Map of Mexico | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 1,972,550 km²
Land: 1,923,040 km²
Comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Texas

Land boundaries: 4,538 km; Belize 250 km, Guatemala 962 km, US 3,326 km

Coastline: 9,330 km

Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: natural prolongation of continental margin or 200 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: claims Clipperton Island (French possession)

Climate: varies from tropical to desert

Terrain: high, rugged mountains, low coastal plains, high plateaus, and desert

Elevation

Natural resources: crude oil, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber

Land use: arable land: 12%; permanent crops: 1%; meadows and pastures 39%; forest and woodland 24%; other 24%; includes irrigated 3%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 92,380,721 (July 1992), growth rate 2.3% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Mexican(s; adjective - Mexican

Ethnic groups: mestizo (Indian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, Caucasian or predominantly Caucasian 9%, other 1%

Languages: Spanish; various Mayan dialects

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 29 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 5 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: - 1 migrant/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: subject to tsunamis along the Pacific coast and destructive earthquakes in the center and south; natural water resources scarce and polluted in north, inaccessible and poor quality in center and extreme southeast; deforestation; erosion widespread; desertification; serious air pollution in Mexico City and urban centers along US-Mexico border
Current issues note: strategic location on southern border of US

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 30 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 76 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 3.3 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 87% (male 90%, female 85%) age 15 and over can read and write (1985 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: United Mexican States

Government type: federal republic operating under a centralized government

Capital: Mexico

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

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

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal and compulsory (but not enforced) at age 18
Chamber of Deputies:
President:
Senate: last held on 18 August 1988 (next to be held midyear 1994); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats in full Senate - (64 total) number of seats by party; PRI 61, PRD 2, PAN 1

Executive branch: president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la Union) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Camara de Senadores) and a lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:
Diplomatic representation:
US:

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; the coat of arms (an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak) is centered in the white band

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview
Mexico's economy is a mixture of stateowned industrial plants notably oil private manufacturing and services and both largescale and traditional agriculture. In the 1980s Mexico experienced severe economic difficulties:
GDP: exchange rate conversion - $289 billion, per capita $3,200; real growth rate 4% (1991 est.)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 9% of GDP and over 25% of work force; large number of small farms at subsistence level; major food crops - corn, wheat, rice, beans; cash crops - cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes; fish catch of 1.4 million metric tons among top 20 nations (1987)

Industries: food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, transportation equipment, tourism

Industrial production growth rate:

Labor force: 26,100,000 (1988); services 31.4%, agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing 26%, commerce 13.9%, manufacturing 12.8%, construction 9.5%, transportation 4.8%, mining and quarrying 1.3%, electricity 0.3% (1986)
Organized labor: 35% of labor force

Unemployment rate: 14-17% (1991 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $41.0 billion; expenditures $47.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $6.3 billion (1990)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $27.4 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
Commodoties: crude oil, oil products, coffee, shrimp, engines, motor vehicles, cotton, consumer electronics
Partners: US 68%, EC 14%, Japan 6% (1990 est.)

Imports: $36.7 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
Commodoties: grain, metal manufactures, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment
Partners: US 69%, EC 13%, Japan 6% (1990)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: market rate of Mexican pesos (Mex$) per US$1 - 3,068.5 (January 1992), 3,018.4 (1991) 2,940.9 (January 1991), 2,812.6 (1990), 2,461.3 (1989), 2,273.1 (1988), 1,378.2 (1987)


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Electricity
Production: 26,150,000 kW capacity; 114,277 million kWh produced, 1,270 kWh per capita (1991)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $1.6 billion, less than 1% of GDP (1982 budget)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 28,200 km; petroleum products 10,150 km; natural gas 13,254 km; petrochemical 1,400 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 2,900 km navigable rivers and coastal canals

Merchant marine:
Civil air: 186 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis continues in spite of active government eradication program; major supplier to the US market; continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America