Mexico and the North American Free Trade Agreement

Solution Preview

1. Select one country from NAFTA and develop a country profile.

This information is taken from the CIA World Factbook, which you can draw on (see https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html)

Mexico was under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A devaluation of its currency, the peso, in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. Mexico was making an impressive recovery until the global financial crisis hit in late 2008. 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. The elections held in 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution 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. In January 2009, Mexico assumed a non permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2009-10 term.

People

Population of Mexico is estimated to be 111,211,789 (July 2010 est.). Life expectancy is 76.06 years ((female =76; male=73.25). Nationality of the people in Mexico is Mexican(s) or Mexican. The ethnic groups living in Mexico include: mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%. Religions in Mexico include: Roman Catholic 76.5%, Protestant 6.3% (Pentecostal 1.4%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.1%, other 3.8%), other 0.3%, unspecified 13.8%, none 3.1% (2000 census). Languages: Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8%; note - indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages (2005). In terms of educational, literacy is defined as age 15 and over who can read and write). Based on the total population, literacy rates include: 86.1%. male: 86.9% and female: 85.3% (2005 Census). School life expectancy differs by 1 year for males and females (primary to tertiary education): male: 14 years; female: 13 years (2006).

Geography

Mei co is considered Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of ...