MEXICO
- Official name: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (MEX)
- Land area: 742,485 sq mi (1,923,039 sq km); total area: 761,602 sq mi (1,972,550 sq km)
- Population (2014 est.): 120,286,655 (growth rate: 1.21%); birth rate: 19.02/1000; infant mortality rate: 12.58/1000; life expectancy: 75.43
- Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Mexico City, 20.446 million
- Other large cities: Guadalajara 4.525 million; Monterrey 4.213 million; Puebla 2.335 million; Tijuana 1.82 million; Toluca de Lerdo 1.748 million (2011)
- Monetary unit: Mexican peso
- Telephone code: 52
- Electricity: 127V, 60Hz; plugs/sockets Type A and B
- Languages: Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8% note: indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages (2005)
- Ethnicity/race: mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%
- Religions: Roman Catholic 82.7%, Pentecostal 1.6%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.4%, other Evangelical Churches 5%, other 1.9%, none 4.7%, unspecified 2.7% (2010 est.)
- National Holiday: Independence Day, September 16
- Literacy rate: 93.5% (2011 est.)
- Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $1.2 trillion; per capita $15,600. Real growth rate: 1.25%. Inflation: 4%. Unemployment: 4.9% plus underemployment of perhaps 25%. Arable land: 12.98%. Agriculture: corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes; beef, poultry, dairy products; wood products. Labor force: 51.48 million; agriculture 13.4%, industry 24.1%, services 61.9% (2011). Industries: food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, tourism. Natural resources: petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber. Exports: $370.9 billion (2013 est.): manufactured goods, oil and oil products, silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton. Imports: $370.7 billion (2013 est.): metalworking machines, steel mill products, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, car parts for assembly, repair parts for motor vehicles, aircraft, and aircraft parts. Major trading partners: U.S., China, Japan (2012).
- Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 20.22 million (2012); mobile cellular: 100.786 million (2012). Broadcast media: many TV stations and more than 1,400 radio stations with most 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 (2012). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 16.233 million (2012). Internet users: 31.02 million (2009).
- Transportation: Railways: total: 17,665 km (2008). Highways: total: 377,660 km; paved: 137,544 km (including 7,176 km of expressways); unpaved: 240,116 km (2004). Waterways: 2,900 km navigable rivers and coastal canals. major seaports: Altamira, Coatzacoalcos, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Salina Cruz, Veracruz. Airports: 1,714 (2013).
- International disputes: abundant rainfall in recent years along much of the Mexico-US border region has ameliorated periodically strained water-sharing arrangements; the US has intensified security measures to monitor and control legal and illegal personnel, transport, and commodities across its border with Mexico; Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the United States; Belize and Mexico are working to solve minor border demarcation discrepancies arising from inaccuracies in the 1898 border treaty.
- Geography: Mexico is bordered by the United States to the north and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. Mexico is about one-fifth the size of the United States. Baja California in the west is an 800-mile (1,287-km) peninsula that forms the Gulf of California. In the east are the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, which is formed by Mexico's other peninsula, the Yucatán. The center of Mexico is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and with ocean-front lowlands beyond.
.