The Changing Family

In the decades of 1950 and '60, Mexican families were really huge. They were composed by both parents and an average of eight children.

A few years ago, this situation started changing. Mexico's had a lot of changes in life and customs. Some are good, some are bad, but it's definitely a different country.

Today, in the XXI century, a Mexican family is much smaller: the average is two parents and two children only. Those families that have got five members (two parents and THREE children) are considered "big families".

And we're talking about a traditional family. But what about the others?

Divorce is easier and much more common, so 'family breaks' are present everyday. Now you can see a mother and her daughter living together, or two children with their mother, etc. And there are also some cases where there was no divorce, but neither were children.

Furthermore, people gets more and more education everyday, so marriage plans are left to the end: they only want to improve themselves, i.e. individually.

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Mexicans used to be a very collective society. Family was the most important in all senses. Nevertheless, European influences have changed our perception and we're now an individualistic society.

For example, I'm part of it. The last thing I'm thinking right now is marriage. And I can say that this perspective of mine is totally different to my parents'.

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Anyway, we have a big population increase. This is because in the poorest and less-educated zones (not only in the country, but inside the cities too), couples still have more than four children!! And actually, these people are the ones who have already started populating the "northern neighbour nation" (the USA) by migration.