Demographics of Mexico

With an estimated 2004 population of about 105 million, Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world (and the second most populous country in Latin America after Portuguese-speaking Brazil). The population of Mexico is ethnically and culturally diverse.

Ethnic Groups

Most Mexicans are Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European), and constitute around 60% of today's population. Estimates of unmixed Amerindian peoples in Mexico vary from a very modest 10% to a more liberal and more accurate 30% of the population. The reason for such discrepancy in estimates of Amerindians in Mexico is a direct result of the Mexican government's current policy for the use of spoken-language, rather than race, as the basis of classification. The flaw that arises in this method of classification is that in Mexico (much like the United States and other countries across the Americas) the great majority of Amerindians no longer speak their native tongues, and haven't done so for decades, and in some cases centuries. Instead, they now speak the nationally recognised and dominant language in their respective countries. This itself was achieved by successive Mexican governments implementing cultural (Mestizo Culture) and linguistic (Spanish) assimilation policies resulting in the Hispanization of the large Amerindian populations.

As a result of these ongoing policies of assimilation, and of the linguistic basis for classification used only by Mexico, today many of their Mestizos are in fact assimilated Amerindians. This in turn causes the Mexican Mestizo population estimate to inflate from the accepted 60% to as high as 80%. Meanwhile, the number of Amerindians continue to decline as more of them are assimilated and while the linguistic policy of classification remains the same. In the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and in the interior of the Yucatan peninsula the majority of the population is Indigenous. Large indigenous minorities, including the Nahua, Tarasca, and Mixtec are also present in the central regions of Mexico. In Northern Mexico the indigenous are a small minority and include the Tarahumara of Chihuahua and the Yaqui of Sonora.

About 9% of the population, mostly in Mexico City and other large metropolitan areas across the country, is of unmixed white European descent. In addition to the Spanish colonists, French, Italian, and German settlers arrived during the Mexican Empire in the 19th century (1800s), and Porfirio Díaz periods. During the 1930s substantial numbers of Spanish refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War arrived, mostly in Mexico City. Polish and Russian refugees, Ashkenazic Jews among them, had also settled during wartime. The Jewish immigrants joined the Sephardic community that had survived in Mexico since the Spanish Inquisition. Also of note are colonies of Mennonites and Molokans, mainly in the northern states. British also settled mainly in mining areas. It is said that it was them that first brought Protestantism into Mexico. Greek immigration has been important as well, especially in the state of Sinaloa, mainly in its capital city Culiacan.

Mexicans of Lebanese and Turkish descent are also present in substantial numbers. Asians, including some Chinese, arrived from the Philippines in colonial times. During the period of Asian Exclusion from the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sizable numbers of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrants settled in northern and western Mexico, especially in the Baja California peninsula.

Since colonial times, when thousands of Africans were transported to work as slaves, Mexico has had a significant number of black African descended people. Whilst today Afro-Mexicans of relatively unmixed black African ancestry, as well as Zambos and Mulattos, represent about 0.5% of the population - a far cry from their proportion in colonial times - the general Mestizo population has absorbed much of the strain that was once present and modern genetic research has shown it to be present in most Mexicans in a very diluted form. The majority of Mexico's blacks live in the states of Veracruz, Guerrero, and Yucatan. Major populations also exist in Mexico's larger cities, such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Tijuana. In addition to those descended from those of the colonial era, during the early 20th century many African-Americans seeking to escape racial discrimination in the United States immigrated to Mexico.

Mexico is also the destination for many other Latin American groups. Mostly Argentines but also Brazilians, Cubans, and Colombians have settled in Mexico.

Whilst most non-indigenous Mexicans consider themselves Mestizo, and whilst there are no longer rigid racial lines dividing the population, light skin and European features tend to be valued, particularly in the mass media. Events in recent years involving the conditions of human rights in the state of Chiapas have increased awareness of issues such as racism and discrimination toward the indigenous communities of Mexico.

Since the 1960s Mexico's population has grown rapidly, doubling between 1970 and 2000. However, in recent years the rate of population growth has reduced considerably. Fertility rates are still high in rural areas and among the indigenous population. Migration to the United States has also become significant, with the number of Mexican citizens resident abroad reaching as many as nine million, mostly in the United States but also in Canada. Mexico City is by far the largest city in the country, with a population of about 21 million. Guadalajara and Monterrey are also other major metropolitan cities.

Population: 104,959,594 (2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 32.3% (male 17,298,964; female 16,617,728)
15-64 years: 63.1% (male 32,217,513; female 33,932,603)
65 years and over: 4.6% (male 2,145,252; female 2,695,931) (2003 est.)

Median Age:
total: 23.8 years
male: 22.9 years
female: 24.6 years (2002)

Population growth rate: 1.2% (2004 est.)

Birth rate: 21.4/1000 (2004 est.)

Death rate: 21.7/1000 (2003 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.65 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 23.68 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 20.43 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
male: 26.78 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.49 years
male: 68.47 years
female: 72.3 years

Total fertility rate: 2.53 children born/woman (2003 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Mexican(s)
adjective: Mexican

Ethnic groups: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%

Languages: Spanish (official), Nahuatl, and other regional Indigenous languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.2%
male: 94%
female: 90.5% (2003 est.)

See Also:

• Mexico
• List of Mexicans

es:Demografía de México fr:Démographie du Mexique pt:Demografia do México