Mexico

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

mean elevation:

1,111 m

elevation extremes:

-10 m lowest point: Laguna Salada; 5636 highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba

• most of the population is found in the middle of the country between the states of Jalisco and Veracruz;
• approximately a quarter of the population lives in and around Mexico City

• tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts volcanism: volcanic activity in the central-southern part of the country;
• the volcanoes in Baja California are mostly dormant;
• Colima (3,850 m), which erupted in 2010, is Mexico's most active volcano and is responsible for causing periodic evacuations of nearby villagers;
• it has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations;
• Popocatepetl (5,426 m) poses a threat to Mexico City;
• other historically active volcanoes include
  • Barcena,
  • Ceboruco,
  • El Chichon,
  • Michoacan-Guanajuato,
  • Pico de Orizaba,
  • San Martin,
  • Socorro,
  • and Tacana
  ;
• see note 2 under "Geography - note"

• scarcity of hazardous waste disposal facilities;
• rural to urban migration;
• natural freshwater 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, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Mexican(s)

adjective:

Mexican

0-14 years:

26.61% (male 17,143,124 /female 16,378,309)

15-24 years:

17.35% (male 11,072,817 /female 10,779,029)

25-54 years:

40.91% (male 24,916,204 /female 26,612,272)

55-64 years:

7.87% (male 4,538,167 /female 5,375,867)

65 years and over:

7.26% (male 4,079,513 /female 5,063,903) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

51.4 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

41.6 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

9.8 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

10.2 (2015 est.)

• most of the population is found in the middle of the country between the states of Jalisco and Veracruz;
• approximately a quarter of the population lives in and around Mexico City

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.05 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

1.03 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

0.93 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

0.85 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.82 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

0.96 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

conventional long form:

United Mexican States

conventional short form:

Mexico

local long form:

Estados Unidos Mexicanos

local short form:

Mexico

etymology:

named after the Mexica, the largest and most powerful branch of the Aztecs; the meaning of the name is uncertain

name:

Mexico City (Ciudad de Mexico)

geographic coordinates:

19 26 N, 99 08 W

time difference:

UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins first Sunday in April; ends last Sunday in October

note: Mexico has four time zones

history:

several previous; latest approved 5 February 1917 (2018)

amendments:

• proposed by the Congress of the Union;
• passage requires approval by at least two-thirds of the members present and approval by a majority of the state legislatures;
• amended many times, last in 2017 (2018)

citizenship by birth:

yes

citizenship by descent only:

yes

dual citizenship recognized:

not specified

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years

highest courts:

Supreme Court of Justice or Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion (consists of the chief justice and 11 justices and organized into civil, criminal, administrative, and labor panels) and the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (organized into the superior court, with 7 judges including the court president, and 5 regional courts, each with 3 judges)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court justices nominated by the president of the republic and approved by two-thirds vote of the members present in the Senate;
• justices serve 15-year terms;
• Electoral Tribunal superior and regional court judges nominated by the Supreme Court and elected by two-thirds vote of members present in the Senate;
• superior court president elected from among its members to hold office for a 4-year term;
• other judges of the superior and regional courts serve staggered, 9-year terms

subordinate courts:

federal level includes circuit, collegiate, and unitary courts; state and district level courts

chief of state:

President Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR (since 1 December 2018); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR (since 1 December 2018)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of attorney general, the head of the Bank of Mexico, and senior treasury officials require consent of the Senate

elections/appointments:

president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a single 6-year term; election last held on 1 July 2018 (next to be held in July 2024)

election results:

• Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR elected president;
• percent of vote - Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR (MORENA) 53.2%, Ricardo ANAYA (PAN) 22.3%, Jose Antonio MEADE Kuribrena (PRI) 16.4%, Jaime RODRIGUEZ Calderon 5.2% (independent), other 2.9%

• Citizen's Movement (Movimiento Ciudadano) or MC [Dante DELGADO Rannaoro]
• Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) or PRI [Claudia RUIZ Massieu]
• Labor Party (Partido del Trabajo) or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]
• Mexican Green Ecological Party (Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico) or PVEM [Carlos Alberto PUENTE Salas]
• Movement for National Regeneration (Movimiento Regeneracion Nacional) or MORENA [Andres Manuel LOPEZ Obrador]
• National Action Party (Partido Accion Nacional) or PAN [Damian ZEPEDA Vidales]
• New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza) or PNA/PANAL [Luis CASTRO Obregon]
• Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica) or PRD [Manuel GRANADOS]
• Social Encounter Party (Partido Encuentro Social) or PES [Hugo Eric FLORES Cervantes]

• three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red;
• Mexico's coat of arms (an eagle with a snake in its beak perched on a cactus) is centered in the white band;
• green signifies hope, joy, and love;
• white represents peace and honesty;
• red stands for hardiness, bravery, strength, and valor;
• the coat of arms is derived from a legend that the wandering Aztec people were to settle at a location where they would see an eagle on a cactus eating a snake;
• the city they founded, Tenochtitlan, is now Mexico City

note: similar to the flag of Italy, which is shorter, uses lighter shades of red and green, and does not display anything in its white band

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

agriculture:

13.4%

industry:

24.1%

services:

61.9% (2011)

lowest 10%:

40% (2014)

highest 10%:

40% (2014)

• manufactured goods, electronics, vehicles and auto parts, oil and oil products, silver, plastics, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton;
• Mexico is the world's leading producer of silver

general assessment:

• adequate telephone service for business and government;
• improving quality and increasing mobile cellular availability, with mobile subscribers far outnumbering fixed-line subscribers;
• domestic satellite system with 120 earth stations;
• extensive microwave radio relay network;
• considerable use of fiber-optic cable and coaxial cable (2016)

domestic:

• competition has spurred the mobile-cellular market;
• fixed-line teledensity exceeds 15 per 100 persons;
• mobile-cellular teledensity is about 90 per 100 persons (2016)

international:

• country code - 52;
• Columbus-2 fiber-optic submarine cable with access to the US, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Spain, and Italy;
• the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) and the MAYA-1 submarine cable system together provide access to Central America, parts of South America and the Caribbean, and the US;
• satellite earth stations - 120 (32 Intelsat, 2 Solidaridad (giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America, and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications), 1 Panamsat, numerous Inmarsat mobile earth stations);
• linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections (2016)

• telecom reform in 2013 enabled the creation of new broadcast television channels after decades of a quasi-monopoly;
• Mexico has 821 TV stations and 1,745 radio stations and most are privately owned;
• the Televisa group once had a virtual monopoly in TV broadcasting, but new broadcasting groups and foreign satellite and cable operators are now available;
• in 2016, Mexico became the first country in Latin America to complete the transition from analog to digital transmissions, allowing for better image and audio quality and a wider selection of programming from networks (2016)

number of registered air carriers:

21 (2015)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 357 (2015)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

45,560,063 (2015)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

713,985,467 mt-km (2015)

total:

15,389 km (2014)

standard gauge:

15,389 km 1.435-m gauge (27 km electrified) (2014)

total:

377,660 km (2012)

paved:

137,544 km (includes 7,176 km of expressways) (2012)

unpaved:

240,116 km (2012)

total:

622 (2017)

by type:

bulk carrier 5, general cargo 9, oil tanker 32, other 576 (2017)

major seaport(s):

Altamira, Coatzacoalcos, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Veracruz

oil terminal(s):

Cayo Arcas terminal, Dos Bocas terminal

cruise port(s):

Cancun, Cozumel, Ensenada

container port(s) (TEUs):

Manzanillo (2,580,660), Lazaro Cardenas (1,115,452) (2016)

LNG terminal(s) (import):

Altamira, Ensenada

• Secretariat of National Defense (Secretaria de Defensa Nacional, Sedena): Army (Ejercito), Mexican Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Mexicana, FAM);
• Secretariat of the Navy (Secretaria de Marina, Semar): Mexican Navy (Armada de Mexico (ARM); includes Naval Air Force (FAN), Mexican Naval Infantry Corps (Cuerpo de Infanteria de Marina, Mexmar or CIM)) (2013)

• 18 years of age for compulsory military service, conscript service obligation is 12 months;
• 16 years of age with consent for voluntary enlistment;
• conscripts serve only in the Army;
• Navy and Air Force service is all voluntary;
• women are eligible for voluntary military service;
• cadets enrolled in military schools from the age of 15 are considered members of the armed forces (2012)

abundant rainfall in recent years along much of the Mexico-US border region has ameliorated periodically strained water-sharing arrangementsthe US has intensified security measures to monitor and control legal and illegal personnel, transport, and commodities across its border with MexicoMexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the USBelize and Mexico are working to solve minor border demarcation discrepancies arising from inaccuracies in the 1898 border treaty

• major drug-producing and transit nation;
• Mexico is estimated to be the world's third largest producer of opium with poppy cultivation in 2015 estimated to be 28,000 hectares yielding a potential production of 475 metric tons of raw opium;
• government conducts the largest independent illicit-crop eradication program in the world;
• continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America, with an estimated 95% of annual cocaine movements toward the US stopping in Mexico;
• major drug syndicates control the majority of drug trafficking throughout the country;
• producer and distributor of ecstasy;
• significant money-laundering center;
• major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market