Demographics of Mexico

Demography of Mexico
Mexican children at a school in Monterrey
Population	107,550,697
Male population	50,249,955
Female population	53,013,433
Population growth	1.0%
Birth rate	19/1,000
Mortality rate	4.9/1,000
Infant mortality rate	18.1/1,000
Life expectancy	75.6 years
Population speaking indigenous languages	6,011,202
Nationality	Mexican
Demographic bureaus	INEGI, CONAPO and CDI

With a population 112 in 2009 95% of the mexican population moved to the U.S, Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world, the second-most populous country in Latin America after Portuguese-speaking Brazil, and the second in North America, after the United States. Throughout most of the twentieth century Mexico's population was characterized by rapid growth. Even though this tendency has been reverted and average annual population growth over the last five years was less than 1%, the demographic transition is still in progress, and Mexico still has a large cohort of youths. The most populous city in the country is the capital city, Mexico City, with a population of 8.7 million (2005), and its metropolitan area is also the most populous in the country with 19.2 million (2005). Approximately 50% of the population lives in one of the 55 large metropolitan areas in the country.

The Census Bureau in Mexico is the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). The National Population Council (CONAPO), is an institution under the Secretary of the Interior in charge of the analysis and research of population dynamics. The National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI), amongst other things, undertakes research and analysis of the sociodemographic and linguistic indicators of the indigenous peoples in Mexico.

Demographic dynamics

Population growth

Mexico's population pyramid (2000)

Mexican states by population density

In 1900, the Mexican population was 13.6 million. During the period of economic prosperity that was dubbed by economists as the "Mexican Miracle", the Mexican government invested in efficient social programs that reduced infant mortality rate and increased life expectancy which jointly led to an intense demographic increase between 1930 and 1980. The population's annual growth rate has been reduced from a 3.5% peak, in 1965 to 0.99% in 2005. While Mexico is now transitioning to the third phase of demographic transition, close to 50% of the population in 2009 was 25 and younger. Fertility rates have also decreased from 5.7 children per woman in 1976 to 2.2 in 2006. The average annual population growth rate of the capital, the Federal District, was the first in the country at a mere 0.2%. The state with the lowest population growth rate over the same period was Michoacán (-0.1%), whereas the states with the highest population growth rates were Quintana Roo (4.7%) and Baja California Sur (3.4%), both of which are two of the least populous states and the last to be admitted to the Union in the 1970s. The average annual net migration rate of the Federal District over the same period was negative and the lowest of all political divisions of Mexico, whereas the states with the highest net migration rate were Quintana Roo (2.7), Baja California (1.8) and Baja California Sur (1.6). While the national annual growth rate is still positive (1.0%), the national net migration rate is negative (-4.75/1000 inhabitants), given the intense flow of immigrants to the United States; an estimated 5.3 million undocumented Mexicans lived in the United States in 2004 and 18.2 million American citizens in the 2000 Census declared having Mexican ancestry. Mexico itself constitutes the second country of total number of immigrants to the United States from 1830 to 2000, after Germany.

The Mexican government projects that the Mexican population will grow to about 123 million by 2042 and then start declining slowly. Assumptions include fertility stabilizing at 1.85 children per woman and continued high net emigration (gently decreasing from 583,000 in 2005 to 393,000 in 2050).

The states and the Federal District that conform the Mexican federation are collectively called "federal entities". The five most populous federal entities in 2005 were the State of Mexico (14.4 million), the Federal District (8.7 million), Veracruz (7.1 million), Jalisco (6.7 million) and Puebla (5.4 million) which collectively contain 40.7% of the national population. Mexico City, being coextensive with the Federal District, is the most populous city in the country, whereas Greater Mexico City, that includes the adjacent municipalities that conform a metropolitan area, is estimated to be the second most populous in the world, by the UN Urbanization Report.

Intense population growth in the Northern states, especially in the US-Mexican border, changed the country's demographic profile in the second half of the 20th century since the 1967 US-Mexico maquiladora agreement through which all products manufactured in the border cities could be imported duty-free to the US. Since NAFTA, however, in which all products are allowed to be imported duty free regardless of their origin within Mexico, non-border maquiladora share of exports has increased while that of border cities has decreased, allowing for the growth of middle-size cities in different regions in Mexico. This has also led to decentralization and growth of other metropolitan areas that conform regional centers of economic growth, like Monterrey, Guadalajara, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, León and Torreón.

International migration

Immigration to Mexico

Main article: Immigration to Mexico

Aside from the original Spanish colonists, many Europeans immigrated to Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Non-Spanish immigrant groups included British, Irish, Italian, German, French and Dutch. Large numbers of Middle Eastern immigrants arrived in Mexico during the same period, mostly from Turkey and Lebanon. Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese via the United States settled in northern Mexico, whereas Koreans settled in central Mexico.

During the 1970s and 1980s Mexico opened its doors to immigrants from Latin America, mainly political refugees from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Central America. The PRI governments in power for most of the 20th century had a policy of granting asylum to fellow Latin Americans fleeing political persecution in their home countries. A second wave of immigrants has come to Mexico as a result of the economic crises experienced by some countries in the region. The Argentine community is quite significant estimated to be somewhere between 11,000 and 30,000.

Mexico is also the country where the largest number of American citizens live abroad. The American Citizens Abroad Association estimated in 1999 that a little more than one million Americans live in Mexico (which represent 1% of the population in Mexico and 25% of all American citizens living abroad). This immigration phenomenon could well be explained by the interaction of both countries under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but also by the fact that Mexico has become a popular destination for retirees, especially the small towns: just in the State of Guanajuato, in San Miguel de Allende and its environs, 200,000 Americans have their residence.

Discrepancies between the figures of official legal aliens and all foreign-born residents is quite large. The official figure for foreign-born residents in Mexico in 2000 was 493,000, with a majority (86.9%) of these born in the United States (except Chiapas, where the majority of immigrants are from Central America). The six states with the most immigrants are Baja California (12.1% of total immigrants), Mexico City (the Federal District; 11.4%), Jalisco (9.9%), Chihuahua (9%) and Tamaulipas (7.3%).

Emigration from Mexico

The national net migration rate in Mexico is negative, estimated at -4.32 migrant per 1,000 population. The great majority of Mexican emigrants have moved to the United States of America. This migration phenomenon is not new, but has been a defining feature in the relationship of both countries for most of the twentieth century. Since World Wars I and II, the United States government approved the recruitment of Mexican workers in their territory only legally. Emigration of Mexicans continued throughout the rest of the century at varying degrees, but it grew significantly during the 1990s and has continued to do so in the first years of the 2000s. In fact, it has been estimated that 37% of all Mexican immigrants to the United States in the 20th century arrived during the 1990s. In 2000 approximately 20 million American residents identified themselves as either Mexican, Mexican-Americans or of Mexican origin.

INEGI estimated in 2000 that about 8 million Mexican-born individuals live in the United States of America; that is 8.7% of total Mexican population. In that same year, the states with the greatest number emigrants to the United States were Jalisco (170,793), Michoacán (165,502) and Guanajuato (163,338), with the total number of emigrants being 1,569,157 the great majority of which were men. Approximately 30% of emigrants come from rural communities. That same year, 260,650 emigrants returned to Mexico.

Growing interdependence of both countries, the emigration of Mexicans to the United States has slowed. While some argue that this is due to economic disparities between rural and urban, rich and poor populations, others suggest that the migration phenomenon is simply moving in inertia, as Mexican residents in the United States are now bringing their families who had stayed in Mexico. Most Mexican families will return to Mexico that have been in the United States. One study showed they desire to live in their homeland and culture and it is the goal of Mexicans to return to the mother land of their fathers, as they refer to Mexico.

After the Mexican American community, it is thought that the Mexican British community is the second largest Mexican diaspora with between 80,000 and 100,000 members, Mexican Canadians number around 40,000, Mexican in Spain number a similar amount and an unknown, but thought to be large number of Mexicans live in the Philippines. Mexicans live throughout Latin America, but also in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and United Arab Emirates.

Emigration list from Mexico Mexican residents in the world by countries
Country	Population	Position	Continent
United States	9.900.000	1	North America
Canada	36.225	2	North America
Spain	14.399	3	Europe
Guatemala	11.481	4	North America
Bolivia	9.377	5	South America
Germany	8.848	6	Europe
Argentina	6.750	7	South America
United Kingdom	5.125	8	Europe
France	4.601	9	Europe
Israel	4.252	10	Asia
Italy	3.485	11	Europe
Venezuela	3.075	12	South America
Belize	2.349	13	North America
Costa Rica	2.327	14	North America
Panama	2.299	15	North America
Colombia	2.286	16	South America
Sweden	1.977	17	Europe
Chile	1.874	18	South America
Paraguay	1.778	19	South America
Japan	1.412	20	Asia
Also there are temporal residents by 1–3 years

Metropolitan areas

Main article: Metropolitan areas of Mexico

Metropolitan areas of Mexico
Greater Mexico City
Metro area	Pop. (2005)
Greater Mexico City	19.231.829
Greater Guadalajara	4.095.853
Greater Monterrey	3.664.331
Greater Puebla	2.109.049
Greater Toluca	1.610.786
Tijuana	1.410.700
León	1.325.210
Ciudad Juárez	1.313.338
Comarca Lagunera	1.210.890
Greater San Luis Potosí	1.075.000

A metropolitan area in Mexico is defined to be the group of municipalities that heavily interact with each other, usually around a core city. In 2004, a joint effort between CONAPO, INEGI and the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) agreed to define metropolitan areas as either:

• the group of two ore more municipalities in which a city with a population of at least 50,000 is located whose urban area extends over the limit of the municipality that originally contained the core city incorporating either physically or under its area of direct influence other adjacent predominantly urban municipalities all of which have a high degree of social and economic integration or are relevant for urban politics and administration; or
• a single municipality in which a city of a population of at least one million is located and fully contained, (that is, it does not transcend the limits of a single municipality); or
• a city with a population of at least 250,000 which forms a conurbation with other cities in the United States of America.

In 2004 there were 55 metropolitan areas in Mexico, in which close to 53% of the country's population lives. The most populous metropolitan area in Mexico is the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico, or Greater Mexico City, which in 2005 had a population of 19.23 million, or 19% of the nation's population. The next four largest metropolitan areas in Mexico are Greater Guadalajara (4.1 million), Greater Monterrey (3.7 million), Greater Puebla (2.1 million) and Greater Toluca (1.6 million), whose added population, along with Greater Mexico City, is equivalent to 30% of the nation's population. Greater Mexico City was the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country since the 1930s until the late 1980s. Since then, the country has slowly become economically and demographically less centralized. From 2000 to 2005 the average annual growth rate of Greater Mexico City was the lowest of the five largest metropolitan areas, whereas the fastest growing metropolitan area was Puebla (2.0%) followed by Monterrey (1.9%), Toluca (1.8%) and Guadalajara (1.8%).

Religion

Main article: Religion in Mexico

Religion affiliation
Cathedral in Puebla
Religion	Pop. professing
Catholics	74,612,373
Protestant and Evangelical Historic [denominations] Pentecostalism Luz del Mundo Others	4,408,159 599,875 1,373,.383 69,254 2,365,647
Other Biblical Adventism Mormonism Jehovah's Witnesses	1,751,910 488,945 205,229 1,057,736
Judaism	45,260
No Religion	2,982,929
Not specified	732,630

The Mexican population is predominantly Catholic (in the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population 5 and older identified themselves as Catholic), even though a much smaller percent (46%) attends church on a weekly basis. About 5.2% of the population was classified as Protestant or Evangelic, 2.1% were classified as "Non-Evangelical Biblical" (a classification that groups Adventists, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses), 0.05% as practicing Jews, and 2.5% without a religion. The largest group of Protestants are Pentecostals and Charismatics (classified as Neo-Pentecostals).

The states with the greatest percentage or professing Catholics are central states, namely Guanajuato (96.4%), Aguascalientes (95.6%) and Jalisco (95.4%), whereas southeastern states have the least percentage of Catholics, namely Chiapas (63.8%), Tabasco (70.4%) and Campeche (71.3%). The percentage of professing Catholics has been decreasing over the last four decades, from over 98% in 1950 to 87.9% in 2000. Average annual growth of Catholic believers from 1990-2000 was 1.7% whereas that of Non-Catholics was 3.7%. Given that average annual population increase over the same time period was 1.8%, the percentage of Catholics with respect to total population is still decreasing.

Unlike some other countries in Latin America or Ibero-America, the 1857 Mexican Constitution drastically separated Church and State. The State does not support or provide any economic resource for the Church (as is the case in Spain and Argentina), and the Church cannot participate in public education (no public school can be operated by a Catholic order, even though they can participate in private education). Moreover, the government nationalized all the Church's properties (some of which were given back in the 1990s), and priests lost the right to vote or to be voted for (in the 1990s they were given back the right to vote).

Languages

Main article: Languages of Mexico

The most important and de facto official language in Mexico is Spanish. Mexican Spanish has a great variety of dialects, accents and variations from one region to another, and changes in state by state.

The Law of Linguistic Rights, published in 2001, declared the 62 indigenous languages spoken in Mexico as "national languages" with the "same validity" in the territories where they are spoken. The indigenous language with the greatest number of speakers is Nahuatl (1.5% of the nation's population), followed by Yucatec Maya (0.8%) mainly spoken in Chiapas, Oaxaca and the Yucatán Peninsula. In Mexico City and other major cities after half a century of rural-to-urban migration, large districts and sections have Amerindian languages written and heard.

During the first half of the 20th century the government promoted a policy of castellanización, that is, promoting the use of Spanish as a way to integrate indigenous peoples into the Mexican society. However, this policy changed, and since the 1980s the government sponsors bilingual and intercultural education in all indigenous communities. This policy has mainly been successful in large communities with a significant amount of speakers while some languages, with less than 1,000 speakers are still facing extinction.

Map of the national indigenous languages with more than 100,000 speakers

The second most spoken language in Mexico, however, is English used extensively at the border areas, tourist centers and large metropolitan areas, a phenomenon arguably caused by the economic integration of North American under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the immigration phenomenon and the return of workers and their families form the United States. In border cities, American TV and radio waves in English (and Spanish) are received as much Spanish-speaking radio and TV stations from Mexico on the US side of the border, thus a bilingual cross-cultural exchange is at work.

Among the languages brought by immigrants are the Venetian of Chipilo, and Plattdeutsch, a German dialect that is spoken in Durango and Chihuahua. Other European languages spoken in Mexico are French, German and Russian. Even though some of these may have a greater number of speakers than the national languages, they are not recognized by the government.

Ethnography

Admixture Graph, Bonilla et al. 2005

Mexico is ethnically diverse. The second article of the Mexican Constitution defines the country to be a pluricultural nation - Indigenous, Mestizo, European - originally founded upon the indigenous peoples.

The Mexican census has not tracked race since the early 20th century, and at the time, responses were typically subject to the opinion of the census taker or self-reporting. Numerous anthropological studies have been produced, based largely on extrapolations from early censuses, language use, self-reporting and blood-typing. Thus most reports until recently have been at best, educated opinions. This is changing in recent years with the emergence of the genomic revolution.

In 2004, the Mexican government founded the National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN) which launched the Mexican Genome Diversity Project. In May 2009, the Institute issued a report on a major genomic study of the Mexican population. Among the findings, it was reported that of the 80% of the population that is mestizo, the proportions of European and indigenous ancestry are approximately even, with the indigenous component slightly, but significantly predominating overall. The proportions of admixture were found to vary geographically from north to south, as previous pre-genomic studies had surmised, with the European contribution predominating in the north, and the indigenous component greater in the central and southern regions. One of the significant conclusions of the study as reported was that even while it is composed of diverse ancestral genetic groups, the Mexican population is genetically distinctive among the world's populations.

Indigenous peoples

Largest indigenous peoples
File:Mexicanpeople.jpg
Mayas in Chiapas
Group	Number
Nahua peoples (Nawatlaka)	2,445,969
Maya (Maaya)	1,475,575
Zapotec (Binizaa)	777,253
Mixtec (Ñuu sávi)	726,601
Otomí (Hñähñü)	646,875
Totonac (Tachihuiin)	411,266
Source: CDI (2000) [1]

Main article: Indigenous peoples of Mexico

The constitution not only recognizes the 62 indigenous peoples living in Mexican territory but also grants them autonomy and protects their culture and languages. This protection and autonomy is extended to those Amerindian ethnic groups which have migrated from the United States—like the Cherokees and Kickapoos—and Guatemala during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Municipalities in which indigenous peoples are located can keep their normative traditional systems in relation to the election of their municipal authorities. This system is known as Usos y Costumbres, roughly translated as "customs and traditions".

According to official statistics—as reported by the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples or CDI—Amerindians make up between 16%-30% of the country's population, even though only a little more than half of them (7.1% of total population) still speak an indigenous language and a tenth (1.2% of total population) do not speak Spanish. Official statistics of the CDI report that the states with the greatest percentage of Amerindian population or individuals of Amerindian origin are Yucatán (59%), Oaxaca (48%), Quintana Roo (39%), Chiapas (28%), Campeche (27%), Hidalgo (24%), Puebla (19%), Guerrero (17%), San Luis Potosí (15%) and Veracruz (15%). Oaxaca is the state with the greatest number of distinct indigenous peoples and languages in the country.

Europeans

Main article: White Mexican

White Mexicans are among the three main groups in the country.

Apart from the recognition of indigenous peoples, neither the INEGI nor the CONAPO classify the population according to race. International organizations usually report that between 9% and 17% of the country's population is European, Caucasian or White. Most of these are the descendants of the Spanish colonists called criollo. However, many other immigrants arrived during the Second Mexican Empire (mostly French) and during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mostly from Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. White Americans, Croats, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Polish, Romanians, Russians and Ashkenazi Jews, along with many Spanish refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War also immigrated. The European Jewish immigrants joined the Sephardic community that lived in Mexico since colonial times, though many lived as Crypto-Jews, mostly in the northern states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. Some communities of European immigrants have remained isolated from the rest of the population since their arrival, amongst them the Dutch Mennonites of Chihuahua and Durango, the Venetos of Chipilo, Puebla, which have retained their original languages.

Africans

Main article: Afro-Mexican

File:Afromexicana en Oaxaca.png

Afro-Mexicana

Afro-Mexican's are an ethnic group in Mexico that are a mixture of (Indigenous peoples, African peoples, and European ancestry). They are concentrated in the coastal areas of Veracruz, Tabasco, Oaxaca and Guerrero. Some migrated to these locations after the abolition of slavery in 1829, while many were absorbed into the general population. Some Afro-Mexican retain elements of their African culture along side their Mexican heritage. The majority of Mexico's Africans came from West Africa; Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, the Congo, and Angola. The first came as free skilled laborers and craftsmen. After the Pope's prohibition against enslaving Indigenous peoples the Africans became slaves. A small percent came from African-American fugitive slaves that escaped through the underground railroad to Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. During colonial times African peoples lived, worked, and mixed into the general population. Based upon genetic test conducted by scientist, African DNA admixture among the people of Mexico has been determined. In general, Northern and Central Mexicans had 0.01% to 18.10% African ancestry. However in locations in and around Tamiahua and coastal areas yielded 21.7% to 40.5% African Ancestry.. Despite slavery and the Spanish Caste system their have been a number of notable Afro-Mexicans: Vicente Ramon Guerrero, and Juan Álvarez; were both Presidents of Mexico and preceded Americas first president of African descent.

Other ethnic groups

Other groups of immigrants include Arabs of Lebanese and Syrian origin present in significant numbers in Puebla and Yucatán, as well as Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans. The largest concentrations of east Asians are in Baja California with a large Chinatown in Mexicali known as La Chinesca on the US-Mexican border.

Mexican nationality and citizenship

Main article: Mexican nationality law

The Constitution of Mexico grants Mexican nationality based on "birth" and "naturalization". Mexican laws regarding nationality by birth are very open. Mexican nationality by "birth"—the equivalent of a natural born citizen— is granted to:

• all those individuals born in Mexican territory,
• all those individuals born outside Mexico, whose father or mother is Mexican by birth,
• all those individuals born outside Mexico, whose father or mother is Mexican by naturalization,
• all those individuals born in Mexican aircraft or sea vessels, whether warships or commercial vessels.

Mexican nationals by "birth" are eligible to be president of Mexico; as such the constitution clearly establishes—unlike the U.S. Constitution— that Mexican nationals by "birth", but born outside national territory are eligible.

Mexican nationality by "naturalization" is granted to:

• foreign citizens granted Mexican nationality by the Secretariat of Government (Ministry of the Interior);
• foreign citizens married to a Mexican national, whether by birth or naturalization.

Nationality

• noun: Mexican(s)
• adjective: Mexican

See also

• Economy of Mexico

External links

• UN: Fertility in Mexico: Trends and Forecasts
• Template:Es icon Mexico population bureau CONAPO
• Template:Es icon Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, INEGI