Mexico

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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 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: 4,538 km
border countries: Belize 250 km, Guatemala 962 km, US 3,326 km

Coastline: 9,330 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

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%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 39%
forests and woodland: 26%
other: 22% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 61,000 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean coasts

Environment—current issues: 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; serious air pollution in the national capital and urban centers along US-Mexico border

Environment—international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, 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: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography—note: strategic location on southern border of US

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Population: 100,294,036 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 35% (male 17,987,500; female 17,289,875)
15-64 years: 61% (male 29,610,813; female 31,216,342)
65 years and over: 4% (male 1,873,986; female 2,315,520) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.73% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 24.99 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 4.83 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.84 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 24.62 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 72 years
male: 68.98 years
female: 75.17 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.85 children born/woman (1999 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%

Languages: Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 89.6%
male: 91.8%
female: 87.4% (1995 est.)

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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

Data code: MX

Government type: federal republic operating under a centralized government

Capital: Mexico

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 Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note—the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note—the president is both the chief of state and head of government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with consent of the Senate
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held in July or August 2000)
election results: Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon elected president; percent of vote—Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI) 50.18%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ DE CEVALLOS (PAN) 26.69%, other 6.05%

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; half are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms, and half are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camara 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)
elections: Senate—last held 6 July 1997 for one-quarter of the seats; Chamber of Deputies—last held 6 July 1997 (the next legislative elections will coincide with the presidential election in July or August 2000)
election results: Senate—percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—PRI 77, PAN 33, PRD 16, PVEM 1, PT 1; note—the distribution of seats as of May 1998 is as follows—PRI 77, PAN 31, PRD 15, PT 1, independents 4; Chamber of Deputies—percent of vote by party—PRI 39%, PAN 27%, PRD 26%; seats by party—PRI 239, PRD 125, PAN 121, PVEM 8, PT 7; note—the distribution of seats as of May 1998 is as follows—PRI 237, PRD 127, PAN 120, PT 7, PVEM 6, independents 3

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: recognized parties—Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Mariano PALACIOS Alocer]; National Action Party or PAN [Felipe CALDERON Hinojosa]; Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD [Andres Manuel LOPEZ Obrador]; Mexican Green Ecologist Party or PVEM [Jorge GONZALEZ Torres]; Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]

Political pressure groups and leaders: Roman Catholic Church; Confederation of Mexican Workers or CTM; Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN; Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO; National Peasant Confederation or CNC; Revolutionary Workers Party or PRT; Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants or CROC; Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers or CROM; Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic or COPARMEX; National Chamber of Transformation Industries or CANACINTRA; Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations or COECE; Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services or FESEBES; National Union of Workers or UNT

International organization participation: APEC, BCIE, BIS, Caricom (observer), CCC, CDB, EBRD, ECLAC, FAO, G-3, G-6, G-11, G-15, G-19, G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM (observer), NEA, OAS, OECD, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Jesus REYES HEROLES Gonzalez Garza
chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
telephone: [1] (202) 728-1600
FAX: [1] (202) 728-1698
consulate(s) 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 Juan (Puerto Rico)
consulate(s): Albuquerque, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico (California), Corpus Christi, Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Douglas (Arizona), Eagle Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), McAllen (Texas), Midland (Texas), Orlando, Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Bernardino, San Jose, Santa Ana (California), Seattle, Tucson

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Jeffery DAVIDOW
embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico, Distrito Federal
mailing address: P. O. Box 3087, Laredo, TX 78044-3087
telephone: [52] (5) 209-9100
FAX: [52] (5) 208-3373, 511-9980
consulate(s) general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana
consulate(s): Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales

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

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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. The number of state-owned enterprises in Mexico has fallen from more than 1,000 in 1982 to fewer than 200 in 1998. The ZEDILLO administration is privatizing and expanding competition in sea ports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity, natural gas distribution, and airports. A strong export sector helped to cushion the economy's decline in 1995 and led the recovery in 1996 and 1997. In 1998, private consumption became the leading driver of growth, which was accompanied by increased employment and higher wages. The government expects the economy to slow in 1999 because of low commodity prices, tighter international liquidity, and slacker demand for exports. Mexico still needs to overcome many structural problems as it strives to modernize its economy and raise living standards. Income distribution is very unequal, with the top 20% of income earners accounting for 55% of income. Trade with the US and Canada has nearly doubled since NAFTA was implemented in 1994. Mexico is pursuing additional trade agreements with most countries in Latin America and with the EU to lessen its dependence on the US.

GDP: purchasing power parity—$815.3 billion (1998 est.)

GDP—real growth rate: 4.8% (1998 est.)

GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$8,300 (1998 est.)

GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 6%
industry: 26%
services: 68% (1997)

Population below poverty line: 27% (1998 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 36.6% 1996)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 18.6% (1998)

Labor force: 37.5 million (1998)

Labor force—by occupation: services 28.8%, agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing 21.8%, commerce 17.1%, manufacturing 16.1%, construction 5.2%, public administration and national defense 4.4%, transportation and communications 4.1%

Unemployment rate: 2.6% (1998) urban; plus considerable underemployment

Budget:
revenues: $117 billion
expenditures: $123 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: 6% (1998 est.)

Electricity—production: 154.395 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity—production by source:
fossil fuel: 71.46%
hydro: 20.16%
nuclear: 4.85%
other: 3.53% (1996)

Electricity—consumption: 154.448 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity—exports: 1.263 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity—imports: 1.316 billion kWh (1996)

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

Exports: $117.5 billion (f.o.b., 1998), includes in-bond industries (assembly plant operations with links to US companies)

Exports—commodities: crude oil, oil products, coffee, silver, engines, motor vehicles, cotton, consumer electronics

Exports—partners: US 87.5%, Canada 1.3%, Japan 0.8%, Spain 0.6%, Chile 0.6%, Brazil 0.5% (1998 est.)

Imports: $111.5 billion (f.o.b., 1998), includes in-bond industries (assembly plant operations with links to US companies)

Imports—commodities: metal-working machines, steel mill products, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, car parts for assembly, repair parts for motor vehicles, aircraft, and aircraft parts

Imports—partners: US 74.2%, Japan 3.7%, Germany 3.7%, Canada 1.8%, South Korea 1.5%, Italy 1.3%, France 1.2% (1998 est.)

Debt—external: $154 billion (1997)

Economic aid—recipient: $1.166 billion (1995)

Currency: 1 New Mexican peso (Mex$) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates: Mexican pesos (Mex$) per US$1—10.1104 (January 1999), 9.1360 (1998), 7.9141 (1997), 7.5994(1996), 6.4194 (1995), 3.3751 (1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

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Telephones: 11,890,868 (1993 est.)

Telephone system: highly developed system with extensive microwave radio relay links; privatized in December 1990; opened to competition January 1997
domestic: adequate telephone service for business and government, but the population is poorly served; domestic satellite system with 120 earth stations; extensive microwave radio relay network
international: satellite earth stations—5 Intelsat (4 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Pacific Ocean); launched Solidaridad I satellite in November 1993 and Solidaridad II in October 1994, giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications; linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections

Radio broadcast stations: AM 824 (1999 est.), FM 500 (1998 est.), shortwave 19 (1999 est.)

Radios: 22.5 million (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 236 (not including repeaters) (1997)

Televisions: 13.1 million (1992 est.)

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Railways:
total: 31,048 km
standard gauge: 30,958 km 1.435-m gauge (246 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 90 km 0.914-m gauge (1998 est.)

Highways:
total: 252,000 km
paved: 94,248 km (including 6,740 km of expressways)
unpaved: 157,752 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 2,900 km navigable rivers and coastal canals

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

Ports and harbors: Acapulco, Altamira, Coatzacoalcos, Ensenada, Guaymas, La Paz, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, Progreso, Salina Cruz, Tampico, Topolobampo, Tuxpan, Veracruz

Merchant marine:
total: 52 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 852,004 GRT/1,236,475 DWT
ships by type: bulk 2, cargo 1, chemical tanker 4, container 4, liquefied gas tanker 7, oil tanker 28, roll-on/roll-off cargo 3, short-sea passenger 3 (1998 est.)

Airports: 1,805 (1998 est.)

Airports—with paved runways:
total: 232
over 3,047 m: 10
2,438 to 3,047 m: 27
1,524 to 2,437 m: 91
914 to 1,523 m: 78
under 914 m: 26 (1998 est.)

Airports—with unpaved runways:
total: 1,573
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 63
914 to 1,523 m: 468
under 914 m: 1,040 (1998 est.)

Heliports: 1 (1998 est.)

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Military branches: National Defense Secretariat (includes Army and Air Force), Navy Secretariat (includes Naval Air and Marines)

Military manpower—military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower—availability:
males age 15-49: 25,675,266 (1999 est.)

Military manpower—fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 18,675,524 (1999 est.)

Military manpower—reaching military age annually:
males: 1,085,042 (1999 est.)

Military expenditures—dollar figure: $6 billion (1998)

Military expenditures—percent of GDP: 1.3% (1998)

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Disputes—international: none

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivation of opium poppy (cultivation in 1998—5,500 hectares; potential production—60 metric tons) and cannabis cultivation in 1998—4,600 hectares; government eradication efforts have been key in keeping illicit crop levels low; major supplier of heroin and marijuana to the US market; continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America; involved in the production and distribution of methamphetamines