Mexico

Quick Reference

Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving inddpendence early in the 19th century.  A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 through Mexico into 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 advancemet opportunities for the population in the impoverished southern states. 

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.

CLIMATE:  Varies from tropical to desert.

TERRAIN:  High, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus; desert.

NATURAL RESOURCES:  Petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber.

NATURAL HAZARDS:  Tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the center and the south, and hurricans on the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts.

POPULATION:  109,955,400 (July 2008 est.)

RELIGIONS:  Roman Catholic 76.5%, Protestant (6.3%)

LANGUAGES:  Spanish 92.7%, the rest indigenous languages.

LITERACY:  91% can read and write.

ECONOMY:  Mexico has a free market economy in the trillion dollar class.  It contains a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. 

International Disputes:  Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans wh cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the United States.

ILLICIT DRUGS:  Mexico is a major drug-producing nation.