Mexico - Factfile & Statistics

Poverty, politics, income & human rights in Mexico

Population	105 million
Capital	Mexico City
People	European origin, 9%, Indian origin 30%, Mixed origin (Mestizos) 60%. The Indian groups retain some of their traditional culture and beliefs. such as the Day of the Dead.
Poverty & standard of living	The bottom 40% of the population share only 11% of the wealth and are considered to live below the Mexican poverty line. Many families live in total poverty and children are compelled to work on the streets in order to supplement the family income.
Language	Mainly Spanish but over 60 Indian languages are still spoken, such as Mayan, and Nahuatl (Aztec)
Geography	A central plateau is surrounded by mountains with coastal plains. There are several active volcanoes including Popocatépetl near the project site of the Mexico Child Link Trust. The terrain ranges from desert in the north to rain forest in the south. Map of Mexico. Map showing location of Mexico Child Link project
Politics	Democracy, The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), held power for 70 years but lost elections to the opposition PAN in 2000 and 2006. Elections are due again in 2012.
Foreign Debt	341 billion dollars (2010) This debt is unlikely to ever be repaid.
Human Rights	Amnesty International has highlighted tortures and disappearances within Mexico in recent years.
Income	The Mexican standard of living is way below the US or Europe. The minimum wage is 46 pesos per day, about £2.20, or $4 US Dollars. There is little or no welfare state and no unemployment benefit. Mexico is one of the 4 worst countries in Latin America for income distribution. In 2007 Forbes magazine published an article indicating that Carlos Slim had a personal fortune of 53.1 billion dollars and was fast catching up on Bill Gates as the world's richest man. Many billionaires were created after the privatization of Mexican banks and telecoms in the 1990s
Employment	Official statistics are unreliable as it is officially claimed that unemployment is only 2%-3%. A more realistic employment estimate would be 40% unemployed or underemployed.
Learning disability	There are few official statistics, which gives an indication of the low priority of this issue. Learning disability is often grouped along with physical disability or mental health statistics. CONFE, a Mexican Non Governmental Organisation has estimated that there may be over 2 million children and adults in Mexico with some grade of learning disability.
Religion	Nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%

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