Today, there are over 100,000 Mennonites in Mexico, 90% of whom live in the state of Chihuahua. Fleeing religious persecution in Europe and Canada, thousands of Mennonites (a strict religious offshoot of Protestantism) settled in rural Chihuahua in the 1920s in search of freedom and economic opportunities. The Mennonites still maintain a traditional lifestyle, practicing a strict religious code and speaking Plattdietsch.