Mexico in numbers

 

 

 

Territory: 1.964,375 square kilometres (roughly eight times the size fo the UK).

 

Population: Over 100,000 million people.

 

División Política: A Federal District (or Mexico City) and 31 States (Aguascalientes, Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Estado de México, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatán and Zacatecas).

 

Capital: México Distrito Federal or Mexico City (with over 23,000 million habitants)

 

Political sytem: Mexico is a Democratic Federal Republic which Carte Magna was singed on February 5, 1917.

 

The President of the Republic head the Executive branch and his mandate last six years with no possible re-election. Mexico’s new President is Felipe Calderon from the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN). This party won the elections in 2000 and 2006 after 71 year of government by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).

 

The Legislative Branch is represented by the General Congress, which made of the Chamber of Deputies and the Sentate. The former consisting of 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. The Senate consists of 128 seats; 96 are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms, and 32 are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote.

 

The Judicial Branch is represented by the Supreme Justice Court  through the General Atornee and District Judges.

 

Language: Spanish is the official language. However, there are over 50 indigenous languages and dialects such as Nahuatl, Maya and Zapotec. The Sates with the highest rate of indigenous population are Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, Yucatan and Puebla. It has been estimated that 7.2% of the population speak an indigenous language.

 

 

Ethnic mix: It is estimated that 60% of the population is of mix origin or meztiza (mix between the first Europeans and the indigenous peoples of Mexico). The indigenous population represents between the 30 to 10% of the total population in Mexico.

 

 

Mexican Economy: Mexico has a prominent role in Latin America due to its important economic development resulting from the economic reforms implemented over the last years.

 

Despite the economic crisis in 1982, 1988 and 1994, the Mexican economy has been on the increase since 1996 as a result of less government intervention on the market and trade. Such reforms have attracted foreign investors resulting on the regeneration of key industries.

 

The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, USA and Mexico cancelled taxes on trade and services between these three countries. NAFTA entered into force on the first of January 1994 and has had a positive effect on the Mexican economy. Since NAFTA implementation commerce and investment in the northamerican region has increased and nowadays Mexico has become the second most important commerical partner for the US and is Canada’s first commercial trading partner in Latin America.

 

To understand the significance of NAFTA for Mexico’s economy, one needs to look at the numbers. In 1985 Mexico used to export 19,000 million dollars while in 2000 the amount increased to 151,039 million dollars. During 2000, Mexico’s total commercial activity (plus imports) added to 350,000 million dollars (seven times Argentina’s).

 

Nowadays Mexican economy is closely tided to the US economy indicators, as the US buys 90% of Mexican exports. The strong links with the US and economic stability of Mexico, has attracted foreign investors to the country.

 

Exports: nowadays the Mexican economy is diverse and its main economic sectors include mining, ensambling, oil, electricity, textiles and tourism.

 

Mexico exports cars, tools, engines, chemicals and products made of aluminium.