Oxford University Press Blog: “Our polls have officially closed, and while it was an exciting race, our Place of the Year for 2018 is Mexico. The country and its people proved their resilience this year by enduring natural disasters, navigating the heightened tensions over immigration and border control, engaging in civic action during an election year, and advancing in the economic sphere. The historic events in Mexico in 2018 have resonated with our followers.

Mexico withstood multiple natural disasters in 2018. Using a measurement called accumulated cyclone energy, which combines the number of storms and their intensity through their duration to indicate a measurement of tropical activity in a region, the 2018 hurricane season in the northeast Pacific is the most active on record. Including the most recent Hurricane Willa on the western coast of Mexico, there have been 10 major hurricanes in the area this year. Additionally, tropical Storm Xavier became the 22nd named tropical storm of the 2018 eastern Pacific hurricane season in early November. Mexico has also had multiple earthquakes, including one with a magnitude of 7.2 in southeastern Mexico, epicentered in the state of Oaxaca. Following a surprise victory over World Cup champions Germany in June, it was initially reported that the ferocity of the fans celebration caused earthquake detectors to go off. However, it was later discovered to be a naturally occurring earthquake, unrelated to the fans’ festivities…”