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With a population of almost 130 million, a strategic location, and a vast cultural diversity and natural resources, Mexico is positioned among the world's 15 most important economies.
It has an area of approximately 2 million square kilometers, ranking 14th in the world. Mexico is a federal republic divided into 32 states and 2,456 municipalities.
It has a privileged geographical location. Neighboring to the north with the United States -the world's largest market -, the border with this country is more than 3,100 kilometers long and has 56 border crossings. To the south, it borders with Guatemala and Belize, which represent the gateway to Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
Its extensive coastline on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (11,122 kilometers) serves as a natural bridge connecting the Asia-Pacific region.
Mexico is open to trade and is one of the countries with the largest number of international trade agreements. Currently, it has 13 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with 50 countries, 32 Reciprocal Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (RIPPAs) with 33 countries, and nine Partial Scope Agreements (PSAs) within the framework of the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI).
The Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada, commonly known as the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). Came into effect on July 1st, 2020 and replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in place since 1994.
The USMCA is a central element of Mexico's trade policy. It establishes an institutional framework that provides legal certainty to investors, entrepreneurs, and consumers in North America, as it modernizes and expands the rules of trade in goods and services in the region.
One of the main accomplishments of the treaty is to maintain free trade for all originating goods. New disciplines are also introduced for the marketing of remanufactured goods in the region; the certification scheme and the verification procedure are modernized to make it more expeditious.
Mexico's geographical position gives it access to the main international markets; furthermore, it allows companies to reduce time and costs in logistics.
The port system in Mexico comprises 102 ports and 15 terminals, 58 on the Pacific coast, and 59 on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean coast. Of this total, 69 carry out high altitude and cabotage traffic and 48 only cabotage traffic.
Ports are connected to the logistic infrastructure on which the logistics and supply chains are deployed in the area.
The Mexican Airport System is safe and competitive; it consists of 77 airports, 64 of which are international and 13 national.
Due to its activity, Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport is among the first 15 air terminals globally and is number one in Latin America.
Along the U.S.-Mexico border, there are 60 border ports - 4 closed -, 23 are crossings (land border), and 37 are bridges (river border). Daily, about 452,000 vehicles cross the border, and 30,000 of them are cargo trucks.
Source: SRE, Year: 2018
The railway infrastructure in Mexico comprises 17,360 kilometers of primary and secondary tracks under concession, 4,474 kilometers of auxiliary tracks (yards and slopes), and 1,555 kilometers of private tracks, which together add up to a total of 23,389 kilometers of operated lines.
The concessionaires and assignees that provide the cargo transportation service are: Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM), Ferrocarril Mexicano (Ferromex), Ferrosur (Ferrosur), Ferrocarril y Terminal del Valle de Mexico (Ferrovalle), Línea Coahuila Durango (LCD), Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec (FIT) and Administradora de la Vía Corta Tijuana-Tecate (Admicarga).
AGUASCALIENTES
CHIHUAHUA
COAHUILA
GUANAJUATO
QUERETARO
NUEVO LEON
SAN LUIS POTOSI
TAMAULIPAS
In 2019, Mexico ranked 60th out of 190 countries that were evaluated -in the Doing Business 2020- to measure the ease of doing business. Mexico is the second best-evaluated country in Latin America, surpassing economies like India, Vietnam, South Africa, Luxembourg, and Greece.
In addition, in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2019, Mexico remained in 48th place out of 141 economies that are evaluated and improved its performance by 0.3 points.
As of the first quarter of 2020, Mexico's total population registered 126,661,703 inhabitants, of which 51.7% are women, and 48.3% are men.
The Mexican population is mostly young. The working-age population (15 years and older) amounts to 95,784,628 people.
In the 2018-2019 period, the National Education System registered 36,635,816 students in the formal education modality, 2,100,277 teachers and 265,277 schools.
The number of students in upper secondary education was 5,239,675 and in higher education 3,943,544.
According to the OECD, higher education in Mexico is growing and, if current patterns continue, 26% of young people will obtain a higher education degree in their lifetime. Also, half a million graduates enter the labor market each year.
The Global Innovation Index 2020, developed by Johnson-Cornet University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), places Mexico in second place in Latin America and the Caribbean; and in position 55 out of 131 at the global level. According to WIPO, Mexico is the world's largest exporter of creative goods in Latin America. Additionally, Mexico is one of the three economies in the region with global R&D companies. Mexico advanced in the ranking due to an improvement in business sophistication and innovative products. The knowledge absorption sub-pillar increased the most, and it leads the creative goods exports indicator as well. Additionally, thanks to its leading brands, Mexico ranks 30th worldwide in the new global brand value indicator, with 81 among the top 5,000. It is also among the top 10 countries worldwide in indicators of production of high and medium-high technology manufacturing.
Availability and use of ICTs There are 80.6 million Internet users in Mexico, representing 70.1% of the population aged six and older. 51.6% are women, and 48.4% are men. The three primary means of connecting users to the Internet in 2019 were: smartphones with 95.3%, laptop with 33.2%, and desktop with 28.9%. It is estimated that the country has 86.5 million cell phone users, representing 75.1% of the population aged six and older. Electricity supply 99% of the country's inhabited houses have electricity; of them, 0.25% use solar energy as an alternative source, either exclusively or in a bidirectional or hybrid system (solar and public network). Access to drinking water service Potable water is a necessary service. It is an indicator of the quality of life of the population and the country's competitiveness in terms of the provision of services. Of the 32,925,270 households reported in the 2016 National Household Survey, 22,428,142 (68%) have a daily water supply. Financial Inclusion At the end of 2019, the number of branches -banks and popular savings and loan institutions- in the country was 16,883, with a demographic coverage of 92%. The number of branches per 10,000 adults was 1.8, and 125,997,761 deposit accounts were registered.
