Mexico

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.

Mexico Information

• Population: 104,959,594 (July 2004 est.)
• Nationality: noun: Mexican(s) adjective: Mexican
• 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
• Religions:: nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%
• Ethnic Groups:: mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%
• Land Boundaries:: total: 4,353 km border countries: Belize 250 km, Guatemala 962 km, US 3,141 km
• Area: total: 1,972,550 sq km land: 1,923,040 sq km water: 49,510 sq km
• Coast Line: 9,330 km
• Climate: varies from tropical to desert
• Terrain: high, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus; desert
• Maritime Claims: territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm
• Land Use: arable land: 12.99% permanent crops: 1.31% other: 85.7% (2001)
• Environmental 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 center and extreme southeast; raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in u
• Natural Resources: petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber
• Highways: total: 329,532 km paved: 108,087 km (including 6,429 km of expressways) unpaved: 221,445 km (1999 est.)
• Railways: total: 19,510 km standard gauge: 19,510 km 1.435-m gauge (2003)
• Ports & Harbours: Acapulco, Altamira, Bahias de Huatulco, Cabo San Lucas, Coatzacoalcos, Dos Bocas, Ensenada, Guaymas, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, Puerto Progreso, Puerto Madero, Puerto Vallarta, Salina Cruz, Tampico, Topolobampo, Tuxpan, Veracruz (2003)
• Airports: 1,827 (2003 est.)