Mexico was the site of several advanced Amerindian civilizations -- including the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya, and Aztec -- until Spain conquered and colonized the area in the early 16th century. Administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain for three centuries, it achieved independence early in the 19th century. Elections held in 2000 marked the first time since Mexican Revolution in 1910 that an opposition candidate -- Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) -- defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He was succeeded in 2006 by another PAN candidate Felipe CALDERON, but Enrique PEÑA NIETO regained the presidency for the PRI in 2012. Left-leaning anti-establishment politician and former mayor of Mexico City (2000-05) Andrés Manuel LÓPEZ OBRADOR, from the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), became president in 2018. The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA, or T-MEC by its Spanish acronym) entered into force in 2020 and replaced its predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexico amended its constitution in 2019 to facilitate the implementation of the labor components of USMCA. Mexico is currently the US's second-largest goods trading partner, after Canada. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, high underemployment, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities, particularly for the largely indigenous population in the impoverished southern states. Since 2007, Mexico's powerful transnational criminal organizations have engaged in a struggle to control criminal markets, resulting in tens of thousands of drug-related homicides and forced disappearances.
Area: 1,964,375 km2
Climate: varies from tropical to desert
Natural resources: petroleum, silver, antimony, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber
Groups: Mestizo (Indigenous-Spanish) 62%, predominantly Indigenous 21%, Indigenous 7%, other 10% (mostly European) (2012 est.)note: Mexico does not collect census data on ethnicity
Languages: Spanish only 93.8%, Spanish and indigenous languages (including Mayan, Nahuatl, and others) 5.4%, indigenous only 0.6%, unspecified 0.2% (2020 est.)major-language sample(s): La Libreta Informativa del Mundo, la fuente indispensable de información básica. (Spanish)The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
Religions: Roman Catholic 78%, Protestant/evangelical Christian 11.2%, other 0.002%, unaffiliated (includes atheism) 10.6% (2020 est.)
Capital: Mexico City (Ciudad de Mexico)
Government type: federal presidential republic
Chief of state: President Claudia SHEINBAUM Pardo (since 1 October 2024)
Head of government: President Claudia SHEINBAUM Pardo (since 1 October 2024)cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the presidentelections/appointments: president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a single 6-year term; election last held on 2 June 2024 (next to be held in 2030)election results: 2024: Claudia SHEINBAUM Pardo elected president; percent of vote - Claudia SHEINBAUM Pardo (MORENA) 59.4%, Xóchitl GÁLVEZ Ruiz (PAN) 27.9%, Jorge Álvarez MÁYNEZ (MC) 10.4%, other 2.3%2018: Andrés Manuel LÓPEZ OBRADOR elected president; percent of vote - Andrés Manuel LÓPEZ OBRADOR (MORENA) 53.2%, Ricardo ANAYA Cortés (PAN) 22.3%, José Antonio MEADE Kuribreña (PRI) 16.4%, Jaime RODRÍGUEZ Calderón (independent) 5.2%, other 2.9%2012: Enrique PEÑA NIETO elected president; percent of vote - Enrique PEÑA NIETO (PRI) 38.2%, Andrés Manuel LÓPEZ OBRADOR (PRD) 31.6%, Josefina Eugenia VÁZQUEZ Mota (PAN) 25.4%, other 4.8%note: the president is both chief of state and head of government
Description: legislature name: Congress of the Union (Congreso de la Unión)legislative structure: bicameralnote: as of the 2018 election, senators will be eligible for a second term and deputies up to 4 consecutive terms
Information derived by "The World Factbook 2021. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2021. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/"