Mexico is a country that is rich in culture, history, and tradition. The country is widely varied, both in terms of geography and cultural demographics. While their economy has been historically been rather unstable, they have booming agricultural and manufacturing industries. Mexico’s government has gone through periods of political turmoil and control by single parties. Overall, the country is unique within both Latin America and the North American continent. Mexico borders the United States on its northern side and Guatemala and Belize on its southern side. It has a varied landscape of high rugged mountains and plateaus and low coastal plains and deserts, and covers about 764,000 square miles (“Mexico”). The Sierra Madre Occidental mountain
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This is primarily due to the fact that in the 1940s and 1950s, the city had enough space and resources to absorb thousands of migrants. Those resources were rapidly depleted, leading to the massive slums outside the city today. The annual population growth rate in Mexico is 1.1%. 22% of the population lives in rural areas, while a majority (78%) of people live in urban centers. Most (60%) of the population is mestizo, 30% of the population is Amerindian, 9% of the population is white, and 1% of the population is another race. One interesting phenomenon in Mexican culture is the idea of the identity crisis. Many Mexicans do not want to identify as solely Spanish or indigenous, but they also do not call themselves Mestizos. As far as religion goes, a massive 76.5% of the Mexican population is Roman Catholic, 6.3% is Protestant, and 13.8% identifies as another religion or as not at all religious (“Mexico”). Average male life expectancy is 73 years and average female life expectancy is 79 years (“Mexico”). In terms of education, 86.1% of the country is literate (“Mexico”). One recent factor in the increasing literacy rate is the growing popularity of daytime soap operas. Often during these shows, characters will attend literacy classes, and therefore the viewer also in a way learns to …show more content…
Since then, it has developed into a federal republic, with different forms of power at the national level and state level. Its 31 states each have their own governor, and the country is united under the president, who takes on the role of head of state and head of government. Compulsory voting now begins at age 18 in the country, but women didn’t gain the right to vote until 1955 (“Mexico [ A Country Challenged]”). In the last century, the Institutional Revolutionary Party has had a monopoly on the presidency, both through popular vote and election rigging. Mario Vargas Llosa once called the party “the perfect dictatorship,” meaning that they had an undisputable hold on the position, but gave the illusion of democracy to the general public. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the party began to fall out of favor with the public, but has recently made a comeback. The current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, is a member of the
This is primarily due to the fact that in the 1940s and 1950s, the city had enough space and resources to absorb thousands of migrants. Those resources were rapidly depleted, leading to the massive slums outside the city today. The annual population growth rate in Mexico is 1.1%. 22% of the population lives in rural areas, while a majority (78%) of people live in urban centers. Most (60%) of the population is mestizo, 30% of the population is Amerindian, 9% of the population is white, and 1% of the population is another race. One interesting phenomenon in Mexican culture is the idea of the identity crisis. Many Mexicans do not want to identify as solely Spanish or indigenous, but they also do not call themselves Mestizos. As far as religion goes, a massive 76.5% of the Mexican population is Roman Catholic, 6.3% is Protestant, and 13.8% identifies as another religion or as not at all religious (“Mexico”). Average male life expectancy is 73 years and average female life expectancy is 79 years (“Mexico”). In terms of education, 86.1% of the country is literate (“Mexico”). One recent factor in the increasing literacy rate is the growing popularity of daytime soap operas. Often during these shows, characters will attend literacy classes, and therefore the viewer also in a way learns to …show more content…
Since then, it has developed into a federal republic, with different forms of power at the national level and state level. Its 31 states each have their own governor, and the country is united under the president, who takes on the role of head of state and head of government. Compulsory voting now begins at age 18 in the country, but women didn’t gain the right to vote until 1955 (“Mexico [ A Country Challenged]”). In the last century, the Institutional Revolutionary Party has had a monopoly on the presidency, both through popular vote and election rigging. Mario Vargas Llosa once called the party “the perfect dictatorship,” meaning that they had an undisputable hold on the position, but gave the illusion of democracy to the general public. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the party began to fall out of favor with the public, but has recently made a comeback. The current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, is a member of the