Belize

 

Demography:

 

Belize has a population of 334,297 with the age structures being of 0-14 years: 35.8%, 15-24 years: 21.1%, 25-54 years: 35.1%, 55-64 years: 4.4%, 65 years and over: 3.6%. Throughout the first three categories there are more males in average, but, in the two oldest categories, the female average is bigger than the male. The median age is of 21.5, which is quite low, but the life expectancy is of 68.4. This small island's population is slowly growing thanks to having a growth rate of 1.97% and a rate of 25.58 births for every 5.93 deaths (2013 est.). Over half of the lucky residents of this island (52%) live in urbanizations (2010 est.). Although this country is seemly perfect, it has one significant flaw: child labor. Forty percent of kids from age 5-14 are working; this average equals a grand total of 27,751 kids (2001 est.). The national symbols of Mother Nature's Best Kept Secret are the Baird's tapir and keel-billed toucan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Economy:
 

In Belize, foreign exchanges consist of (from highest to lowest) tourism, exports of marine products, exports of citrus, exports of cane sugar, exports of bananas, and exports of garments. Four of every 10 people live in poverty. This is almost half of the population! The GDP is of $3.048 billion in purchasing power parity, $1.554 billion in official exchange rate, 5.3% in real growth rate, and $8,900 per capita (2012 est.). The sectors of origin of the GDP are 13% from agriculture, 23% from industries, and 64% from services (2012 est.).
 
The import partners of this marvelous country are USA with the 23.1%, Germany with the 14.6%, Mexico 11.2%, Cuba 9.1%, Guatemala 5.4%, China 4.5% and Trinidad and Tobago 4.1%.  Although this country imports so much, it only exports to USA 30.8%, to UK 21.2%, to Nigeria 4.8% and 4.1% to Costa Rica (2012 est.) The inflation rate is of 1.2% but the industrial production growth is of 2%. 
 
The labor force is of a total of 120,500 people, which are divided 10.2% into agriculture, 18.1% into industry, and 71.1% into services (2007). Sadly, 11.3% of the population is unemployed (2012).

 

Traditions:

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Customs:

 

Their greetings are quite particular. A man to man if they don't know each other then they will greet with a handshake or in a verbal way. If they do know each other, the greeting will consist of a handshake and a slight pat on the back or some type of physical touch from that nature.

Women to women: if they don't know each other then they will greet by shaking hands or verbally, if they do then the greeting will consist of a small hug and cheek to cheek contact or a light kiss on the cheek.

Men to women: If it's a formal greeting then it will be a handshake or a verbal exchange, if it's not formal, then it will vary from a handshake to a light hug and kiss on the cheek.

Communication: Locals in Belize communicate in a tactful way. They tend to avoid going straight to the main subject. They like to start conversations talking about frivolous subjects (such as weather) before getting to the point. They also dislike giving negative remarks and prefer to avoid confrontation.

 Personal Space: Even though Belizeans tend to not be overly "touchy" with each other during conversations or any type of exchange, they aren't sensitive over this matter. It's not the usual, but it's not something looked down upon.

Eye contact: Citizens from this small country aren't used in engaging eye contact while having a verbal exchange, but they don't look down either.

Gender issues: women are treated very differently than male in Belize. Men hold better job positions than women. In rural places, women are expected to not engage in any economic activity but to stay home and raise children. In urban areas, women are fighting for their rights to be treated equally as men and are slowly gaining them. In the Mayan areas, women are expected to marry in their early teen years, in rural areas in their late teen years and in urban areas they can marry as grown ups. If a woman is seen with a man publicly, this strictly means they are seeing each other/dating. Women are expected to remain loyal to their men while it's socially acceptable for men to engage in relationships with various women. It is also acceptable for men to roughly flirt with women in public places.

Drug laws: it is illegal to drink or buy alcoholic beverages if you are under 18. It is also against the rules to buy or consume drugs, marijuana included. These rules are not strictly applied and are actually quite relaxed, but, if you get caught, expect very large fines and/or imprisonment.