Mexico City (officially México D.F. or just D.F.) is the capital of Mexico and the seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It’s also the Federal District, which is a federal entity within the country that is not actually any one of the 31 states but belongs to the federation as a whole. The 2016 population of Mexico City, based on government figures, is 8,918,653.
Mexico City has a long, rich history and is know for being one of the largest financial centers in the continent and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. As of 2016, the population of the city is estimated to be 8.9 million.
The estimated population of 8,918,653 in 2016 is up from 8.851 million in 2010. The metropolitan area, however, is much larger with a population of 21.2 million people, making Mexico City the most populous metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere.
City Size and Population Density
The area that Mexico City occupies comes to a total of 1,485 square kilometers (573 square miles). In combination with the growing number of residents, the population density was last measured at 6,000 people living per square kilometer (16,000 residents per square mile).
Greater Mexico City
Greater Mexico City is formed by the Federal District, or 60 municipalities from the State of Mexico with one from the state of Hidalgo. It’s the most densely populated area in the country. As of 2010, the biggest municipalities in Greater Mexico City, excluding Mexico City proper, were:
- Ecatepec (1.6 million)
- Nezahualcóyotl (1.1 million)
- Naucalpan (833,000)
- Tlalnepantla de Baz (664,000)
- Chimalhuacán (602000)
- Ixtapaluca (467,000)
- Cuautitlán Izcalli (533,000)
- Atizapan de Zaragoza (490,000)
As of 2016, 75% of the state of Mexico’s population, or approximately 10 million people, lives in a municipality that’s part of Greater Mexico City.
Mexico City Demographics
The valley of Anáhuac has historically been one of the most densely populated regions in the country. In 1921, the census showed more than 54% of the city’s population was Mestizo (or Indigenous mixed with European ancestry), 23% was European and almost 19% was Indigenous, although Mexico City at the time had less than 1 million people.
The Mexico City that we know today is home to large numbers of immigrants and expatriates from Canada, the United States, South America (especially Colombia and Argentina), Central America (particularly Guatemala and El Salvador), the Caribbeans (mainly Cuba and Haiti), Europe (particularly Spain and Germany) and the Middle East (especially Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.) Most recently, there has been an influx of immigrants from Asia-Pacific countries like South Korea and China.
There are no official figures on the immigrant population in Mexico, but estimates show significant numbers, including the largest population of people from the US outside the United States. It’s estimated there are 700,000 US Americans in Mexico City, and a total of one million US immigrants in the entire country.
Census data from Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) has shown that the numbers of foreigners in the country has grown by 95% in the last decade, the majority of which are from the US.
Mexico City Population Growth
Despite its growth, the annual growth rate of the Mexico City metropolitan area is lower than most other urban agglomerations in the country, and the net migration rate in the Federal District was negative from 1995 to 2000.
With its fast growth over the past century, Mexico City has faced numerous problems, including the inability to keep up with services and housing which led to huge shantytowns on the outskirts of the city without basic services. This includes one of the largest shantytowns in the world, Neza-Chalco-Itza, which has an estimated population of 4 million. In 2004, a World Bank study found that 11% of the urban population in the country was extremely poor, while 42% was moderately poor. Mexico City is also located between two large mountain ranges, which act to trap pollution.
Mexico City is considered one of the largest cities in the world and is home to 20% of Mexico’s entire population. Urban migration has slowed, and now natural growth is the main cause of Mexico City’s population growth. It’s estimated that the population of the city will reach almost 22 million by 2020.
