Mexico, in full United Mexican States (Spanish Estados Unidos Mexicanos), federal republic in North America Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Western Hemisphere and is rich in natural resources such as Petroleum and Natural Gas. Mexico’s efforts to develop and modernize its economy have been slowed by the nation’s rugged terrain, limited farmland, rapidly growing population, and a series of economic crises. The nation’s capital Mexico City, is one of the largest cities in the world. In Latin American, only Brazil has a larger population than Mexico.

CURRENCY: The official currency is the New Peso (MexP) divided into 100 Centavos.

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY: Mexico is located in the southern region of the North American Continent. It is bound by the United States of America to the north, the Gulf of California to the northwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west and southwest, Guatemala and Belize to the south as well as the Gulf of Mexico to the east. Around 66% of the country is mountainous and the terrain rises steeply from the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico coastal plains to a central plateau which is bound by the Sierra Madre Occidental to the west and the Sierra Madre Oriental to the east. In the north the Sonoran Desert covers most of the region which lies west of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The Central Meseta in the northern plateau region contains three great desert basins, called Bolsons. Central Mexico consists of rolling hills interspersed by broad basins and valleys. South of the plateau the Sierra Madre de Chiapas extends to the Guatemalan border. In the southeast limestone lowlands or broad plains of the Yucatan Peninsula reach the Gulf of Mexico.

Natural Resourcres: Most of Mexico’s natural resources are below the soil. The country’s semiarid climate, its lack of rainfall, and its limited amounts of fertile land have made large-scale agriculture difficult. Forests cover nearly a third of the land, giving Mexico some of the world’s largest remaining forest reserves, despite the high levels of deforestation. Most of these forests are found in the Sierra Madre ranges, and in the rainy, tropical regions of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Chiapas Highlands. Mexico has large deposits of Silver, Copper, Salt, Fluorite, Iron, Manganese, Sulfur, phosphate, Zinc, Tungsten, Molybdenum, Gold, and Gypsum. Petroleum is the country’s single most valuable mineral resource. Most of the major reserves have been discovered along the Gulf Coast, either inland or in the Gulf of Mexico.

Population: Mexico’s population grew rapidly after 1940, when improved living standards and preventive health-care measures produced a dramatic increase in longevity and a decrease in infant mortality. At the 1990 census, the nation’s population stood at 81,249,645. A decade later, at the 2000 census, the population had grown to 97,483,412. In 2008 Mexico had an estimated population of 109,955,400. Population density averaged 57 persons per sq km (148 per sq mi). The lowest density in 2000 was in the state of Baja California Sur (6 persons per sq km/15 per sq mi), and the highest was in the Federal District (5,565 persons per sq km/14,415 per sq mi).




Foreign Trade: Foreign trade has been a crucial element in Mexico’s economic growth. By signing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and Canada in 1992, Mexico’s leaders decided that the nation’s economic future lay with trade and with developing a competitive, export-oriented economy. The treaty led to a lowering of tariff barriers in all three countries. Despite the fact that Mexican labor costs are far lower than those in the United States, many Mexican businesses producing products for the Mexican market could not compete with their U.S. counterparts and were forced out of business. Most of these were medium and small companies, but their closings contributed significantly to unemployment rates after 1994. The economic effects of NAFTA have been hotly debated in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The Mexican government and NAFTA supporters in the United States claim that the growth of export industries slowed Mexico’s economic slide in 1996, and that exports actually helped to launch an economic recovery by the end of that year.

Critics of the trade pact claim that NAFTA has primarily benefited multinational companies operating in Mexico, while doing little to benefit the vast majority of Mexico’s citizens. While Mexico’s overall economic indicators showed an increase in foreign trade after the institution of NAFTA, real wages continued to fall throughout the country and poverty rates remained constant. Living conditions for many Mexicans worsened after NAFTA was put into place. NAFTA opponents say this is possible because export-oriented companies can take advantage of cheap Mexican labor without relying on the purchasing power of Mexican families. Since the products are being sold abroad, the success of the export industries does not hinge on Mexican citizens being paid enough to be able to buy their products.
In addition to NAFTA, Mexico is a member of a number of other trade organizations or agreements. Mexico belongs to the Latin American Economic System (known in Spanish as the Sistema Económico Latinoamericano, or SELA), an organization founded in 1975 to promote cooperation between the member countries in Latin America and to accelerate economic and social development within these countries. In 1980 Mexico became a party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a treaty and trade organization that worked to reduce tariffs, quotas, and other trade barriers between nations. Mexico is also a member of the Latin American Integration Association (known in Spanish as the Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración, or ALADI), an organization founded in 1981 to foster balanced economic development in Latin America. In 1993 Mexico became the first Latin American member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, an organization dedicated to promoting global free trade. In 1994 Mexico joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which seeks to promote economic growth through global cooperation and trade. The next year, Mexico became a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO replaced GATT and aims to promote and enforce global trade laws and regulations.


Government of Mexico: The current president is Felipe Calderon of the PAN political party.
Mexico’s political model theoretically has much in common with that of the United States. As with the U.S. government, Mexico’s government is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. In Mexico, however, the executive branch dominates the other branches to such an extent that the country effectively has a political system that is controlled by its president. For most of the 20th century, only one political party, the government-controlled Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), played an influential role in politics and in the decision-making process. After it was founded in 1929, the government party monopolized most national political offices. The PRI did not lose a senate seat until 1988 or a gubernatorial race until 1989. It lost the presidency for the first time in 2000, when Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) defeated the PRI candidate.
Given the dominance of the executive over the legislative and judicial branches, interest groups and lobbyists similar to those found in the United States have not developed in Mexico. Groups and individuals who wish to influence policy do so primarily through the executive branch, seeking contacts with agency heads and cabinet figures and, on occasion, with the president himself.

Economy of Mexico: Mexico—like Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—is a semi-industrialized country. The country is rich in industrial resources, including Petroleum and several metals. Mexico’s manufacturing output increased greatly during the second half of the 20th century, and it includes today many basic goods, such as steel, machinery, and petrochemicals, as well as a wide range of consumer goods. Agriculture still provides almost as many jobs as industry, however. Many farm families earn barely enough to survive, and many city dwellers are unable to find jobs.

Tourism: Mexico’s tourism industry is an essential component of the economy, often helping to sustain economic growth during times when growth is slow in other economic sectors. The government has long had a cabinet-level agency devoted exclusively to expanding and improving tourist facilities. In terms of foreign exchange earnings, tourism often ranks third in importance behind petroleum and manufacturing.
Mexico’s most important tourist destinations, other than the capital city itself, are numerous beach resorts. These include: Cancún, an island and resort town just off the Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo; Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan, all resort cities on Mexico’s Pacific coast; and Los Cabos, a sport fishing and resort center at the end of the peninsula of Baja California in the state of Baja California Sur. Mexico’s border cities are also important tourist attractions and are visited by residents in nearby U.S. states. The most popular of these destinations is Tijuana, just across from San Diego, California. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens regularly visit this community and other border cities on weekends. Most of Mexico’s visitors come from the United States and Canada, other countries in Latin America, or Europe.


MAIN EXPORTS: Chemicals, Coffee, Cotton, Fruit and Vegetables, Machinery and Industrial Goods, Oil and Gas, Shrimps.