were well-paid employment (50%), quality health care (44%) and quality housing (42%),” according to the report.

As for public education, “the satisfaction of citizens with the education received by children and young people between five and 17 years of age was 71%, eight percentage points lower than in 2017,” the study noted.

Seventy percent of citizens said they were satisfied with cultural offerings in the city, about the same as in 2017. “On the other hand, the satisfaction with the recreational and sports offer in the city was 77%, three percentage points above what was evidenced in 2017,” according to the survey results.

While health care remains the top issue for Medellín residents, “paradoxically, quality health care was designated as the second most unequal area in Medellín, after well-paid employment,” according to the survey.

As for perceptions about security, “during 2018, 41% of the citizens of Medellin said they felt safe in the city, a figure lower than that of 2017 by six percentage points, while 25% said they felt unsafe, five percentage points higher than what was found in 2017,” according to the survey.

“Of the perception of security in their neighborhood, during 2018, 66% of citizens said they felt safe, while 13% said they felt insecure, figures similar to those of 2017.”

As for housing and public-utilities services, “satisfaction with the neighborhood was 81% and for housing it was 82%, without significant differences in any of the cases versus 2017,” according to the survey. “With regard to public services, domestic [natural] gas was the service with the highest proportion of satisfied households, at 94%,” according to the survey.

While 55% of citizens said they were generally satisfied with environmental quality, “air quality continued to be the issue with the lowest level of satisfaction, with just one in ten citizens satisfied,” according to the survey.

As for mobility, “44% of the inhabitants of Medellín considered that their habitual journeys took longer” in 2018 versus 2017, thanks to the continuing, explosive growth of motorcycles and other vehicles causing traffic congestion here, the survey noted.