An Introduction to Mexico
Officially the United Mexican States, Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country and the world's thirteenth largest independent nation. The Toltec, Aztec and Mayan civilisations flourished here before the arrival of Europeans - Spain conquered the territory from 1521 and recognised its independence precisely three centuries later. The current political system emerged in 1917 after a turbulent century including two empires, war against the US in the 1840s and civil war between 1857 and 1861 and again after 1910. The last of these conflicts followed the Mexican Revolution of 1910 which overthrew Porfirio Diaz, ruler for most of the p'evious 35 years - a period of remarkable economic achievements but also repression. The subsequent war is said to have killed 900,000 of the 15m population. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Mexico
GOVERNMENT: Federal constitutional republic
AREA: 1,972,550 sq km
POPULATION: 112,336,538 (2010 census)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Language: Spanish
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Mexico
Its ancient culture is nothing if not rich - home to several of the great pre-Columbian civilisations, it has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country (31).
...and while as many as 50m may be living in 'poverty', it's also home to the world's richest man - 72-year-old Carlos Slim - according to Forbes Magazine. Slim entered the Rich List's top 10 in 2005 and overtook previous incumbent Bill Gates in the 2010 list. His money is spread across communications, technology, retailing and finance, but something like two thirds of his estimated $69bn total comes from Amãrica Móvil, Latin America's largest mobile-phone carrier with 246 million mobile subscribers in 18 countries.
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Officially the United Mexican States, Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country and the world's thirteenth largest independent nation. The Toltec, Aztec and Mayan civilisations flourished here before the arrival of Europeans - Spain conquered the territory from 1521 and recognised its independence precisely three centuries later. The current political system emerged in 1917 after a turbulent century including two empires, war against the US in the 1840s and civil war between 1857 and 1861 and again after 1910. The last of these conflicts followed the Mexican Revolution of 1910 which overthrew Porfirio Diaz, ruler for most of the p'evious 35 years - a period of remarkable economic achievements but also repression. The subsequent war is said to have killed 900,000 of the 15m population.
Mexico was ruled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for 71 years until 2000. Impressive economic growth from 1940-1980 (with population growth over 30% each decade) was followed by troubled times, including economic collapse in 1994 and rapid recovery assisted by the US. Despite the growing economy there are high levels of poverty and infant mortality. Historically, Mexico has remained neutral in international conflicts, and despite its economic dependence on the US its government has supported that of Cuba since the 1960s.The capital, Mexico City, was not long ago generally considered to be the world's largest city, 'though that honour (?) generally goes now to Tokyo. The population of Mexico City 'proper' has been estimated at around 8.8m people, with the metropolitan area pulling the total up to 21.2m.
GDP: $1.154 trn (2011 est.); per capita $10,153
Religions Roman Catholic 82.7%, Other Christian 9.7%, no religion 4.7%, other c.3.0% (2010 census)
Currency: Mexican peso - 1 MXN = $US 0.076
Telephone Code: +52
MR Association(s):
AMAI (Asociación Mexicana de Agencias de Investigación de Mercados y Opinion Publica)
Mexico is the 13th largest research market in the world, and the 2nd largest in Latin America. 90 percent of MR turnover comes from domestic clients and 10 percent from international. According to the ESOMAR Global Prices Study 2012 the country was the 44th most expensive for carrying out research.
Source: ESOMAR
Mexico has the 11th largest economy in the world by GDP PPP, and Goldman Sachs rather remarkably reckons it'll be the 5th largest by 2050. GDP annual average growth for the period of 1995-2002 was 5.1%, but inequality is massive with 46% (and rising) living in extreme or moderate poverty according to one estimate.
Commercial and financial dependence on the US is a cause for concern - in 2006, trade with the United States and Canada accounted for almost 50% of its exports and 45% of its imports.
Mexico is the largest North American auto-producing nation, recently surpassing Canada and the U.S. GM, Ford and Chrysler have been operating in Mexico since the 1930s, while Volkswagen and Nissan built their plants in the 1960s. The domestic car industry is very small.
2010 exports were $299bn and included automobiles, electrical goods, silver and foodstuffs. The US took 73.5%, Russia 10% and Canada 7.5%. Imports of $302bn included machinery and mechanical parts for cars and aircraft, and 60.6% of them came from the USA.
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laurence@mrweb.com
