Why DO americans think Mexico is poor when its considered a middle income country?

Question

Mexico is the 12th economy of the world and is not even considered a a develoing country but a middle income country,
its gd as high as that of poland, yet americans think mexico is one of the poorest countries in the world...guys travel a bit! go to india, or to angola and you will see what is real poverty!

Answer 1

My honest opinion of Americans the way they think of Mexico is all ignorance...I hate America for the way they think about Mexico and the Mexicans....

Answer 2

It's because the income level in America is much higher than that in much of the world, and so it is difficult for many people here to have any real perspective on what extreme poverty is. It is impossible to live in this country on an income lower than around seven dollars an hour. Seven dollars a day would be hard to imagine, even though it is the reality in much of the world, and a country in which that is the GDP is definitely not a third world nation.

Mexico is also the poorest country on our continent (North America), as the only other two are the U.S. and Canada, both of which are some of the richest countries in the world. I think that maybe it's more a matter of relative poverty, because the country's neighbors to the north are all extremely wealthy. Another example of this is that a person who would be considered middle income in the countryside of Nebraska would be considered to be extremely poor in Beverly Hills.

Oh, and we're not all as geographically illiterate here as you seem to think.

Answer 3

Most Americans never set foot out of the US. When they do it is usually Canada or Mexico. Based on that they see the people in Mexico living on $4-$7 a day pay, and compared to what they are used to it is total poverty. The average red-blooded American could not pick out Angola on a map for $100.

Answer 4

Because all the supporters of illegal immigrants tell us that the reason Mexicans come into our country illegally is because they are unable to work in Mexico, that they are desperate to feed their families because they live in such abject poverty.

Answer 5

With the number 3 richest man in the world. They just don't want to fund universal education for our poor, and we codependantly have not enforced our laws, so up to now they haven't had to do that.

Answer 6

Its only because they look at TJ and the border cities to make assumptions. If it looked like paris across the border, assumptions would change

Answer 7

Thats what happens in countries where the wealth is in only a few hands.

The average Mexican don't get to see much off that wealth.

Answer 8

That's because some Americans are ignorant and never bother to actually know what they r talking about. They just talk blah blah blah.....

Answer 9

i guess because most people never leave the US, and they only see the mexicans who are struggling to make it. they never see the "real" mexican people....or at least, not an accurate sample of mexican people. plus we are pretty spoiled here, so anything less may seem "poor."

but...i agree with you totally.

Answer 10

People don't migrate in mass from Poland do they? 14 million + who have already crossed the border tells me that Mexico is a poor country.

Answer 11

it has something to do with the hordes of supposed 'starving' Mexicans coming into the United Stated ,,acting like we owe them something