Population
Organization
Environment
Technology
POPULATION
POPULATION:95 million as of 1997 with an expected growth to pass 100,000,000 by 2000.
THE PEOPLE:
Mexico is the only country on the American continent where the greater part of the population is of mixed blood. The origins of the people can be traced back to 1519 -1521 during the Spanish Conquest with seven million native Indians, 200,000 Spaniards, and 200,000 or less Negro slaves. Today the majority of Mexicans, 75 % percent, are Mestizos, or of Indian and Spanish, or African and Spanish blood. The Indigenas, or native Indians make up 15% percent population, and the Criollos, those of pure Spanish blood account for 10% percent of the population.
AGE AND POPULATION GROWTH:
With its 31 states Mexico is the second most populous country in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is relatively a country of young people. Currently, 65% percent of its population is under the age of 30, and the average life expectancy is 64. Official figures indicate that Mexicoís population is growing at an annual rate of 1.9% percent.
URBAN AND RURAL POPULATION
About 70% percent of Mexicoís population lives in urban settings. It is estimated that about 700,000 people migrate to urban cities yearly, and about 350,000 leave the city. Most of these people relocate from rural areas to urban and industrialized cities, along the U.S. border, seeking job opportunities. Many also settle in Mexico city where the current population is an estimated 20 million.
RELIGION:
Mexicoís population is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, 86% percent. The Indians have combined Christianity with their strong, ancient beliefs and rituals. Protestants in Mexico are an estimated 5 million.
Compared to other Latin American countries, Mexico has a relatively large middle class. There is a greater mark between few enormously wealthy and upper class and of course the abject poor of the country. Only about 20% of all urban residents enjoy a modest living the rest live on or below the poverty line. It is estimated that 60% to 70% percent of the population are poorly fed or undernourished.
MORE ABOUT THE PEOPLE:
Life expectancy at birth: 72.55 years
Male: 68.99years
Female: 76.3 years
Total Fertility Rate: 3.25 children born/woman (1993)
Literacy: over 15 years old and who can both read and write (1990)
Male: 90%
Female 85%
Labor Force: 26.2 million (1990)
Languages: Spanish and various Mayan dialects
ORGANIZATION
THE FLAGThe colors of the Mexican flag are green for independence, white for religious purity, and red for national unity. The coat of arms derives from the legendary founding of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, now Mexico City. The Aztecs believed the will of their gods was to found their city wherever they saw an eagle with its wings spread perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak.
THE CAPITAL
Distrito Federal, or Mexico city is the seat of the nations government. The National Palace (Palacio Nacional) is here and is the official residence of the President, it also houses various governmental offices. The city was originally established as a separate administrative unit, but the cityís growth has enabled it to function as such. The present population of Mexico city is 20 million, with some estimates as high as 26 million.
POLITICAL PARTIES
As of 1917 the United Mexican States, is a republic of 31 states and a federal district. The political organization consists of 31 states and a federal district and a capital. Each state has its own constitution and governor. The President is elected for a term of 6 years and is the head of state and government. Cabinet ministers and the governor of the Federal District, who is also mayor of the capital, are appointed by the president. The bicameral federal legislature consists of Congress which is composed of the Chamber of Deputies which has 500 members, 300 of which are elected by majority vote, 200 that are appointed by proportional representation, and are up for election every 3 years. The Senate has 64 members and are elected every 6 years.
Mexicoís ruling party is the PRI, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, the party of institutionalized revolution. This party has held the presidency since 1929, the year of its founding. Opposition parties include PAN, Catholic Conservative party, PRD, left-wing party of revolutionary democracy, PARM, right-wing party, PPS, socialist party, PT, workers party, PDM, right-wing democratic party, PVEM, green ecology party. In 1988 the FDN was formed, an alliance of the left against the PRI, and then it split in two parties: PRD, party of revolutionary democracy and the PFCRN, party of the national-revolutionary Cardenist Front. In 1993 many of the PAN members resigned and formed the party of Democratic Forum.
THE PRESIDENCY
The PRI president in power since 1994 is Ernesto Zedillo. He is an economist and a graduate of Yale University. Mexico has a political system like no other. It is notorious for hand-picked presidents from the PRI party since 1929, the president, as regarded by renowned writer, Octavio Paz, is the party itself. The president selects the Party Chairman, officials, Senators, Deputies, State Governors, and his successor to the Presidency. All appointed officials owe allegiance to him, therefore great patronage is gained through workers, soldiers, and unions.
FOREIGN POLICY
Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the Progress Alliance
ECONOMY
Mexicoís economy has been restructured since the economic crisis of the 1980ís when oil prices fell and the country foreign debt greatly increased. A drastic change in the restructuring included privatization of industries that were once government owned and operated. Leading industries include petroleum, tourism, mining, manufacturing, electronics and textiles. Despite industrialization, Mexicoís economy is dominated by agriculture, which employs about 30% percent of the work force. Major food crops include - corn, wheat, rice, beans; major cash crops - cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes, shrimp, consumer electronics
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT
GDP (US dollars) $328 billion (1992)
IMPORTS
Amounted Value = $51 Billion (US Dollars)
Include: machinery, aircraft, telecommunications equipment and soy
beans
EXPORTS
Amounted Value = $31 Billion (US Dollars)
Industrial products: vehicles, motor parts, color television and parts,
electrical and electronic goods, leather goods, textiles (28% OF GAP)
Non-industrial products: oil and petroleum derivatives, agricultural
produce (9% GDP) and minerals
ABOUT 3/4 OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS ARE WITH THE U.S.A.
EXTERNAL DEBT
$104 Billion
DEFICIT
$19 Billion has nearly doubled since 1991
NATIONAL INCOME PER HOUSEHOLD
$3,610 (US dollars 1993)
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
14%-17% (1993)
NAFTA
In 1992, Mexico, USA, and Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement that advocated elimination of restrictions on the flow of goods, services, and investment in North America. This created a free trade zone and generated economic growth by creating the largest consumer market in the world of 370 million consumers. By this Mexico hopes to become linked to the powerful economies of the north. NAFTA officially took effect on January 1, 1994.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Perhaps the most evident in Mexico is its class divisions. Much like the colonial era, the small percentage of Euroepean ancestry (10% of the population) continue to control the control the countries economic wealth and political power. The majority of the Mexicans, or Mestizos, mixed European and Indian, also occupy various levels of prosperity and social standing. This class has the strongest sense of national identity. At the bottom of the classes are the Indigenas. This group of ethnic indians continue to be the ìforgotten peopleî, and are treated much like they were during the colonial era when the Spanish inslaved them. Chronic poverty and non-existent rights for these people lead to the uprising in the Indian state of Chiapas in 1994.
Persistent class divisions in Mexico are distinctly polarized by the very wealthy and the very poor. It is a place where extreme poverty and extreme wealth characterise the nation, or as many travel guides explain it, ìMexico is a place where five-star resorts coexist with shantytowns that lack running waterî.
ENVIRONMENT
AREAMexico is located between Guatemala and the US. Comparatively, it is less than three times the size of Texas. Land boundaries, or countries on its borders are Belize, Guatemala and the US. It covers an area of 1,972m 550km, or 761,403 sq. miles. It is bounded by 7335km/4558 of the Pacific Coastline, and 2805km/1743 miles of coastlineon the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES
Most of the country consists of hills or mountains broken by plateaus, ,that have carved into canyons and valleys. Central Mexico is elevated landscape surrounded by high mountains to the east and west. The northern region is makde up of desert valley and surrounded by mountains. The northern most section has a broad valley floor and has a scattering of sand dunes, lakes, and hill slopes.
Southern Mexico is a mountainous region. There are narrow mountain regions and deep valleys. There is hardly a strip of flat land to be found. There are literally hundreds of volcanic peaks in Mexico. In the state of Michoacan there are more than 80.
Mexico has few rivers. One of the principal rivers is the Rio Bravo del Norte, otherwise known as the Rio Grande. Most of it lies in U.S. Territory.
LAND USE IN PERCENTAGES
Arable land: 12% Forest and woodland: 24%
Permanent crops: 1% Irrigated land: 51, 500 km 2
Meadows and pastures: 39% Other: 24%
NATURAL RESOURCES
Petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, and timber
FUTURE
Rapid population growth, unemployment, pollution
Mexico has a highly developed telecommnications system:
6,410,000 telephones
670 broadcast stations only AM no FM
238 Televison channels
120 domestic satellite terminals
4 Atlantic Ocean International Satellites
1 Pacific Ocean Internal Satellites
This page was created by Dolores Robles as part of the requirements for FCS428 International Housing in the Spring of 1998 at California State University, Long Beach.
©1998
- This series of pages was developed in electronic form and made available
on-line by: Dr.
Lydia Sondhi, Family and Consumer Sciences, California State University,
Long Beach.
last updated: 05/14/98