7 random facts you might not have known about Mexico

Fact 1 - Radish. I've never met a Mexican who knows horseradish. 

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Source: kochwelt.de

Fact 2 - Newspapers. There's no corporate subscription service for newspapers etc. Instead, in some areas there's a guy who offers a delivery service on a private basis. 

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Fact 3 - Brain Drain. Although not known for a country suffering the brain drain, some estimated 10% to 20% of the Mexican-born population now lives in the US. This is not only illegal immigrants, but also huge parts of the educated upper class, looking for better living and working conditions in the Northern neighbour's territory. There's even a national institute to encourage them to support their home country Mexico, the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME, Institute of the Mexicans outside).
After Mexico City, the world’s biggest collection of Mexican citizens is found in Los Angeles. 

[Hunger, U., 2003. Vom Brain Drain zum Brain Gain: die Auswirkungen der Migration von Hochqualifizierten auf Abgabe- und Aufnahmeländer. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Abt. Arbeit und Sozialpolitik, Bonn.]

[The ebbing Mexican wave [WWW Document], 2012. . The Economist. URL http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21566781-worlds-biggest-migration-has-gone-reverse-ebbing-mexican-wave (accessed 9.29.13).]

Fact 4 - Demographic Burden. On the one hand Mexico belongs to the Next Eleven high potential future economies, but on the other hand it is forecast to suffer from a severe demographic change.

Source: The Economist

Source: The Economist

The Asian tigers made the most of their demographic dividend by creating some of the world’s best schools, but so far Mexico has been worryingly complacent - schools are pretty bad.
In tests set by the OECD, nine out of ten South Korean teenagers meet basic requirements in maths but only half of Mexican ones do. Much poorer countries such as Azerbaijan and Thailand achieve better results on smaller budgets. Higher education also needs beefing up: only 22% of 25- to 34-year-olds in Mexico have a tertiary qualification, against 37% in Chile. 

[The gain before the pain [WWW Document], 2012. . The Economist. URL http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21566775-mexicos-demographic-dividend-will-be-short-lived-gain-pain (accessed 9.29.13).]

Fact 5 - Soft drink consumption. On a per-head basis, Mexico has the world’s highest consumption of Coca-Cola. In rural areas seven out of ten children have a fizzy drink with their breakfast. 

[Stretching the safety net [WWW Document], 2012. . The Economist. URL http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21566780-falling-ill-no-longer-economic-disaster-stretching-safety-net (accessed 9.29.13).]

Fact 6 - Mexican peso. The Mexican currency has the highest foreign exchange turnover in Latin America. It ranks in third place in whole America and in place thirteen on a global scale. 

[Monetary and Economic Department, 2010. Triennial Central Bank Survey - Foreign exchange and derivatives market activity in April 2010 - Preliminary results.]

Fact 7 - Conversation. To end with something "light": Mexican conversation. It might be due to the influence from the states, but "How are you" doesn't mean anything here. It's not even expected an answer. And of course you'd never say anything else than "Fine". Some days ago I was witness of the following conversation:

Girl: Hey, how are you?
Boy:  Fine, and you?
Girl: Fine.
Boy: Hey, you have really cool hands?!
Girl: Yeah, I'm totally down with influenza.

(wait - didn't she just say she was fine?!)

Boy: Oh, too bad, but... erm... well, I gotta go. See you! 

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