Mexico

• high, rugged mountains;
• low coastal plains;
• high plateaus;
• desert

• 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

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

0-14 years:

32.3% (male 17,298,964; female 16,617,728)

15-64 years:

63.1% (male 32,217,513; female 33,932,603)

65 years and over:

4.6% (male 2,145,252; female 2,695,931) (2003 est.)

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.95 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.8 male(s)/female

total population:

0.97 male(s)/female (2003 est.)

noun:

Mexican(s)

adjective:

Mexican

conventional long form:

United Mexican States

conventional short form:

Mexico

local short form:

Mexico

local long form:

Estados Unidos Mexicanos

• 31 states (estados, singular - estado) and 1 federal district* (distrito federal);
• Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Distrito Federal*, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatan, Zacatecas

• mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system;
• judicial review of legislative acts;
• accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

• Convergence for Democracy or CD [Dante DELGADO Ranauro];
• Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Dulce Maria SAURI Riancho];
• Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio GONZALEZ Martinez];
• National Action Party or PAN [Luis Felipe BRAVO Mena];
• Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD [Amalia GARCIA Medina];
• Party of the Nationalist Society or PSN [Gustavo RIOJAS Santana];
• Social Alliance Party or PAS [Guillermo CALDERON Dominguez];
• Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]

• Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic or COPARMEX;
• Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN;
• Confederation of Mexican Workers or CTM;
• Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO;
• Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations or COECE;
• Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services or FESEBES;
• National Chamber of Transformation Industries or CANACINTRA;
• National Peasant Confederation or CNC;
• National Union of Workers or UNT;
• Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers or CROM;
• Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants or CROC;
• Roman Catholic Church

chief of mission:

Ambassador Antonio O. GARZA

embassy:

Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico, Distrito Federal

mailing address:

P. O. Box 9000, Brownsville, TX 78520-0900

telephone:

[52] (55) 5080-2000

FAX:

[52] (55) 5080-2005, 5080-2834

consulate(s) general:

Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana

consulate(s):

Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales

• three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red;
• the coat of arms (an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak) is centered in the white band

lowest 10%:

1.6%

highest 10%:

41.1% (2001)

• corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes;
• beef, poultry, dairy products;
• wood products

general assessment:

• low telephone density with about 12 main lines per 100 persons;
• privatized in December 1990;
• the opening to competition in January 1997 improved prospects for development

domestic:

• adequate telephone service for business and government, but the population is poorly served;
• domestic satellite system with 120 earth stations;
• extensive microwave radio relay network;
• considerable use of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, and mobile cellular service

international:

• satellite earth stations - 32 Intelsat, 2 Solidaridad (giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America, and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications), numerous Inmarsat mobile earth stations;
• linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections;
• high capacity Columbus-2 fiber-optic submarine cable with access to the US, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Morocco, Spain, and Italy (1997)

total:

19,510 km

standard gauge:

19,510 km 1.435-m gauge (2002)

total:

329,532 km

paved:

108,087 km (including 6,429 km of expressways)

unpaved:

221,445 km (1999 est.)

• crude oil 28,200 km;
• petroleum products 10,150 km;
• natural gas 13,254 km;
• petrochemical 1,400 km

total:

47 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 636,271 GRT/933,686 DWT

ships by type:

bulk 1, cargo 1, chemical tanker 4, combination ore/oil 1, liquefied gas 3, petroleum tanker 26, roll on/roll off 8, short-sea passenger 3

note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Canada 2, Denmark 1 (2002 est.)

• illicit cultivation of opium poppy (cultivation in 2001 - 4,400 hectares; potential heroin production - 7 metric tons) and of cannabis (in 2001 - 4,100 hectares);
• government eradication efforts have been key in keeping illicit crop levels low;
• major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market;
• continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America;
• major drug syndicates control majority of drug trafficking throughout the country;
• growing producer and distributor of ecstasy;
• significant money-laundering center