World Facts Index > Mexico > Acapulco, Cancun, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
 The
site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for
three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A
devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil,
triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to
make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low
real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable
income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely
Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. The elections held in
2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that an opposition
candidate - Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) - defeated the party
in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He was succeeded in
2006 by another PAN candidate Felipe CALDERON.
Geography of Mexico
|
Location:
|
Middle America, bordering
the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the US and
bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the US |
|
Coordinates:
|
23 00 N, 102 00 W |
|
Area:
|
total: 1,972,550 sq
km
land: 1,923,040 sq km
water: 49,510 sq km |
|
Area comparative:
|
slightly less than three
times the size of Texas |
|
Land boundaries:
|
total: 4,353 km
border countries: Belize 250 km, Guatemala 962 km, US 3,141 km |
|
Coastline:
|
9,330 km |
|
Maritime claims:
|
contiguous zone: 24
NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental
margin |
|
Climate:
|
varies from tropical to
desert |
|
Terrain:
|
high, rugged mountains; low
coastal plains; high plateaus; desert |
|
Elevation extremes:
|
lowest point: Laguna
Salada -10 m
highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba 5,700 m |
|
Natural resources:
|
petroleum, silver, copper,
gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber |
|
Natural hazards:
|
tsunamis along the Pacific
coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the center and south,
and hurricanes on the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts |
|
Environment current issues:
|
scarcity of hazardous waste
disposal facilities; rural to urban migration; natural fresh water
resources scarce and polluted in north, inaccessible and poor quality in
center and extreme southeast; raw sewage and industrial effluents
polluting rivers in urban areas; deforestation; widespread erosion;
desertification; deteriorating agricultural lands; serious air and water
pollution in the national capital and urban centers along US-Mexico
border; land subsidence in Valley of Mexico caused by groundwater
depletion
note: the government considers the lack of clean water and
deforestation national security issues |
|
Geography - note:
|
strategic location on
southern border of US; corn (maize), one of the world's major grain
crops, is thought to have originated in Mexico
|
More Geography
Population of Mexico
|
Population:
|
109,955,400 (July 2008 est.) |
|
Age structure:
|
0-14 years: 30.6% (male 16,770,957/female
16,086,172)
15-64 years: 63.6% (male 33,071,809/female 35,316,281)
65 years and over: 5.8% (male 2,814,707/female 3,389,599) |
|
Median age:
|
25.3 years |
|
Growth rate:
|
1.16% |
|
Infant mortality:
|
20.26 deaths/1,000 live births |
|
Life expectancy at birth:
|
total population: 75.41 years
male: 72.63 years
female: 78.33 years |
|
Fertility rate:
|
2.42 children born/woman |
|
Nationality:
|
noun: Mexican(s)
adjective: Mexican |
|
Ethnic groups:
|
mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%,
Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1% |
|
Religions:
|
nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant
6%, other 5% |
|
Languages:
|
Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other
regional indigenous languages |
|
Literacy:
|
definition: age 15 and over can read
and write
total population: 92.2%
male: 94%
female: 90.5%
|
Government
|
Country name:
|
conventional long form: United
Mexican States
local short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos |
|
Government type:
|
federal republic |
|
Capital:
|
Mexico (Distrito Federal) |
|
Administrative divisions:
|
31 states (estados, singular - estado) and
1 federal district* (distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California
Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Distrito Federal*,
Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo, Morelos,
Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi,
Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatan, Zacatecas |
|
Independence:
|
16 September 1810 (from Spain) |
|
National holiday:
|
Independence Day, 16 September (1810) |
|
Constitution:
|
5 February 1917 |
|
Legal system:
|
mixture of US constitutional theory and
civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations |
|
Suffrage:
|
18 years of age; universal and compulsory
(but not enforced) |
|
Executive branch:
|
chief of state: President Felipe de Jesus
CALDERON Hinojosa (since 1 December 2006); note - the president is both the
chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Felipe de Jesus CALDERON Hinojosa (since 1
December 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of attorney
general requires consent of the Senate
elections: president elected by popular vote for a single six-year term;
election last held on 2 July 2006. |
|
Legislative branch:
|
bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union
consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; 96 are elected by popular vote
to serve six-year terms, and 32 are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote)
and the Federal Chamber of Deputies or Camara Federal de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members
are directly elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; remaining 200 members are
allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote, also for three-year terms) |
|
Judicial branch:
|
Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema
de Justicia (judges are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate) |
|
Political parties and leaders:
|
Convergence for Democracy or CD [Dante DELGADO Ranauro];
Institutional Revolutionary Party (Institutional Revolutionary Party) or PRI [leader NA];
Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio GONZALEZ Martinez]; National Action
Party (Partido Accion Nacional) or PAN [Manuel ESPINO Barrientos]; New Alliance Party
(Partido Nueva Alianza) or PNA [Miguel Angel JIMENEZ Godines]; Party of the Democratic
Revolution (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica) or PRD [Leonel COTA Montano]; Workers
Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez] |
Economy
Mexico has a free market economy in the trillion dollar class. It contains
a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly
dominated by the private sector. Recent administrations have expanded
competition in seaports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity
generation, natural gas distribution, and airports. Per capita income is
one-fourth that of the US; income distribution remains highly unequal. Trade
with the US and Canada has tripled since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994.
Mexico has 12 free trade agreements with over 40 countries including,
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the European Free Trade Area, and Japan,
putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements. In 2007, during
his first year in office, the Felipe CALDERON administration was able to
garner support from the opposition to successfully pass a pension and a fiscal
reform. The administration continues to face many economic challenges
including the need to upgrade infrastructure, modernize labor laws, and allow
private investment in the energy sector. CALDERON has stated that his top
economic priorities remain reducing poverty and creating jobs.
|
GDP:
|
$1.353 trillion (2007 est.) |
|
GDP growth rate:
|
3% |
|
GDP per capita:
|
$12,400 |
|
GDP composition by sector:
|
agriculture: 3.8%
industry: 25.9%
services: 70.2% |
|
Inflation rate:
|
4% |
|
Labor force:
|
43.4 million |
|
Labor force - by occupation:
|
agriculture 18%, industry 24%, services 58% |
|
Unemployment:
|
3.6% plus underemployment of perhaps 25% |
|
Budget:
|
revenues: $181 billion
expenditures: $184 billion |
|
Electricity production by source:
|
fossil fuel: 78.7%
hydro: 14.2%
other: 2.9%
nuclear: 4.2% |
|
Industries:
|
food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals,
iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables,
tourism |
|
Agriculture:
|
corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton,
coffee, fruit, tomatoes; beef, poultry, dairy products; wood products |
|
Exports:
|
manufactured goods, oil and oil products,
silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton |
|
Export partners:
|
US 79.9%, Canada 5.7%, Spain 1.4% |
|
Imports:
|
metalworking machines, steel mill products,
agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, car parts for assembly, repair parts for
motor vehicles, aircraft, and aircraft parts |
|
Import partners:
|
US 59.4%, Germany 3.8%, Japan 3.4% |
|
Currency:
|
Mexican peso (MXN) |
SOURCES: The CIA World Factbook, U.S. Department of State, Area Handbook of the US Library of Congress
Copyright 2004 - 2008 worldfacts.us |