New Mexico

The population of New Mexico, a landlocked state sharing a border with Mexico, is highly diverse. New Mexico has the highest percentage of residents of Hispanic heritage of any U.S. state at 44.4 percent, and the ninth highest total with 878,688 Hispanic residents; this includes both descendents of the Spanish colonists who were the first Europeans in the region, and more recent immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries. New Mexico also has the third-highest percentage of Native American residents, and the fourth-highest overall total at 186,256 in 2008.

This high concentration of Hispanic residents in New Mexico has prompted research into cultural practices associated with maternity and childbirth among Latin American immigrants, because they often have better birth outcomes than would be expected given ...