Often overlooked by it’s big brother to the North, Mexico might have one of the most underrated and misunderstood roles in the global economy. It’s this proximity with the U.S that makes it such an attractive proposition, Mexico’s Pacific Coast port of Lazaro Cardenas is actually closer to New York than Los Angeles and Vancouver. Couple this geographical advantage with a labor pool of 78 million people and you have a pretty good option for your investment.

There’s more though, the World Trade Organization ranks Mexican workers among the hardest-working in the world, in terms of the amount of hours worked each year. The young population is also growing rapidly, the average age is 27, this compares rather favorably with developed countries such as the UK, which has an average age of 40; this means Mexico should benefit from a rapid rise in domestic consumption. Of this population, more than 740 thousand are university students in engineering and technology programs, each year Mexico produce over 100 thousand engineering graduates, that’s more than the rest of Latin America combined, and the US.

Economists are excited about the long term growth potential of Mexico, predominantly due to it’s location. Mexico has close links to the US and Brazil, which is another fast growing economy in Latin America. Over the past five years Mexico has significantly increased its exports into the US, which has significantly boosted growth. In fact, Mexico is the 15th largest exporter in the world, exporting more than the rest of Latin America combined; it has the lowest total manufacturing costs among emerging economies and is about 25% lower than the US.

Mexico has been pushing itself recently to attract investors, in the last 20 years the government has made improvements to it’s infrastructure and fostered competition in sectors such as transportation, energy and telecommunications. As a result of this effort Mexico has come to be the 13th largest economy in the world, worth $2.4 trillion; and the 11th largest in purchasing power. The Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, the Mexican stock exchange, is valued at some $451 billion, second to only Brazil in Latin America and fifth in all of the Americas.

Mexico is also a very safe place to invest, while it’s often in the headlines for the wrong reasons, Mexico has signed 28 Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements, and Double Taxation Treaties with more than 40 countries. Mexico also has a network of 12 Free Trade Agreements and an Economic Partnership Agreement that grants it preferential access to 44 countries and over one billion consumers.

Surely there are a few points that stand out there, but for you to know if investing in Mexico is truly for you you’ll need to research the particular industry you’re interested in. I also recommend learning a little Spanish to help with your communication efforts, there are plenty of classes available or you can inquire about anything you’re not sure of.