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. 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.


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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

Geographic coordinates: 23 00 N 102 00 W

Map reference: North America

Area
Total: 1,972,550 km²
Land: 1,923,040 km²
Water: 49,510 km²
Comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Texas

Land boundaries
Total: 4,353 km
Border countries: (3) Belize 250 km; , Guatemala 962 km; , US 3,141 km

Coastline: 9,330 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguous zone: 24 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
Extremes highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba 5,700 m

Natural resources: petroleum silver copper gold lead zinc natural gas timber

Land use
Arable land: 12.99%
Permanent crops: 1.31%
Other: 85.7% (2001)

Irrigated land: 65,000 km² (1998 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

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

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


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Population: 104,959,594 (July 2004 est.)
Growth rate: 1.18% (2004 est.)
Below poverty line: 40% (2003 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Mexican
Adjective: Mexican

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

Languages: Spanish various Mayan Nahuatl and other regional indigenous languages

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 89% Protestant 6% other 5%

Demographic profile

Age structure
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.)

Dependency ratios

Median age
Total: 24.6 years
Male: 23.7 years
Female: 25.5 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.18% (2004 est.)

Birth rate: 21.44 births/1000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate: 4.73 deaths/1000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate: -4.87 migrant(s)/1000 population (2004 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues note: the government considers the lack of clean water and deforestation national security issues
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.04 male/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male/female
Total population: 0.96 male/female (2004 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 21.69 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 23.63 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 19.65 deaths/1000 live births (2004 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 74.94 years
Male: 72.18 years
Female: 77.83 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.49 children born/woman (2004 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.3% (2003 est.)
People living with hivaids: 160,000 (2003 est.)
Deaths: 5,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 92.2%
Male: 94%
Female: 90.5% (2003 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: United Mexican States
Conventional short form: Mexico
Local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Local short form: Mexico

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

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: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced)

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Head of government: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of attorney general requires consent of the Senate
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 2 July 2000 (next to be held 2 July 2006)
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%

Legislative branch
Elections: Senate - last held 2 July 2000 for all of the seats (next to be held 2 July 2006); Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 July 2003 (next to be held 2 July 2006)
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

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice or Suprema Corte de Justicia Nacional (justices or ministros 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 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]

International organization participation: APEC BCIE BIS CDB CE (observer) EBRD FAO G-3 G-6 G-15 G-19 G-24 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICCt (signatory) ICFTU ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU LAES LAIA NAM (observer) NEA OAS OECD OPANAL OPCW PCA RG UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNITAR UNMOVIC UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador-designate Carlos Alberto de ICAZA Gonzalez
In the us chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,006
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 728-1600
In the us fax: [1] (202) 728-1698
In the us consulates general: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Laredo (Texas), Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Nogales (Arizona), Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Juan (Puerto Rico)
In the us consulates: Albuquerque, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico (California), Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Douglas (Arizona), Eagle Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), Indianapolis (Indiana), Kansas City (Missouri), Las Vegas, McAllen (Texas), Omaha, Orlando, Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Presidio (Texas), Raleigh, Salt Lake City, San Bernardino, Santa Ana (California), Seattle, Tucson, Yuma (Arizona)
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Antonio O. GARZA
From the us embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 6,500 Mexico, Distrito Federal
From the us mailing address: P. O. Box 9,000, Brownsville, TX 78,520-0900
From the us telephone: [52] (55) 5,080-2000
From the us fax: [52] (55) 5,525-5,040
From the us consulates general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana
From the us consulates: Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nogales, Nuevo, Laredo

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 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.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 1.3% (2003 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $9,000 (2003 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 4%
Industry: 26.4%
Services: 69.6% (2003 est.)

Agriculture products: corn wheat soybeans rice beans cotton coffee fruit tomatoes; beef poultry dairy products; wood products

Industries: food and beverages tobacco chemicals iron and steel petroleum mining textiles clothing motor vehicles consumer durables tourism

Industrial production growth rate: -0.7% (2003 est.)

Labor force: 34.11 million (2003)
By occupation agriculture: 18%
By occupation industry: 24%
By occupation services: 58% (2003)

Unemployment rate: 3.3% plus underemployment of perhaps 25% (2003)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 40% (2003 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 1.6%
Highest 10: 35.6% (2002)

Distribution of family income gini index: 53.1 (1998)

Budget
Revenues: $148.3 billion
Expenditures: $152.4 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt: 23.1% of GDP (2003)

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 4.5% (2003 est.)

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: $-9.15 billion (2003)

Exports: $164.8 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Commodities: manufactured goods oil and oil products silver fruits vegetables coffee cotton
Partners: US 87.6% Canada 1.8% Germany 1.2% (2003)

Imports: $168.9 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Commodities: metalworking machines steel mill products agricultural machinery electrical equipment car parts for assembly repair parts for motor vehicles aircraft and aircraft parts
Partners: US 61.8% China 5.5% Japan 4.5% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $159.8 billion (2003 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Mexican pesos per US dollar - 10.789 (2003) 9.656 (2002) 9.3423 (2001) 9.4556 (2000) 9.5604 (1999)


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Electricity
Production: 198.6 billion kWh (2001)
Consumption: 186.7 billion kWh (2001)
Exports: 77 million kWh (2001)
Imports: 2.068 billion kWh (2001)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas
Production: 36.87 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Consumption: 38.84 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Exports: 254 million m³ (2001 est.)
Imports: 2.967 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Proven reserves: 969.2 billion m³ (1 January 2003)

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 15,958,700 (2003)
Mobile cellular: 28.125 million (2003)

Telephone system
General assessment: low telephone density with about 15.2 main lines per 100 persons; privatized in December 1990; the opening to competition in January 1997 improved prospects for development, but Telemex remains dominant
Domestic: adequate telephone service for business and government, but the population is poorly served; mobile subscribers far outnumber fixed-line subscribers; domestic satellite system with 120 earth stations; extensive microwave radio relay network; considerable use of fiber-optic cable and coaxial cable
International: country code - 52; satellite earth stations - 32 Intelsat, 2 Solidaridad (giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America, and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications), numerous Inmarsat mobile earth stations; linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections; high capacity Columbus-2 fiber-optic submarine cable with access to the US, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Morocco, Spain, and Italy (1997)

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .mx
Hosts: 1,333,406 (2003)
Users: 10.033 million (2002)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $5,168 million (2003)
Percent of gdp: 0.9% (2003)

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: 1827 (2003 est.)
With paved runways total: 233
With paved runways over 3047 m: 12
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 28
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 84
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 80
With paved runways under 914 m: 29 (2004 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 1,600
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 1
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 1
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 69
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 454
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 1,075 (2004 est.)

Heliports: 2 (2003 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 28,200 km; petroleum products 10,150 km; natural gas 13,254 km; petrochemical 1400 km (2003)

Railways
Total: 19,510 km
Standard gauge: 19,510 km 1.435-m gauge (2003)

Roadways

Waterways
Note: navigable rivers and coastal canals (2004)

Merchant marine
Total: 50 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 649,389 GRT/942,766 DWT
By type: bulk 1, cargo 3, chemical tanker 3, combination ore/oil 1, liquefied gas 5, petroleum tanker 25, roll on/roll off 9, short-sea/passenger 3
Foreign owned: Denmark 1, Germany 1, Greece 1, Marshall Islands 1, Netherlands 2
Registered in other countries: 13 (2004 est.)

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: prolonged drought population growth and outmoded practices and infrastructure in the border region have strained water-sharing arrangements with the US; nationals from Central America slip into Mexico seeking work or transit into the US; undocumented Mexican nationals continue to enter the United States

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Idps: 12,000 (government's quashing of Zapatero uprising in 1994 in eastern Chiapas Region) (2004)

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivation of opium poppy (cultivation in 2001 - 4,400 hectares; potential heroin production - 7 metric tons) and of cannabis (in 2001 - 4,100 hectares); government eradication efforts have been key in keeping illicit crop levels low; major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market; continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America accounting for about 70 percent of estimated annual cocaine movement to the US; major drug syndicates control majority of drug trafficking throughout the country; producer and distributor of ecstasy; significant money-laundering center