MEXICO
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LAND
1,978,800 km2; 12% cropland, 40% pasture, 22% forested, 26% other (including waste, urban areas and public lands)
Land boundaries: 4,220 km
WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 12 nm (fishing 200 nm; 200 nm exclusive economic zone)
Coastline: 9,330 km
PEOPLE
Population: 71,330,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.4%
Nationality: noun—Mexican(s); adjective—Mexican
Ethnic divisions: 60% mestizo, 30% Indian or predominantly Indian, 9% white or predominantly white, 1% other
Religion: 97% nominally Roman Catholic, 3% other
Language: Spanish
Literacy: 65% estimated; 84% claimed officially
Labor force: 18.0 million (1978) (defined as those 12 years of age and older); 33.0% agriculture, 16.0% manufacturing, 16.6% services, 16.8% construction, utilities, commerce, and transport, 3% government, 5.4% unspecified activities; 10% unemployed, 40% underemployed
Organized labor: 20% of total labor force
GOVERNMENT
Official name: United Mexican States
Type: federal republic operating in fact under a centralized government
Capital: Mexico
Political subdivisions: 31 states and the Federal District
Legal system: mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; constitution established in 1917; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September
Branches: dominant executive, bicameral legislature, Supreme Court
Government leader: President Jose LOPEZ PORTILLO y Pacheco
Suffrage: universal over age 18; compulsory but unenforced
Elections: presidential election July 1982
Political parties and leaders: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Pedro Ojeda Paullada; National Action Party (PAN), Abel Vincencio Tovar; Popular Socialist Party (PPS), Jorge Cruickshank García; Authentic Party of the Revolution (PARM), Jesús Guzmán Rubío; Mexican Democratic Party (PDM), Gumersindo Magaña; Socialist Workers Party (PST), Rafael Aguilar Talamantes; Social Democratic Party (SPD), Ernesto Sanchez Aguilar; Revolutionary Pary of the Workers (PRT), Rosario Ibarra de Piedra; Mexican People's Party (PPM), Alejandro Gascón Mercado; Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR), Roberto Jaramillo Gonzales; Mexican Workers Party (PMT), Heberto Castillo; Socialist Action and Unity Movement (MAUS), Miguel Velasco; Mexican Communist Party (PCM), Arnoldo Martínez Verdugo; in November 1981 the PCM, MAUS, PPM, PSR, and the Popular Action Movement (MAP) merged to form the United Socialist Party of Mexico (PSUM)
Voting strength: 1979 congressional election: 69.8% PRI; 11% PAN; 5.1% PCM; 8.1% other opposition; 5.9% annulled
Other political or pressure groups: Roman Catholic Church, Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), Confederation of Industrial Chambers (CONCAMIN), Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce (CONCANACO), National Confederation of Campesinos (CNC), National Confederation of Popular Organizations (CNOP), Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC)
Member of: FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, International Lead and Zinc Study Group, IMCO, IMF, ISO, ITU, IWC—International Whaling Commission, LAFTA, NAMUCAR (Caribbean Multinational Shipping Line—Naviera Multinacional del Caribe), OAS, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO
ECONOMY
GDP: $170 billion (1980), $2,520 per capita; 67% private consumption, 12% public consumption, 13% private investment, 12% public investment (1979); net foreign balance -4%; real growth rate 1980, 8.3%
Agriculture: main crops—corn, cotton, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, sorghum, oilseeds, pulses, and vegetables; general self-sufficiency with minor exceptions in meat and dairy products; caloric intake, 2,700 calories per day per capita (1975)
Fishing: catch 1,257,129 metric tons (1980); exports valued at $429 million, imports at $22.9 million (1980)
