Background: The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule
for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A
devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil,
triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to
make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low
real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable
income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely
Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. Elections held in
July 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that the
opposition defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI). Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in on 1
December 2000 as the first chief executive elected in free and fair elections.
Location: Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between
Belize and the US and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and
the US
Population: 106,202,903 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 31.1% (male 16,844,400/female 16,159,511)
15-64
years: 63.3% (male 32,521,043/female 34,704,093)
65 years and
over: 5.6% (male 2,715,010/female 3,258,846) (2005 est.)
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