Foreign and Domestic Relations
Mexico is a founding member of several international organizations, most notably the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the OPANAL and the CELAC. In 2008, Mexico contributed over 40 million dollars to the United Nations regular budget. In addition, it was the only Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development since it joined in 1994 until Chile gained full membership in 2010.Mexico is considered a regional power, hence its presence in major economic groups such as the G8+5 and the G-20.
Mexico has fully recognized same-sex marriage since 2022, and anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation have existed in the nation since 2003. However, hate crimes towards the LGBT community remain an issue in Mexico. Other crime and human rights violations in Mexico have been criticized, including enforced disappearances (kidnappings), abuses against migrants, extrajudicial killings, gender-based violence, especially femicide, and attacks on journalists and human rights advocates. A 2020 report by the BBC gives statistics on crime in Mexico, with 10.7 million households with at least one victim of crime. As of May 2022, 100,000 people are officially listed as missing, most since 2007 when President Calderón attempted to stop the drug cartels. Drug cartels remain a major issue in Mexico, with a proliferation of smaller cartels when larger ones are broken up and increasingly the use of more sophisticated military equipment and tactics.
Mexico’s drug war, ongoing since 2006, has left over 120,000 dead and perhaps another 37,000 missing. Mexico’s National Geography and Statistics Institute estimated that in 2014, one-fifth of Mexicans were victims of some sort of crime. More than 100 journalists and media workers have been killed or disappeared since 2000, and most of these crimes remained unsolved, improperly investigated, and with few perpetrators arrested and convicted. In August 2025, demonstrations were held all around Mexico, in protest over the 130,000 people who have disappeared and considered missing since 2007.
Economy
As of April 2025, Mexico has the 15th largest nominal GDP (US$1.693 trillion), the 13th largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) (US$3.396 trillion), and a PPP-adjusted GDP per capita of US$25,463. The World Bank reported in 2023 that the country’s gross national income in market exchange rates was the second highest in Latin America after Brazil at US$1,744,711.4 million. Mexico is established as an upper-middle-income country. After the slowdown of 2001 the country recovered and grew 4.2, 3.0 and 4.8 percent in 2004, 2005 and 2006, even though it is considered to be well below Mexico’s potential growth. By 2050, Mexico could potentially become the world’s fifth or seventh-largest economy.
