ale(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 24.62 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 72 years
male: 68.98 years
female: 75.17 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.85 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Mexican(s)
adjective: Mexican

Ethnic groups: mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or
predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%

Languages: Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional
indigenous languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 89.6%
male: 91.8%
female: 87.4% (1995 est.)

Government

Country name:
conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
local short form: Mexico

Data code: MX

Government type: federal republic operating under a centralized
government

Capital: Mexico

Administrative divisions: 31 states (estados, singular--estado)
and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja
California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua,
Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Distrito Federal*, Durango,
Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo,
Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga,
Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas,
Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatan, Zacatecas

Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)

Constitution: 5 February 1917

Legal system: mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law
system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not
enforced)

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1
December 1994); note--the president is both the chief of state and
head of government
head of government: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1
December 1994); note--the president is both the chief of state and
head of government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with consent of the
Senate