Mexico

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.

Geography

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 references:	North America
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:	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 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 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:	tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the left 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 left 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 lefts 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
Environment - 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 signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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

People

Population:	106,202,903 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:	0-14 years: 31.1% (male 16,844,400/female 16,159,511) 15-64 years: 63.3% (male 32,521,043/female 34,704,093) 65 years and over: 5.6% (male 2,715,010/female 3,258,846) (2005 est.)
Median age:	total: 24.93 years male: 24.04 years female: 25.85 years (2005 est.)
Population growth rate:	1.17% (2005 est.)
Birth rate:	21.01 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate:	4.73 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate:	-4.57 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio:	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
Infant mortality rate:	total: 20.91 deaths/1,000 live births male: 22.85 deaths/1,000 live births female: 18.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:	total population: 75.19 years male: 72.42 years female: 78.1 years (2005 est.)
Total fertility rate:	2.45 children born/woman (2005 est.)
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% (2003 est.)

Government

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
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) Source: CIA World Factbook