World Countries Info > 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. Elections held in July
2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that the opposition defeated
the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Vicente FOX of the
National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in on 1 December 2000 as the first chief executive
elected in free and fair elections.
Geography of Mexico
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Location:
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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 |
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Geographic coordinates:
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23 00 N, 102 00 W |
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Area:
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total: 1,972,550 sq
km
land: 1,923,040 sq km
water: 49,510 sq km |
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Area - comparative:
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slightly less than three
times the size of Texas |
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Land boundaries:
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total: 4,353 km
border countries: Belize 250 km, Guatemala 962 km, US 3,141 km |
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Coastline:
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9,330 km |
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Maritime claims:
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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 |
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Climate:
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varies from tropical to
desert |
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Terrain:
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high, rugged mountains; low
coastal plains; high plateaus; desert |
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Laguna
Salada -10 m
highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba 5,700 m |
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Natural resources:
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petroleum, silver, copper,
gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber |
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Land use:
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arable land: 13.2%
permanent crops: 1.1%
other: 85.7% (1998 est.) |
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Irrigated land:
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65,000 sq km (1998 est.) |
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Natural hazards:
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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 |
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Environment - current issues:
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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 |
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Environment - international agreements:
|
party to:
Biodiversity, Kyoto Protocol,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Geography - note:
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strategic location on
southern border of US; corn (maize), one of the world's major grain
crops, is thought to have originated in Mexico
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More Geography
Population of Mexico
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Population:
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104,959,594 (July 2004 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 31.6% (male 16,913,290;
female 16,228,552)
15-64 years: 62.9% (male 31,975,391; female 34,090,440)
65 years and over: 5.5% (male 2,618,713; female 3,133,208) (2004 est.) |
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Median age:
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total: 24.6 years
male: 23.7 years
female: 25.5 years (2004 est.) |
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Population growth rate:
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1.18% (2004 est.) |
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Birth rate:
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21.44 births/1,000 |
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Death rate:
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4.73 deaths/1,000 |
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Net migration rate:
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-4.87 migrant(s)/1,000 |
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Infant mortality rate:
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total: 21.69 deaths/1,000 live
births
female: 19.65 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 23.63 deaths/1,000 live births |
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Life expectancy at birth:
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total population: 74.94 years
male: 72.18 years
female: 77.83 years (2004 est.) |
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Total fertility rate:
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2.49 children born/woman (2004 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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0.3% (2001 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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150,000 (2001 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
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4,200 (2001 est.) |
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Nationality:
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noun: Mexican(s)
adjective: Mexican |
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Ethnic groups:
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mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%,
Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1% |
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Religions:
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nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant
6%, other 5% |
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Languages:
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Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other
regional indigenous languages |
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Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read
and write
total population: 92.2%
male: 94%
female: 90.5% (2003 est.)
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Government
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Country name:
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conventional long form: United
Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos |
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Government type:
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federal republic |
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Capital:
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Mexico (Distrito Federal) |
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Administrative divisions:
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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 |
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Independence:
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16 September 1810 (from Spain) |
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National holiday:
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Independence Day, 16 September (1810) |
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Constitution:
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5 February 1917 |
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Legal system:
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mixture of US constitutional theory and
civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations |
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Suffrage:
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18 years of age; universal and compulsory
(but not enforced) |
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Executive branch:
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chief of state: President Vicente
FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and
head of government
election results: Vicente FOX Quesada elected president; percent of vote - Vicente
FOX Quesada (PAN) 42.52%, Francisco LABASTIDA Ochoa (PRI) 36.1%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS
Solorzano (PRD) 16.64%, other 4.74%
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last
held 2 July 2000 (next to be held NA July 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of attorney general
requires consent of the Senate
head of government: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note -
the president is both the chief of state and head of government |
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Legislative branch:
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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)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRI 60,
PAN 46, PRD 16, PVEM 5, unassigned 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party -
NA%; seats by party - PRI 222, PAN 151, PRD 95, PVEM 17, PT 6, CD 5, unassigned 4; note -
special elections were held in December 2003; the PRI and the PRD each won one seat and
were each assigned one additional proportional representation seat
elections: Senate - last held 2 July 2000 for all of the seats (next to be held NA
2006); Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 July 2003 (next to be held NA 2006) |
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Judicial branch:
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Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema
de Justicia (judges are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate) |
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Political parties and leaders:
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Convergence for Democracy or CD [Dante
DELGADO Ranauro]; Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Roberto MADRAZO Pintado];
Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio GONZALEZ Martinez]; National Action
Party or PAN [Luis Felipe BRAVO Mena]; Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD [Leonel
GODOY]; Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez] |
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Political pressure groups and leaders:
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Confederation of Employers of the Mexican
Republic or COPARMEX; Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN; Confederation of
Mexican Workers or CTM; Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO;
Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations or COECE; Federation of Unions
Providing Goods and Services or FESEBES; National Chamber of Transformation Industries or
CANACINTRA; National Peasant Confederation or CNC; National Union of Workers or UNT;
Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers or CROM; Revolutionary Confederation of Workers
and Peasants or CROC; Roman Catholic Church |
Economy
Mexico has a free market economy with 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. Real GDP growth was a weak -0.3% in 2001,
0.9% in 2002, and 1.2% in 2003, with the US slowdown the principal cause. Mexico
implemented free trade agreements with Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and the
European Free Trade Area in 2001, putting more than 90% of trade under free trade
agreements. The government is cognizant of the need to upgrade infrastructure, modernize
the tax system and labor laws, and provide incentives to invest in the energy sector,
but progress is slow.
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GDP:
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purchasing power parity - $942.2 billion
(2003 est.) |
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GDP - real growth rate:
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1.2% (2003 est.) |
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GDP - per capita:
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purchasing power parity - $9,000 (2003
est.) |
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GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 4%
industry: 26.3%
services: 69.7% (2003 est.) |
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Population below poverty line:
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40% (2003 est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 35.6% (2002) |
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Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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53.1 (1998) |
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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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4% (2003 est.) |
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Labor force:
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41.5 million (2003) |
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Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture 18%, industry 24%, services 58%
(2003) |
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Unemployment rate:
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3.3% plus underemployment of perhaps 25%
(2003) |
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Budget:
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revenues: $174 billion
expenditures: $176 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2004 est.) |
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Industries:
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food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals,
iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables,
tourism |
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Industrial production growth rate:
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2.5% (2003 est.) |
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Electricity - production:
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198.6 billion kWh (2001) |
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Electricity - production by source:
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fossil fuel: 78.7%
hydro: 14.2%
other: 2.9% (2001)
nuclear: 4.2% |
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Electricity - consumption:
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186.7 billion kWh (2001) |
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Electricity - exports:
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77 million kWh (2001) |
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Electricity - imports:
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2.068 billion kWh (2001) |
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Oil - production:
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3.59 million bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - consumption:
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1.507 million bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - exports:
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1.881 million bbl/day (2001) |
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Oil - imports:
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374,700 bbl/day (2001) |
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Oil - proved reserves:
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15.11 billion bbl (1 January 2003) |
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Natural gas - production:
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36.87 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - consumption:
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38.84 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - exports:
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254 million cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - imports:
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2.967 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - proved reserves:
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969.2 billion cu m (1 January 2003) |
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Agriculture - products:
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corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton,
coffee, fruit, tomatoes; beef, poultry, dairy products; wood products |
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Exports:
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$164.8 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
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Exports - commodities:
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manufactured goods, oil and oil products,
silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton |
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Exports - partners:
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US 89%, Canada 1.7%, Spain 0.9% (2002) |
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Imports:
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$168.9 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
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Imports - commodities:
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metalworking machines, steel mill products,
agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, car parts for assembly, repair parts for
motor vehicles, aircraft, and aircraft parts |
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Imports - partners:
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US 63.2%, Japan 5.5%, China 3.7% (2002) |
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Debt - external:
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$159.3 billion (2003 est.) |
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Economic aid - recipient:
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$1.166 billion (1995) |
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Currency:
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Mexican peso (MXN) |
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Currency code:
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MXN |
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Exchange rates:
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Mexican pesos per US dollar - 10.79 (2003),
9.66 (2002), 9.34 (2001), 9.46 (2000), 9.56 (1999) |
SOURCES: The CIA World Factbook, U.S. Department of State, Area Handbook of the US Library of Congress
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