Mexico

MEXICO

A. THE COUNTRY

The 31 United Mexican States with the Federal District, Mexico City, is Latin America’s third largest country, and the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation.  Since 1917, political power was centralized in the president and the Institutional Revolutionary Party.  Then, in 2000, an opposition candidate was elected as president of the federal republic.  Ongoing corruption in government and in the police force allows for continued organized crime and the drug trade. Its free market economy is fuelled by oil, industry, manufactured goods, tourism, and agriculture.  Income and wealth distribution is highly inequitable. More than 50% of the workforce labours in the informal economy.

B. THE PEOPLE

Estimated population of 111 million.  The spectrum from Euro-American whites (~14%) to Mestizo (~65%) to Amerindian (~19%) is impossible to clearly demarcate.

C. RELIGION AND CHRISTIANITY/PENTECOSTALISM

Mexico is a secular state with freedom of conscience and practise of religion. Constitutional changes in 1992 granted fairer treatment for religious minorities, but persecution of non-Catholics persists in some areas. Those claiming to be Christian number over 95% and ~3.6% are non-religious.  Over 87% are Catholic affiliates with 10% being regular churchgoers.  A large proportion of the Catholic Amerindian affiliates still practise their before Spanish conquest (16th century) religions. Protestants have ~8,172,000 affiliates. Of the population claiming to be Christian:

~8.3% are Evangelicals, ~11.9% are Charismatics(~5.1% are Pentecostals).

Donna Siemens

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org

Operation World, Jason Mandryk. Colorado Springs: Biblica Publishing, 2010.