Mexico City

About Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital and most populous city of Mexico, as well as the most populous city in North America. It is one of the world's leading cultural and financial centers and, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network's 2024 ranking, is classified as an Alpha world city. Located in the Valley of Mexico on the high Mexican Central Plateau, the city sits at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,350 feet). It is divided into 16 boroughs, or alcaldías, which are further subdivided into neighborhoods, or colonias.

According to the 2020 census, Mexico City proper had a population of 9,209,944 and a land area of 1,495 square kilometers (577 square miles), making it Mexico's primate city and the second-largest Spanish-speaking city proper in the world after Lima. Under the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments, Greater Mexico City had a population of 21,804,515, making it the world's 15th-largest metropolitan area and the second-largest urban agglomeration in the Western Hemisphere, after São Paulo. In 2011, Greater Mexico City had a GDP of $411 billion, making it one of the world's most productive urban areas. The city accounted for 15.8% of Mexico's GDP, while the metropolitan area accounted for about 22%. If it were an independent country in 2013, Mexico City would have been the fifth-largest economy in Latin America.

Mexico City is the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of only two founded by Indigenous peoples. It began as Tenochtitlan, a Mexica city built around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco. After the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan, it was nearly destroyed and then rebuilt according to Spanish urban standards. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established as México Tenochtitlán, and from 1585 onward it was officially known as Ciudad de México. During the Spanish colonial period, the city was a major political, administrative, and financial center. After Mexico became independent, the territory surrounding the city was organized in 1824 as the country's new and only federal district (Spanish: Distrito Federal or DF).

After years of demands for greater political autonomy, residents won the right to elect both the head of government and the members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly in 1997. Since then, left-wing parties, first the Party of the Democratic Revolution and later Morena, have controlled both offices. The city has also adopted several progressive policies, including legal abortion, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, same-sex marriage, and legal gender change. On 29 January 2016, the Federal District was officially renamed Ciudad de México, or CDMX. These reforms granted the city greater autonomy and changed aspects of its government and political structure, though a constitutional clause still prevents it from becoming a state while it remains Mexico's capital.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.