page_title: Morelos
section_title: Economy and tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Morelos / Economy and tourism
caption_attribution_description: English: The city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. Español: La ciudad de Cuernavaca, Morelos, México.
context_page_description: Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca.
  Morelos is a landlocked state located in South-Central Mexico. It is bordered by the states of México to the north-east and north-west, Puebla to the east, and Guerrero to the southwest. Mexico City is situated north of Morelos.
  Morelos is the second-smallest state in the nation, just after Tlaxcala. It was part of the very large province, the State of Mexico until 1869, when Benito Juárez decreed that its territory would be separated and named in honor of José María Morelos y Pavón, who defended the city of Cuautla from royalist forces during the Mexican War of Independence. Most of the state enjoys a warm climate year-round, which is good for the raising of sugar cane and other crops. Morelos has attracted visitors from the Valley of Mexico since Aztec times.
  The state is also known for the Chinelos, a type of costumed dancer that appears at festivals, especially Carnival, which is celebrated in a number of communities in the state.
context_section_description: The economy of Morelos is based on agriculture, tourism, and urbanization. Since the 1960s, the economy has been shifting from agriculture to industry and commerce. However, most of these shifts have occurred on a small scale and a number of municipalities are still almost completely reliant on agriculture. While the state provides just 1.6% of the country's GDP, its economy is strong enough to attract workers, especially farm workers from other areas of the country. However, a large percentage of the state's population works six days a week, receiving wages of only 500 to 700 Mexican pesos ($46–$65USD), despite the fact that Morelos is one of the more expensive states to live in.
  Economically, the state divides into seven districts. The Cuernavaca Region includes the municipalities of Cuernavaca, Temixco, Emiliano Zapata, Jiutepec, and Xochitepec. The North Region includes the municipalities of Huitzilac, Tepoztlán, Tlalnepantla, and Totolapan. The Cuautla Region includes the municipalities of Atlatlahucan, Ayala, Cuautla, Tlayacapan, Yautepec de Zaragoza, and Yecapixtla. The Northeast Region includes Ocuituco, Temoac, Tetela del Volcán, and Zacualpan de Amilpas. The Southeast Region includes Axochiapan, Jantetelco, Jonacatepec and Tepalcingo. The South Region includes Amacuzac, Jojutla, Puente de Ixtla, Tlaltizapán, Tlaquiltenango, and Zacatepec de Hidalgo; and the Western Region includes Coatlán del Río, Mazatepec, Miacatlán and Tetecala.
  In 2003, Morelos was one of the first states to take advantage of a new law allowing states to sell bonds. In 2002, the state sold $24 million USD worth of bonds on the Mexican stock market in order to finance highways, schools, waterworks and other infrastructure projects. The bond sales also allowed the state to access lower-interest long-term financing.
  Due to its location near Mexico City, the state has one of the lower rates of economic marginalization, ranking 20th of 33 units in economic marginalization, based on housing and education. The most urbanized areas of the state are the strongest economically, with the least urbanized being the poorest. Two of the factors in the development of the state's economy since the 1960s are the opening of the Mexico City-Acapulco highway through the state in 1952 and the creation of the Civac (Ciudad Industrial Valle de Cuernavaca) industrial complex in 1965. This concentrated the population growth into the northern part of the state. Eleven of the state's 36 municipalities are considered to have a serious degree of marginalization: Tlalnepantla, Totolapan, Tlayacapan, Tetela del Volcán, Ocuituco, Zaculapan, Temoac, Tepalcingo, Amacuzac, Coatlán del Río, Miacatlán and some parts of Puente de Ixtla.
  Since the 1980s, the agricultural sector of the economy has been steadily shrinking but it remains an important part of the state's economy, as there are still a significant number of communities that rely on it. Just under 20% of the working population of the state is involved in farming, ranching, fish farming or forestry. Land available for human exploitation outside of populated areas is divided between agriculture/grazing (45%) and forestry (55%). Agricultural and forestry lands are further subdivided by climate and the type of forest (conifer vs. rainforest). Roughly 70% of the state has a subtropical climate, providing ideal conditions for agriculture, in particular sugar cane, and most farming is done in the warmer areas. Sugar cane has been an important crop since colonial times and still is important today, although the percentage of land dedicated to it has decreased since the 1960s. Another important crop is rice. The production of rice in the state has fallen drastically, from a height of 100,000 tons annually to only 21,000 tons due to the reduction in cultivation areas and the high costs of production. The state still ranks sixth in its production. However, despite price and market protections, foreign rice is competing with rice produced in the state. Sorghum has replaced lost yields of sugar cane and rice to a certain extent, whi
caption: Cuernavaca city
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