Mexico City, or the City of Mexico (Spanish: Ciudad de México, American Spanish: [sjuˈða(ð) ðe ˈmexiko] (About this sound listen); abbreviated as CDMX, Nahuatl languages: Āltepētl Mēxihco), is the capital of Mexico and the most populous city in North America. Mexico City is one of the most important cultural and financial centres in the Americas. It is located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus in the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,350 ft). The city has 16 boroughs.
The 2009 population for the city proper was approximately 8.84 million people, with a land area of 1,485 square kilometers (573 sq mi). According to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments, the population of Greater Mexico City is 21.3 million, which makes it the largest metropolitan area of the Western Hemisphere, the eleventh-largest agglomeration (2017), and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.
