With a population of about 129 million in 2022,"The World Factbook, CIA" Retrieved on November 23, 2022. Mexico is the 10th most populated country in the world. It is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world and the third-most populous country in the Americas after the United States and Brazil.Statistics on the total population in Mexico , International Monetary Fund. October 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2017. The most populous city in Mexico is the capital, Mexico City, with a population of 9.2 million. Its metropolitan area had 21.8 million in 2020. Approximately 53% of the population lives in one of the 48 large metropolitan areas in the country. In 2024, about 76% of the population of Mexico lived in urban areas and 23% lived in rural ones.

Demographic censuses are performed by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. The National Population Council (CONAPO) is an institution under the Ministry of Interior in charge of the analysis and research of population dynamics. The National Institute of Indigenous Peoples also undertakes research and analysis of the sociodemographic and linguistic indicators of the indigenous peoples. Throughout most of the 20th century Mexico's population was characterized by rapid growth. Although this tendency has been reversed and average annual population growth over the last five years was less than 1%, the demographic transition is still in progress; Mexico still has a large youth cohort.

Demographic dynamics

Estimates vary for the Pre-Columbian population of Mexico from 1.5 million to 21 million,W.Borah, New Spain's Century of depression, Berkeley, 1951 but the most accepted figure is about 12 million people, including the population of the Aztec Empire which is estimated at 6 million people.https://web.archive . org/web/20180930115440/https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/aztecs In 1600, the population was estimated to have been around 1 to 2 million, having drastically declined due to disease and warfare following Spanish conquest. By 1700, the population was estimated to be around 4 million. 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 government invested in efficient social programs that reduced the infant mortality rate and increased life expectancy. These measures jointly led to an intense demographic increase between 1930 and 1980.

Intense population growth in the northern states, especially along the US-Mexican border, changed the country's demographic profile in the second half of the 20th century, as the 1967 US-Mexico maquiladora agreement through which all products manufactured in the border cities could be imported duty-free to the US. Since the adoption of NAFTA in 1994, which allows all products to be imported duty-free regardless of their place of origin within Mexico, the non-border maquiladora share of exports has increased while that of border cities has decreased.Hufbauer GC and Schott, JJ, NAFTA Revisited, Institute for International Economics, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka. 2005 This has led to decentralization and rapid economic growth in Mexican states (and cities), such as Quintana Roo (Cancun), Baja California Sur (La Paz), Nuevo León (Monterrey), Querétaro, and Aguascalientes whose population grew by more than one-third from 2000 to 2015, while the whole of Mexico grew by 22.6% in this period.

The national annual growth rate was still positive (1.0%) in the early years of the 2000s. The national net migration rate was negative (-4.75/1000 inhabitants). In the 2010s, the net migration rate reached 0, given the strong economy of Mexico, changes in US Immigration Policy & Enforcement, US Legislative and CFR-8 decisions, plus the slowly recovering US economy, causing many of its former residents to return. Given the former strong flow of immigrants to the United States. an estimated 5.3 million undocumented Mexican immigrants lived in the United States in 2004. In the 2000 census, 18.2 million American citizens declared having Mexican ancestry.

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 years old or younger. Fertility rates have also decreased from 5.7 children per woman in 1976 to 1.9 in 2020. After decades of the gap narrowing, in 2020 the fertility rate in Mexico fell below the United States for the first time falling 22% in 2020 and a further 10.5% in the first half of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mexican government projects that the country's population will grow to about 123 million by 2042 and then start declining slowly. Assumptions underlying this projection include fertility stabilizing at 1.85 children per woman and continued high net emigration (slowly decreasing from 583,000 in 2005 to 393,000 in 2050).

Mexico is composed of 32 federal entities which include 31 states and Mexico City, the five most populous federal entities in 2020 were the State of Mexico (16.9 million), Mexico City (9.2 million), Jalisco (8.3 million), Veracruz (8.0 million) and Puebla (6.5 million), which collectively contain around 40% of the national population. The Greater Mexico City metro area, which includes Mexico City and adjacent municipalities of surrounding states, is the most populous in the country and is estimated to be the second most populous in the world (after Tokyo), according to the UN Urbanization Report.

The average annual population growth rate of Mexico City was 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 Mexico City 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).

UN estimates

In 2010, the population was 117,886,000, compared to 28,296,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 30%. 64% of the population was between 15 and 65 years of age, and 6% was 65 years or older.

YearTotal population (× 1000)Proportions by age band (%)0–1415–6465+ 195028 29642.554.13.5 195533 40144.552.23.3 196038 67745.950.83.4 196545 33946.849.63.5 197052 98846.649.73.7 197561 70846.250.13.7 198070 35344.751.53.8 198577 85942.153.93.9 199086 07738.557.24.3 199595 39335.959.64.5 2000103 87434.161.04.9 2005110 73232.362.45.3 2010117 88630.064.06.0 2015127 01727.665.96.5 2020134 83725.666.97.6 Note: Percentages may not add to exactly 100% due to rounding.

Structure of the population

Population by Sex and Age Group, 2010 census. Including an estimation of 1,334,585 people corresponding to 448,195 housing units without information of the occupants: Age groupMaleFemaleTotal% Total 54 855 231 57 481 307 112 336 538 100 0–4 5 346 943 5 181 379 10 528 322 9.37 5–9 5 604 175 5 443 362 11 047 537 9.83 10–14 5 547 613 5 392 324 10 939 937 9.74 15–19 5 520 121 5 505 991 11 026 112 9.82 20–24 4 813 204 5 079 067 9 892 271 8.81 25–29 4 205 975 4 582 202 8 788 177 7.82 30–34 4 026 031 4 444 767 8 470 798 7.54 35–39 3 964 738 4 328 249 8 292 987 7.38 40–44 3 350 322 3 658 904 7 009 226 6.24 45–49 2 824 364 3 104 366 5 928 730 5.28 50–54 2 402 451 2 661 840 5 064 291 4.51 55–59 1 869 537 2 025 828 3 895 365 3.47 60–64 1 476 667 1 639 799 3 116 466 2.77 65–69 1 095 273 1 221 992 2 317 265 2.06 70–74 873 893 1 000 041 1 873 934 1.67 75–79 579 689 665 794 1 245 483 1.11 80–84 355 277 443 659 798 936 0.71 85–89 197 461 256 703 454 164 0.40 90–94 68 130 96 794 164 924 0.15 95–99 25 920 39 812 65 732 0.06 100+ 7 228 11 247 18 475 0.02Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent 0–14 16 498 731 16 017 065 32 515 796 28.94 15–64 34 453 410 37 031 013 71 484 423 63.63 65+ 3 202 871 3 736 042 6 938 913 6.18 unknown 700 219 697 187 1 397 406 1.24

Population by Sex and Age Group, 2020 census. Including an estimation of 6,337,751 persons corresponding to 1,588,422 housing units without information of the occupants.:

Age groupMaleFemaleTotal% Total 61 473 390 64 540 634 126 014 024 100 0–4 5 077 482 4 969 883 10 047 365 7.97 5–9 5 453 091 5 311 288 10 764 379 8.54 10–14 5 554 260 5 389 280 10 943 540 8.68 15–19 5 462 150 5 344 540 10 806 690 8.57 20–24 5 165 884 5 256 211 10 422 095 8.27 25–29 4 861 404 5 131 597 9 993 001 7.93 30–34 4 527 726 4 893 101 9 420 827 7.47 35–39 4 331 530 4 668 746 9 020 276 7.15 40–44 4 062 304 4 441 282 8 503 586 6.74 45–49 3 812 344 4 130 069 7 942 413 6.30 50–54 3 332 163 3 705 360 7 037 532 5.58 55–59 2 692 976 3 002 982 5 695 958 4.52 60–64 2 257 862 2 563 200 4 821 062 3.82 65–69 1 706 850 1 938 227 3 645 077 2.89 70–74 1 233 492 1 413 848 2 647 340 2.10 75–79 847 898 966 684 1 814 582 1.43 80–84 523 812 651 552 1 175 364 0.93 85+ 433 968 605 583 1 039 551 0.82Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent 0–14 16 084 833 15 670 451 31 755 284 25.20 15–64 40 506 343 43 157 097 83 663 440 66.39 65+ 4 746 020 5 575 894 10 321 914 8.19 unknown 136 194 137 192 273 386 0.22

Vital statistics

Registered births and deaths Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI)