Today there are over 130 million people in Mexico, when this article was written there was approx. 109.65 million inhabitants. In 2011 it was the world’s 11th most populous and largest Spanish speaking country on Earth. As a regional power, since 1994 it became the first Latin American country member of the OECD and Mexico is firmly established as an upper middle-income country, with high foreign investment, large-scale projects underway as well as an emerging power. It has the 11th largest nominal GDP by PPP. The economy is strongly linked to the NAFTA, especially the USA, and tourism (the 10th most visited country with 21.4 million international arrivals per year).
In 2011 poverty impacted 47% of the population (Mundi Index); 18.2% (UNDP) lived below the national poverty line by Mexican standards. Fewer than 5% lived on less than 2 US dollars per day. Consequently, besides boasting gradual improvement, poverty was significantly less than in most countries in Africa, Asia or the Americas. No famine has struck for the past 90 years, although marginal mal-nutrition exists in scattered southeastern areas.
Today is a much different story for Mexico but the Lerma Chapala Water
Basin has continued to be over drafted by farming and surrounding communities like Guadalajara. If you have an interest in geography, history or humanity…you will enjoy reading the following case study by CONAGUA. http://www.conagua.gob.mx/CONAGUA07/Contenido/Documentos/LermaChapalaBasinCase.pdf