Mexico (2002) | Turkey (2002) | |
![]() | ![]() | |
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 | 81 provinces (iller, singular - il); Adana, Adiyaman, Afyon, Agri, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bartin, Batman, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Duzce, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Icel, Igdir, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Karaman, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kilis, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Siirt, Sinop, Sirnak, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Usak, Van, Yalova, Yozgat, Zonguldak |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 32.8% (male 17,310,230; female 16,630,935)
15-64 years: 62.7% (male 31,552,877; female 33,246,668) 65 years and over: 4.5% (male 2,069,826; female 2,589,629) (2002 est.) |
0-14 years: 27.8% (male 9,520,030; female 9,178,423)
15-64 years: 65.9% (male 22,552,253; female 21,827,002) 65 years and over: 6.3% (male 1,946,523; female 2,284,697) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes; beef, poultry, dairy products; wood products | tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulse, citrus; livestock |
Airports | 1,852 (2001) | 120 (2001) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 231
over 3,047 m: 11 2,438 to 3,047 m: 28 1,524 to 2,437 m: 83 914 to 1,523 m: 82 under 914 m: 27 (2002) |
total: 86
over 3,047 m: 16 2,438 to 3,047 m: 30 1,524 to 2,437 m: 19 914 to 1,523 m: 16 under 914 m: 5 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 1,592 1,617
over 3,047 m: 1 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 69 69 914 to 1,523 m: 454 461 under 914 m: 1,067 1,085 (2002) |
total: 34 34
over 3,047 m: 1 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 8 under 914 m: 8 24 (2002) |
Area | total: 1,972,550 sq km
land: 1,923,040 sq km water: 49,510 sq km |
total: 780,580 sq km
land: 770,760 sq km water: 9,820 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly less than three times the size of Texas | slightly larger than Texas |
Background | The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. 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. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that the opposition defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in on 1 December 2000 as the first chief executive elected in free and fair elections. | Turkey was created in 1923 from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Soon thereafter the country instituted secular laws to replace traditional religious fiats. In 1945 Turkey joined the UN, and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. Turkey occupied the northern portion of Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island; relations between the two countries remain strained but have begun to improve over the past three years. In 1984, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Marxist-Leninist, separatist group, initiated an insurgency in southeast Turkey, often using terrorist tactics to try to attain its goal of an independent Kurdistan. The group - whose leader, Abdullah OCALAN, was captured in Kenya in February 1999 - has observed a unilateral cease-fire since September 1999, although there have been occasional clashes between Turkish military units and some of the 4,000-5,000 armed PKK militants, most of whom currently are encamped in northern Iraq. The PKK changed its name to the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK) in April 2002. |
Birth rate | 22.36 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 17.95 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $136 billion
expenditures: $140 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.) (2001 est.) |
revenues: $42.4 billion
expenditures: $69.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001) |
Capital | Mexico (Distrito Federal) | Ankara |
Climate | varies from tropical to desert | temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior |
Coastline | 9,330 km | 7,200 km |
Constitution | 5 February 1917 | 7 November 1982 |
Country name | conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos local short form: Mexico |
conventional long form: Republic of Turkey
conventional short form: Turkey local long form: Turkiye Cumhuriyeti local short form: Turkiye |
Currency | Mexican peso (MXN) | Turkish lira (TRL) |
Death rate | 4.99 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 5.95 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $191 billion (2001) (2001) | $118.3 billion (September 2001 ) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Antonio O. GARZA
embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico, Distrito Federal mailing address: P. O. Box 9000, Brownsville, TX 520-9000 telephone: [52] 55 5080-2000 FAX: [52] 55 5511-9980 consulate(s) general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana consulate(s): Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales |
chief of mission: Ambassador Robert W. PEARSON
embassy: 110 Ataturk Boulevard, Kavaklidere, 06100 Ankara mailing address: PSC 93, Box 5000, APO AE 09823 telephone: [90] (312) 455-5555 FAX: [90] (312) 468-0019 consulate(s) general: Istanbul consulate(s): Adana |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Juan Jose BREMER Martino
chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006 telephone: [1] (202) 728-1600 FAX: [1] (202) 728-1698 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Laredo (Texas), Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Nogales (Arizona), Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Juan (Puerto Rico) consulate(s): Albuquerque, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico (California), Corpus Christi, Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Douglas (Arizona), Eagle Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), Indianapolis (Indiana), Las Vegas, McAllen (Texas), Midland (Texas), Omaha, Orlando, Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Presidio (Texas), Raleigh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Bernardino, Santa Ana (California), Seattle, Tucson, Yuma (Arizona) |
chief of mission: Ambassador Dr. Osman Faruk LOGOGLU
chancery: 2525 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 612-6700 FAX: [1] (202) 612-6744 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York |
Disputes - international | none | complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question with Greece; dispute with downstream riparian states (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; traditional demands regarding former Armenian lands in Turkey have subsided; Turkey is quick to rebuff any perceived Syrian claim to Hatay province; border with Armenia remains closed over Nagorno-Karabakh dispute |
Economic aid - recipient | $1.166 billion (1995) (1995) | ODA, $300 million (1993) (2000) |
Economy - overview | Mexico has a free market economy with a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. Recent administrations have expanded competition in seaports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity, natural gas distribution, and airports. Income distribution remains highly unequal. Trade with the US and Canada has tripled since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Following 6.9% growth in 2000, real GDP fell 0.3% in 2001, with the US slowdown the principal cause. Positive developments in 2001 included a drop in inflation to 6.5%, a sharp fall in interest rates, and a strong peso that appreciated 5% against the dollar. Mexico City implemented free trade agreements with Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and the European Free Trade Area in 2001, putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements. Foreign direct investment reached $25 billion in 2001, of which $12.5 billion came from the purchase of Mexico's second largest bank, Banamex, by Citigroup. | Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that in 2001 still accounted for 40% of employment. It has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. The most important industry - and largest export - is textiles and clothing, which is almost entirely in private hands. In recent years the economic situation has been marked by erratic economic growth and serious imbalances. Real GNP growth has exceeded 6% in many years, but this strong expansion has been interrupted by sharp declines in output in 1994, 1999, and 2001. Meanwhile the public sector fiscal deficit has regularly exceeded 10% of GDP - due in large part to the huge burden of interest payments, which in 2001 accounted for more than 50% of central government spending - while inflation has remained in the high double digit range. Perhaps because of these problems, foreign direct investment in Turkey remains low - less than $1 billion annually. In late 2000 and early 2001 a growing trade deficit and serious weaknesses in the banking sector plunged the economy into crisis - forcing Ankara to float the lira and pushing the country into recession. Results in 2002 were much better, because of strong financial support from the IMF and tighter fiscal policy. Continued slow global growth and serious political tensions in the Middle East cast a shadow over growth prospects for 2003. |
Electricity - consumption | 182.83 billion kWh (2000) | 114.19 billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity - exports | 77 million kWh (2000) | 437 million kWh (2000) |
Electricity - imports | 2.145 billion kWh (2000) | 3.791 billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production | 194.37 billion kWh (2000) | 119.18 billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: 76%
hydro: 17% nuclear: 4% other: 3% (2000) |
fossil fuel: 74%
hydro: 26% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2000) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Laguna Salada -10 m
highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba 5,700 m |
lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Ararat 5,166 m |
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 |
water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation; concern for oil spills from increasing Bosporus ship traffic |
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, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to: Air Pollution, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Environmental Modification |
Ethnic groups | mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1% | Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20% |
Exchange rates | Mexican pesos per US dollar - 9.1614 (January 2002), 9.3423 (2001), 9.4556 (2000), 9.5604 (1999), 9.1360 (1998), 7.9185 (1997) | Turkish liras per US dollar - 1,223,140 (January 2002), 1,223,140 (2001), 625,219 (2000), 418,783 (1999), 260,724 (1998), 151,865 (1997) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of attorney general requires consent of the Senate elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 2 July 2000 (next to be held NA July 2006) election results: Vicente FOX Quesada elected president; percent of vote - Vicente FOX Quesada (PAN) 42.52%, Francisco LABASTIDA Ochoa (PRI) 36.1%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 16.64%, other 4.74% |
chief of state: President Ahmet Necdet SEZER (since 16 May 2000)
head of government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN (14 March 2003); note - Abdullah GUL resigned 11 March 2003; Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN was given a mandate to form a government cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the nomination of the prime minister note: a National Security Council serves as an advisory body to the president and the cabinet elections: president elected by the National Assembly for a seven-year term; election last held 5 May 2000 (next to be held NA May 2007); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Ahmed Necdet SEZER elected president on the third ballot; percent of National Assembly vote - 60% note: president must have a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly on the first two ballots and a simple majority on the third ballot |
Exports | $159 billion f.o.b. (2001) | $37.6 billion f.o.b. (2002) |
Exports - commodities | manufactured goods, oil and oil products, silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton | apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment |
Exports - partners | US 88.4%, Canada 2%, Germany 0.9%, Spain 0.8%, Netherlands Antilles 0.6%, Japan 0.4%, UK 0.4%, Venezuela 0.4%, (2001 est.) | Germany 17.2%, US 10.0%, Italy 7.5%, UK 6.9%, France 6.0%, Russia 2.9% (2001) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; the coat of arms (an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak) is centered in the white band | red with a vertical white crescent (the closed portion is toward the hoist side) and white five-pointed star centered just outside the crescent opening |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $920 billion (2001 est.) | purchasing power parity - $468 billion (2002 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 5%
industry: 26% services: 69% (2001 est.) |
agriculture: 13%
industry: 30% services: 57% (2001) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $9,000 (2001 est.) | purchasing power parity - $7,000 (2002 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | -0.3% (2001 est.) | 4.2% (2002 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 23 00 N, 102 00 W | 39 00 N, 35 00 E |
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 | strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas; Mount Ararat, the legendary landing place of Noah's Ark, is in the far eastern portion of the country |
Heliports | 2 (2002) | 8 (2002) |
Highways | total: 323,977 km
paved: 96,221 km (including 6,335 km of expressways) unpaved: 227,756 km (1997) |
total: 382,059 km
paved: 106,976 km (including 1,726 km of expressways) unpaved: 275,083 km (1999 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 41% (2001) (2001) |
lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 32% (1994) |
Illicit drugs | illicit cultivation of opium poppy (cultivation in 2001 - 4,400 hectares; potential heroin production - 7 metric tons) and cannabis cultivation in 2001 - 4,100 hectares; government eradication efforts have been key in keeping illicit crop levels low; major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market; continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America; major drug syndicates control majority of drug trafficking throughout the country; growing producer and distributor of ecstasy; significant money-laundering center | key transit route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe and - to a far lesser extent the US - via air, land, and sea routes; major Turkish, Iranian, and other international trafficking organizations operate out of Istanbul; laboratories to convert imported morphine base into heroin are in remote regions of Turkey as well as near Istanbul; government maintains strict controls over areas of legal opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate |
Imports | $168 billion f.o.b. (2001) | $43.9 billion c.i.f. (2002 est.) |
Imports - commodities | metalworking machines, steel mill products, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, car parts for assembly, repair parts for motor vehicles, aircraft, and aircraft parts | machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport equipment |
Imports - partners | US 68.4%, Japan 4.7%, Germany 3.6%, Canada 2.5%, China 2.2%, South Korea 2.1%, Taiwan 1.6%, Italy 1.3%, Brazil 1.1% (2001 est.) | Germany 12.9%, Italy 8.4%, Russia 8.3%, US 7.9%, France 5.5%, UK 4.6% (2001 est.) |
Independence | 16 September 1810 (from Spain) | 29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire) |
Industrial production growth rate | -3.4% (2001 est.) | 8.5% (2002 est.) |
Industries | food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, tourism | textiles, food processing, autos, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper |
Infant mortality rate | 24.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) | 45.77 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 6.5% (2001 est.) | 45.2% (2002) |
International organization participation | APEC, BCIE, BIS, Caricom (observer), CCC, CDB, CE (observer), EBRD, ECLAC, FAO, G-3, G-6, G-15, G-19, G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM (observer), NEA, OAS, OECD, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CERN (observer), EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, EU (applicant), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNTAET, UPU, WEU (associate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 51 (2000) | 50 (2001) |
Irrigated land | 65,000 sq km (1998 est.) | 42,000 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (judges are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate) | Constitutional Court (judges are appointed by the president); Court of Appeals (judges are elected by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors) |
Labor force | 39.8 million (2000) (2000) | 23.8 million (2001 3rd quarter)
note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad (1999) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 20%, industry 24%, services 56% (1998) (1998) | agriculture 40%, services 38%, industry 22% (2001) |
Land boundaries | total: 4,353 km
border countries: Belize 250 km, Guatemala 962 km, US 3,141 km |
total: 2,648 km
border countries: Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 352 km, Syria 822 km |
Land use | arable land: 13.2%
permanent crops: 1.1% other: 85.7% (1998 est.) |
arable land: 34.53%
permanent crops: 3.36% other: 62.11% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
Legal system | mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations | derived from various European continental legal systems; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations |
Legislative branch | bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; 96 are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms, and 32 are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote) and the Federal Chamber of Deputies or Camara Federal de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members are directly elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; remaining 200 members are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote, also for three-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 2 July 2000 for all of the seats (next to be held NA 2006); Chamber of Deputies - last held 2 July 2000 (next to be held NA 2003) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRI 60, PAN 46, PRD 15, PVEM 5, PT 1, CD 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRI 211, PAN 207, PRD 50, PVEM 16, PT 8, PSN 3, PAS 2, CD 1, independents 2 |
unicameral Grand National Assembly of Turkey or Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi (550 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 3 November 2002 (next to be held NA 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - AKP 34.3%, CHP 19.4%, DYP 9.6%, MHP 8.3%, ANAP 5.1%, DSP 1.1%, and others; seats by party - AKP 363, CHP 178, independents 9; note - all other parties were under the 10% threshhold which entitles them to seats |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 72.03 years
male: 68.99 years female: 75.21 years (2002 est.) |
total population: 71.52 years
male: 69.15 years female: 74.01 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 89.6% male: 91.8% female: 87.4% (1995 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 85% male: 94% female: 77% (2000) |
Location | Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the US and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the US | southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria |
Map references | North America | Middle East |
Maritime claims | contiguous zone: 24 NM
continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
exclusive economic zone: in Black Sea only: to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the former USSR
territorial sea: 6 NM in the Aegean Sea; 12 NM in Black Sea and in Mediterranean Sea |
Merchant marine | total: 44 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 656,594 GRT/987,822 DWT
ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 1, chemical tanker 4, liquefied gas 3, petroleum tanker 27, roll on/roll off 3, short-sea passenger 3 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Canada 2, Denmark 1 (2002 est.) |
total: 553 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,674,099 GRT/9,108,819 DWT
ships by type: bulk 138, cargo 239, chemical tanker 45, combination bulk 5, combination ore/oil 2, container 27, liquefied gas 6, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 45, refrigerated cargo 3, roll on/roll off 27, short-sea passenger 10, specialized tanker 5 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Belize 1, Cyprus 1, Denmark 2, Greece 1, Italy 1, Thailand 1, United Kingdom 11 (2002 est.) |
Military branches | National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) (including Army and Air Force), Navy Secretariat (including Naval Air and Marines) | Land Forces, Navy (includes Naval Air and Naval Infantry), Air Force, Coast Guard, Gendarmerie |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $4 billion (FY99) | $8.1 billion (2002 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1% (FY99) | 4.5% (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49: 27,229,581 (2002 est.) | males age 15-49: 19,219,177 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49: 19,761,440 (2002 est.) | males age 15-49: 11,623,675 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age
note: starting in 2000, females were allowed to volunteer for military service (2002 est.) |
20 years of age (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males: 1,077,536 (2002 est.) | males: 674,805 (2002 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 16 September (1810) | Independence Day, 29 October (1923) |
Nationality | noun: Mexican(s)
adjective: Mexican |
noun: Turk(s)
adjective: Turkish |
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 | very severe earthquakes, especially in northern Turkey, along an arc extending from the Sea of Marmara to Lake Van |
Natural resources | petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber | antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulfur, iron ore, arable land, hydropower |
Net migration rate | -2.71 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Pipelines | crude oil 28,200 km; petroleum products 10,150 km; natural gas 13,254 km; petrochemical 1,400 km | crude oil 1,738 km; petroleum products 2,321 km; natural gas 708 km |
Political parties and leaders | Convergence for Democracy or CD [Dante DELGADO Ranauro]; Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Dulce Maria SAURI Riancho]; Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio GONZALEZ Martinez]; National Action Party or PAN [Luis Felipe BRAVO Mena]; Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD [Amalia GARCIA Medina]; Party of the Nationalist Society or PSN [Gustavo RIOJAS Santana]; Social Alliance Party or PAS [Guillermo CALDERON Dominguez]; Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez] | Democratic Left Party or DSP [Bulent ECEVIT]; Justice and Development Party or AKP [Recep Tayip ERDOGAN]; Motherland Party or ANAP [Mesut YILMAZ]; Nationalist Action Party or MHP [Devlet BAHCELI]; Republican People's Party or CHP [Deniz BAYKAL]; Saadet Party [Recai KUTAN]; note - KUTAN was head of the Virtue Party or FP which was banned by Turkey's Constitutional Court in June 2001; Socialist Democratic Party or TDP [Sema PISKINSUT]; True Path Party (sometimes translated as Right Path Party) or DYP [Tansu CILLER] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic or COPARMEX; Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN; Confederation of Mexican Workers or CTM; Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO; Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations or COECE; Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services or FESEBES; National Chamber of Transformation Industries or CANACINTRA; National Peasant Confederation or CNC; National Union of Workers or UNT; Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers or CROM; Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants or CROC; Roman Catholic Church | Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Unions or DISK [Ridvan BUDAK]; Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association or MUSIAD [Erol YARAR]; Moral Rights Workers Union or Hak-Is [Salim USLU]; Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association or TUSIAD [Muharrem KAYHAN]; Turkish Confederation of Employers' Unions or TISK [Refik BAYDUR]; Turkish Confederation of Labor or Turk-Is [Bayram MERAL]; Turkish Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges or TOBB [Fuat MIRAS] |
Population | 103,400,165 (July 2002 est.) | 67,308,928 (July 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 40% (2001 est.) | NA% |
Population growth rate | 1.47% (2002 est.) | 1.2% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Acapulco, Altamira, Coatzacoalcos, Ensenada, Guaymas, La Paz, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, Progreso, Salina Cruz, Tampico, Topolobampo, Tuxpan, Veracruz | Gemlik, Hopa, Iskenderun, Istanbul, Izmir, Kocaeli (Izmit), Icel (Mersin), Samsun, Trabzon |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 851, FM 598, shortwave 16 (2000) | AM 16, FM 107, shortwave 6 (2001) |
Radios | 31 million (1997) | 11.3 million (1997) |
Railways | total: 18,000 km
standard gauge: 18,000 km 1.435-m gauge (2001) |
total: 8,607 km
standard gauge: 8,607 km 1.435-m gauge (2,131 km electrified) (2001) |
Religions | nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5% | Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced) | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: low telephone density with about 12 main lines per 100 persons; privatized in December 1990; the opening to competition in January 1997 improved prospects for development
domestic: adequate telephone service for business and government, but the population is poorly served; domestic satellite system with 120 earth stations; extensive microwave radio relay network; considerable use of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, and mobile cellular service international: satellite earth stations - 32 Intelsat, 2 Solidaridad (giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America, and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications), numerous Inmarsat mobile earth stations; linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections; high capacity Columbus-2 fiber-optic submarine cable with access to the US, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Morocco, Spain, and Italy (1997) |
general assessment: undergoing rapid modernization and expansion, especially with cellular telephones
domestic: additional digital exchanges are permitting a rapid increase in subscribers; the construction of a network of technologically advanced intercity trunk lines, using both fiber-optic cable and digital microwave radio relay is facilitating communication between urban centers; remote areas are reached by a domestic satellite system; the number of subscribers to mobile cellular telephone service is growing rapidly international: international service is provided by three submarine fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, linking Turkey with Italy, Greece, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia; also by 12 Intelsat earth stations, and by 328 mobile satellite terminals in the Inmarsat and Eutelsat systems (2002) |
Telephones - main lines in use | 12.332 million (2000) | 19.5 million (1999) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 2.02 million (1998) | 17.1 million (2001) |
Television broadcast stations | 236 (plus repeaters) (1997) | 635 (plus 2,934 repeaters) (1995) |
Terrain | high, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus; desert | mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau (Anatolia) |
Total fertility rate | 2.57 children born/woman (2002 est.) | 2.07 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | urban - 3% plus considerable underemployment (2001) | 10.8% (plus underemployment of 6.1%) (2002 est.) |
Waterways | 2,900 km
note: navigable rivers and coastal canals |
1,200 km (approximately) |