Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Felipe Calderon
Population
584,578
114,975,406
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
76.660 years
Capital City
Mexico (Distrito Federal)
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Mexico City (population: 11,285,700)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.842
GDP per capita
$14,800 US
Literacy Rate
%
91%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
3.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
22.1%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Carlos Slim Helu & family ($35.0bn US)
Unemployment Rate
5.200%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
parliamentary democracy
federal republic
Independence date
16 September 1810 (declared); 27 September 1821 (recognized by Spain)
Religions
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Roman Catholic 76.5%, Protestant 6.3% (Pentecostal 1.4%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.1%, other 3.8%), other 0.3%, unspecified 13.8%, none 3.1% (2000 census)
Languages
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8%; note - indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages (2005)
Mexican pesos (MXN) per US dollar - 11.016 (2008 est.), 10.8 (2007), 10.899 (2006), 10.898 (2005), 11.286 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.500%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
3
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
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
Area
28,896 km sq
1,964,375 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
9,330 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
