White Mexicans

White Mexicans (Spanish: Mexicanos blancos) are Mexicans who are associated with the racial category of whiteness. In Mexico, racial classification is highly ambiguous and has often been defined by culture, language, ideology, ancestry, and phenotype (such as skin color) rather than by a single classification system. In 1900, the Mexican Census reported 19% of the population was White and 43% was "mixed". Mexico does not have a single system of skin color categorization; modern estimates of Mexico's White population vary depending on context and due to different methodologies used. Latinobarómetro in 2023 and the Factbook in 2012 suggest that around 10% are White or have predominantly European ancestry. Britannica in 2000 and a 2005 study by a professor of the National Autonomous University of Mexico both estimated the group to be around 15%. Social stratification and racism in Mexico have remained in the modern era. Although phenotype is not as important as culture, European features and lighter skin tone are favored by middle- and upper-class groups. The presence of Europeans in Mexico dates back to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and during the colonial period, most European immigration was Spanish. However, in the 19th and 20th centuries, significant waves of European and European-derived populations from North and South America immigrated to Mexico. This intermixing between European immigrants and Indigenous peoples resulted in the emergence of the Mestizo group, which became the majority of Mexico's population by the time of the Mexican Revolution. Some scholars challenge this narrative, citing church and census records that indicate interracial unions in Mexico were rare among all groups. These records also dispute other academic narratives, such as the idea that European immigrants were predominantly male or that "pure Spanish" individuals formed a small elite. In fact, Spaniards were often the most numerous ethnic...