Mexco has a GDP per capita slightly lower than China's. How does the quality of life compare?

墨西哥的人均GDP略低于中国，生活质量如何呢？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Ah Lîm

I’ve been to both countries many times. Here are my observations:

这两个国家我都去过很多次了，我的观察如下：

•      The most obvious difference in terms of quality of life is that China is way safer and more stabilized than Mexco is. There are no towns in China that are run by drug cartels the same way there are in Mexco. Also, in Mexco, it is very common to see police officers wearing full body armor patrolling the streets. You don’t see that in China.

• 就生活质量而言，很显然中国比墨西哥更安全、更稳定。中国没有哪个城镇会像墨西哥那样被贩毒集团牢牢控制。另外，在墨西哥经常能看到全身武装穿着防弹衣的警察在街上巡逻。但在中国是看不到的。

•      That being said, the best thing I like about Mexco is that Mexcans are extremely friendly. In fact, I would say they are the friendliest people I’ve met. I speak no Spanish, but yet, every time I visit Mexco, I’m always greeted with smiles and friendliness. So many Mexcans would go out of the way to help me, even if we can’t communicate at all.

I’m not saying Chinese people aren’t friendly. Chinese people definitely are very friendly… but you have to pass their barriers first. Chinese people treat friends really well, but you really have to earn that friendship. Chinese people are quite rude to strangers (although that has been changing in recent years), whereas Mexcans are super friendly to everyone.

话虽如此，我最喜欢墨西哥的一点是墨西哥人非常友好。他们是我见过最友好的人了。我不会说西班牙语，但每次去墨西哥，我总能受到微笑和友好的欢迎。即便我们根本无法沟通，很多墨西哥人还是会不辞辛苦地帮助我。

我没有说中国人不友好。中国人也绝对可以说是非常友好的，但你必须先破冰。中国人对朋友真的很仗义，但你得先能凭本事赢得这种友谊。中国人对陌生人挺无礼(近年来有所改变了)，但墨西哥人对每个人都非常友好。

•      I feel safer driving in Mexco than in China, although both countries are quite bad at road safety. Mexcan driving is aggressive, but as long as you are also aggressive, then driving in Mexco is absolutely doable (I’ve done this many times); but I’ve never driven in China before, and I don’t think I want to.

•      Contrary to popular (American) beliefs, Mexcans are NOT lazy. In fact, they are some of the hardest working people around. The typical work week in Mexco is Monday through Saturday, so they work six days a week. I also believe Mexcans work longer hours per week more than any other country on the entire North American continent.

That being said, work culture in China is no joke, with the notorious 996 (9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week). My conclusion is that both countries are a nightmare to work in.

•虽然这两个国家的道路安全都不咋地，但我觉得在墨西哥开车还是比在中国更安全些。墨西哥人开车很冲，但只要你也一样，那么在墨西哥开车绝对没问题(我开过很多次了)；但我从来没有在中国开过车，我觉得我也不想尝试。

•跟普遍的美国看法相反，墨西哥人并不懒惰。事实上，他们可以说是最努力工作的人。墨西哥的工作周是周一到周六，所以他们每周要工作六天。我相信墨西哥人每周的工作时间也比整个北美大陆上的其他国家更长。

不得不说中国的工作文化可不是开玩笑的，比如恶名昭著的996(早9点到晚9点，一周6天)。所以我觉得在这两个国家工作都是噩梦。

•      Both countries have delicious food with questionable food safety. I love Chinese food, but I’m not so much a fan of Mexcan food, so I’m going with China on this one. But in terms of food safety… I’ve never gotten real food poisoning from either country, but I have felt dizzy and the “I want to puke” sensation multiple times from eating street food in both countries. So I guess we’ll just call this one a draw.

•      Both countries are loud. People love blasting loud music everywhere. Mexcans work hard, but they party harder. Chinese people, on the other hand, are just loud in everything they do; from watching TV, to playing music, to talking, etc. Everything has to be done at ear-shattering volumes. I don’t like this aspect in either country.

•这两个国家都有美食，也都有食品安全问题。我喜欢中国菜，不太喜欢墨西哥菜，所以在这一点上我支持中国菜。但就食品安全而言，我在这两个国家都没有真的食物中毒过，不过我在这两个国家的街头吃小吃时，有过多次头晕和“想吐”的感觉。所以我想就当他们打成平手了吧。

•这两个国家都很吵。人们喜欢播放嘈杂的音乐。墨西哥人工作努力，但更热衷于聚会。中国人则不管做什么事都很大声；看电视大声，播放音乐大声，聊天也大声。他们干每件事都得搞出大动静。在这方面，两个国家我都很不喜欢。

•      Mexco is a free country. Mexcans can vote for their representative and go on Facebook

•墨西哥是一个自由的国家。墨西哥人可以给他们的代表投票，也能使用Facebook

•      Corruption is way more in your face in Mexco. Even I’ve been robbed by a Mexcan police officer before. China definitely has a lot of corruption, but those corruptions tend to happen at higher levels, and they tend to not be in your face. I’ve visited China numerous times, yet no public official has ever openly demanded that I give them money.

Those are my observations. My personal conclusion is that both Mexco and China are very fun and exciting countries to visit, and I know for sure I’ll keep on visiting both countries. However, neither country is for me, and I wouldn’t move to either one.

•在墨西哥你会遇到更多腐败现象。我甚至被墨西哥警察打劫过。中国确实也有很多腐败，但往往只发生在更高的层面，你很少会直面这种现象。我去过中国很多次，从没有哪个官员公然找我要钱。

以上是我的体会。我个人的结论是，墨西哥和中国都是非常有趣、令人兴奋的国家，我肯定还会再次访问这两个国家。但这两个国家都不适合我，我不会考虑在这两个国家定居。

Henry Yeh

Forget about per-capita GDP, that’s what one makes for the boss. Whether the boss pays you fairly is another matter.

Let’s compare the wages instead. At this point, the average wage in China is US$900/month, while that of Mexco is only US$500/month, roughly comparable to Thailand.

Wages - Countries - List

And guess what’s, that number is actually going DOWN in Mexco.

不要管人均GDP了，那是员工给老板挣的钱，但老板给你多少报酬，公不公平，又是另一回事。

我们可以比较一下工资。现在中国的平均工资为900美元/月，而墨西哥的平均工资仅为500美元/月，与泰国大致相当。

工资-国家-列表

而且想不到吧，这个数字在墨西哥还下降了。

Yet curiously, life in Mexco isn’t all that bad at all, that’s because Mexcans have no qualm spending beyond their means. And those who do have expendable incomes aren’t so butt-hurt about sharing their resources with less affluent friends and family, regardless of whether they’re responsible of their own poverty or not (e.g. ninis, el Brayan, la Kimberli). OTOH, poorer Mexcans often think they’re entitled to the surplus of more affluent friends and relatives. They don’t see their own irresponsibility as “wrong”, yet they get really hung up on “fair sharing” as a Catholic virtue.

不过很奇怪，墨西哥人的生活也并没有那么糟，因为墨西哥人从来不会因为入不敷出而焦虑。那些拥有可支配收入的人，也不会因为与条件差一点的朋友和家人分享自己的资源而不安。当然，经济较差的墨西哥人往往觉得他们有权从较为富裕的朋友和亲戚那里得到多余的东西。他们不认为自己的不负责任是“错误的”，他们真的把“公平分享”当做了天主教的美德。

Sorry about the negativity, but I’m just FED UP with those rural loser relatives demanding (sometime violently) “fair share” as if that’s the only virtue that matters.

我对这些负面言论感到抱歉，但我真的受够了那些农村亲戚要求“公平分配”(有时还动手去抢)，似乎这是唯一重要的美德。

Sergio

It’s pretty comparable i think. China and Méxco are similar countries considering Méxco is 100 times smaller population wise.

The thing you must understand here is the big gap between the super rich and the super poor.

Méxcos 1% families control and holds half the country's economy so you will find a pretty wide range of economic situations and development.

我觉得两者很有可比性。中国和墨西哥很相似，但墨西哥的人口比中国少100倍。

问题在于超级富人和超级穷人之间的巨大差距。

在墨西哥，百分之一的家庭控制了国家一半的经济，所以墨西哥人的经济状况和城市发展真的是千差万别。

Leave you with this picture from Amazon mexco:

给你看看，这是亚马逊墨西哥的照片：

 Also Méxco:

但这也是墨西哥的照片：

William King

According to the data of the "World Economic Outlook" by the IMF in October 2020, China's per capita GDP has surpassed Mexco.

根据国际货币基金组织2020年10月发布的《世界经济展望》数据，中国的人均GDP已经超过墨西哥。

Frédéric

I used to visit American factories built along the other side of the USA-Mexco border very often (once every one and half month), in cities like Tijuana, Mexcali, Ciudad Juarez, Matamoros, Monterey, etc. I also visited other Mexcan cities far away from its border with USA. Since I originally came from China, I think I’m qualified to answer this question.

我以前经常参观美国在美墨边境建造的工厂(每一个半月去一次)，比如蒂华纳、墨西卡利、华雷斯城、马塔莫罗斯、蒙特雷等城市。我还参观过一些远离美墨边境的墨西哥城市。因为我来自中国，我想我有资格回答这个问题。

Back then, the GDP per capita of Mexco was still higher than that of China, but already I felt that the living standard of average people in Mexco was not as good as average Chinese people. Most Mexco downtowns were decent (but not great), but once you reach their outskirts you would see huge areas of slumps (simple shelters built with think metal sheet). It’s generally much more dirtier in Mexco, and I also didn’t feel safe when walking from restaurants back to hotels during night time.

当时，墨西哥的人均GDP比中国还高，但我觉得墨西哥普通民众的生活水平比不上中国普通民众。大多数墨西哥城市的市中心都还不错(也算不上很好)，但一到郊区就能看到大片的棚屋 (用金属板建造的简单避难所)。和中国比，墨西哥要脏乱得多，而且晚上从餐馆走回酒店的路上也让我觉得有点危险。

At least in those cities near the border with USA, you can pay with US dollars at any shops there, which was unbelievable in China. I felt that the Mexcan economy was dominated by American companies (to the point that the former boss of Coca Cola’s subsidiary in Mexco could even become the president of Mexco), and Mexcan people drink much more Coca Cola than American people themselves. Mexco looks more like a colony of USA, even though this is not true legally speaking. I think that, being so close to a powerful country like USA, it’s both an opportunity and a tragedy for Mexco. It will forever live in the shadows of its giant neighbor, people there seem to have used to this reality without much thinking of a long term solution

在靠近美国边境的墨西哥城市，你可以在所有商店都用美元结算，这在中国是不可思议的事。我觉得墨西哥经济已被美国公司控制，可口可乐墨西哥分公司的前任老板甚至当上了墨西哥的总统，墨西哥人喝的可口可乐比美国人自己喝的还要多。墨西哥更像是美国的一块殖民地，虽然法律上不是这样。我认为，跟美国这样一个强大的国家接壤，对墨西哥来说既是机遇也是悲剧。墨西哥永远都要生活在强大邻国的阴影下，墨西哥人似乎已经接受了这一现实，从没想过如何解决。

Daniel Cohort

In 2015, the Mexcan GDP per capita is over 50% higher than Chinese GDP per capita. It's not slightly higher. It is noticeably higher.

I remember reading a news report telling the story how prospects of Mexco seems brighter because for the first time in history they export a car to China.

早在2015年时墨西哥人均GDP比中国人均GDP高出50%以上，可不止“略高一点”，而是明显高很多。

我记得我看过一篇新闻报道，说墨西哥的前景比中国更好，因为当时他们有史以来第一次向中国出口了汽车。