Country Profile Mexico

 

  • Capital: Mexico City    
  • Population: 111,211,789 (July 2009 est.)  
  • Currency: Mexican peso (MXN)                                     
  • Language:  Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8%; note - indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages. The business community is generally bilingual.                                           
  • Time zone: UTC-8 to -6
  • Government: Federal republic         
  • Chief of State: President Felipe de Jesus CALDERON Hinojosa         

  • GDP real growth rate 2008:

    • 1.4% (2008 est.)
    • 3.2% (2007 est.) 
    • 4.9% (2006 est.)
  • Exports: $294 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

  • Main Export Partners(2007):

    • US 82.2%
    • Canada 2.4%
    • Germany 1.5%
  •  Imports: $305.9 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)          

  • Main Import partners:

    • US 49.6%
    • China 10.5%
    • Japan 5.8%
    • South Korea 4.5%
  • Country dialing code: +52
  • National Airline: Mexicana (Partner with Star Alliances)  and AeroMexico (partner with Sky Team)
  • Voltage: 120V   

Detailed country profile

ECONOMY

GDP real growth rate:

  • 1.4% (2008 est.) 
  • 3.2% (2007 est.) 
  • 4.9% (2006 est.)

GDP-Composition by sector(2008)

  • Agriculture: 3.7%
  • Industry: 34.1%
  • Services: 62.2%

Labor force by occupation(2005)    

  • Agriculture: 15.1%
  • Industry: 25.7%
  • Services: 59%

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

Exports: $294 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Export commodities:

  • Manufactured goods
  • Oil and oil products
  • Silver
  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Coffee
  • Cotton

Main Export Partners(2007):

  • US 82.2%
  • Canada2.4%
  • Germany 1.5%

Imports: $305.9 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Import commodities:

  • Metalworking machines
  • Steel mill products
  • Agricultural machinery
  • Electrical equipment
  • Car parts for assembly
  • Repair parts for motor vehicles
  • Aircraft and aircraft parts

Import partners(2007):

  • US 49.6%
  • China 10.5%
  • Japan 5.8%
  • South Korea 4.5%

Ports and Terminal:

  • Altamira
  • Coatzacoalcos
  • Manzanillo
  • Morro Redondo
  • Salina Cruz
  • Tampico
  • Veracruz

Unemployment rate: 4.1% plus underemployment of perhaps 25% (October 2008)

GOVERNMENT

Government Type:Federal republic

Executive Branch:

Chief of state: President Felipe de Jesus CALDERON Hinojosa (since 1 December 2006); 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 single six-year term; election last held on 2 July 2006 (next to be held 1 July 2012)

Legal system: Supreme Court of Justice or Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion (justices or ministros are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate)

GEOGRAPHY

Land Boundaries:total: 4,353 km

Border countries:

  • Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico between Belize and the US
  • Bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the US

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

Environment and international agreement:

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

Environment and 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 center 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 centers 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

PEOPLE

Ethnic groups:

  • mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%
  • Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%
  • White 9%
  • Other 1%

Languages:

  • Spanish only 92.7%
  • Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%
  • Indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8%

note - indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages. The business community is generally bilingual

Religion:

  • Roman Catholic 76.5%
  • Protestant 6.3%
  • Pentecostal 1.4%
  • Jehovah's Witnesses 1.1%
  • Other 3.8%
  • Unspecified 13.8%
  • None 3.1%

HISTORY

Express History

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. The elections held in 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that an opposition candidate - Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) - defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He was succeeded in 2006 by another PAN candidate Felipe CALDERON.

Source: The world factbook www.cia.gov 

 

 

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