Mexican Federal District

The Mexican Federal District or Distrito Federal (D.F.) is an area within Mexico that is not part of any of the States of Mexico, but is administered by the Mexican Federal Government and as such it is the seat of the Mexican Federal Government. The core of the vast Mexico City Metropolitan Area is within the Federal District.

The border with the Estado de México surrounds the D.F. on the north, east and west, while the state of Morelos shares the border through the more rural and mountainous south. The pear-shaped Federal District covers a surface area of 1,479 km², with a population of some 8,591,000 according to the year 2000 census.

For local government purposes, executive power is held by the Head of Government of the Federal District. The D.F. is divided into 16 boroughs (delegaciones). Each delegación is further divided into a variable number of neighborhoods (colonias).

Should the Federal Government decide to relocate to another part of the country, Article 44 of the Mexican Constitution mandates that the Federal District would acquire full statehood and be called Estado del Valle de México (State of the Valley of Mexico).

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