Land area: 742,485 sq mi (1,923,039 sq km); total area: 761,606 sq mi (1,972,550 sq km)

Population (2006): 107,449,525 (growth rate: 1.2%); birth rate: 20.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 20.3/1000; life expectancy: 75.4; density per sq mi: 145

Capital City: Mexico City

Monetary unit: Mexican peso

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

Ethnicity/race: Mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%

Mexico is situated in the southwestern part of mainland North America, bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast.

The center of Mexico is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and with ocean-front lowlands lying outside of them. Mexico is about one-fourth the size of the United States.

The terrain and climate vary from rocky deserts in the north to tropical rain forest in the south. Mexico's major rivers include the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) and the Usumacinta on its northern and southern borders, respectively, together with the Grijalva, Balsas, Pánuco, and Yaqui in the interior. The Tropic of Cancer effectively divides the country into temperate and tropical zones.

Ancient Mexico and Central America were home to some of the earliest and most advanced civilizations in the western hemisphere.

This region is known historically as Mesoamerica, a term that refers to the geographic area and cultural traditions of the pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Maya civilization flourished in southern Mexico and Central America between AD 250 and 900, a time known as the Classic period.

Mexican culture is a fascinating blend of Native American traditions and Spanish colonial influences. Long before the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, the indigenous civilizations of Mexico had developed arts such as ceramics, music, poetry, sculpture, and weaving.

The monumental architecture that developed in what is now México was greatly influenced by the plateresque, baroque, and churrigueresque styles, all of which were prevalent in Spain during different portions of the colonial era. Although these styles were used in both secular and religious buildings, most of the surviving examples are churches.

Modern architecture has also flourished. Functionalism and expressionism have left their imprint on a large number of works in which Mexican stylistic elements have been combined with European and North American techniques. Perhaps the most outstanding achievement of contemporary Mexican architecture is the Ciudad Universitaria outside Mexico City, a complex of buildings and grounds housing the National University of Mexico.