km, US 3,141 km

Coastline:

9,330 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Climate:

varies from tropical to desert

Terrain:

high, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus; desert

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Laguna Salada -10 m
highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba 5,700 m

Natural resources:

petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber

Land use:

arable land: 12.66%
permanent crops: 1.28%
other: 86.06% (2005)

Irrigated land:

63,200 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

457.2 cu km (2000)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 78.22 cu km/yr (17%/5%/77%)
per capita: 731 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:

tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive
earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on the Pacific,
Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts

Environment - current issues:

scarcity of hazardous waste disposal facilities; rural to urban
migration; natural fresh water resources scarce and polluted in
north, inaccessible and poor quality in center and extreme
southeast; raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in
urban areas; deforestation; widespread erosion; desertification;
deteriorating agricultural lands; serious air and water pollution in
the national capital and urban centers along US-Mexico border; land
subsidence in Valley of Mexico caused by groundwater depletion
note: the government considers the lack of clean water and
deforestation national security issues

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

strategic location on southern border of US; corn (maize), one of
the world's major grain crops, is thought to have originated in
Mexico

People
Mexico

Population:

109,955,400 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 29.6% (male 16,619,995/female 15,936,154)
15-64 years: 64.3% (male 34,179,440/female 36,530,154)
65 years and over: 6.1% (male 3,023,185/female 3,66