8 Billion Lives
Be born

Where you could be born / Latin America and the Caribbean / Central America

Born in Mexico

About 1 in 65 people born in 2023 started life in Mexico. A boy can expect to live 72 years and a girl 78, up from 42 and 46 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 65
odds of being born here
2.0 million births · Ranked 13th of 230
72 / 78
years of life, boys / girls
Was 42 / 46 in 1950
$6,960
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 98th of 203 · extrapolated
79%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 31 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 248 in every 1,000 births to 12.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

020406080195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
0100200300195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth72.2 years for boys, 77.8 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 512.4 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year799,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people2.6World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles76%World Bank WDI
Adults living with HIV0.4%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year28 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI
Malaria cases a year0 per 1,000 people at riskWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 6.7 children on average in 1950. Now it is 1.9, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
02468195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.91UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth26.8 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 49 and the poorest fifth 6.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2024
6%Poorest fifth
10%Second
14%Middle
21%Fourth
49%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $6,960 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth49% / 6% (2024)World Bank PIP
Unemployment2.8% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises5.5% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person2.2% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming12% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed31% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment102% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Mexico City, with 12.3 million people.

79%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
99%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Mexico City12.3 million
Tijuana1.9 million
Iztapalapa1.8 million
Puebla1.7 million
Ecatepec de Morelos1.6 million
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Spanish83%
English13%
Spanish is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Mexico City19.9 million
México10.7 million
Jalisco5.6 million
Nuevo León4.5 million
Baja California3.8 million
Guanajuato3.8 million
Puebla3.4 million
Veracruz3.2 million
Chihuahua3.1 million
Tamaulipas2.8 million

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

All 32 regions
  • Mexico City19.9 million
  • México10.7 million
  • Jalisco5.6 million
  • Nuevo León4.5 million
  • Baja California3.8 million
  • Guanajuato3.8 million
  • Puebla3.4 million
  • Veracruz3.2 million
  • Chihuahua3.1 million
  • Tamaulipas2.8 million
  • Coahuila2.6 million
  • Michoacán2.4 million
  • Sonora2.2 million
  • Chiapas2.0 million
  • Querétaro1.9 million
  • Sinaloa1.8 million
  • Yucatán1.6 million
  • San Luis Potosí1.4 million
  • Guerrero1.4 million
  • Quintana Roo1.3 million
  • Morelos1.2 million
  • Oaxaca1.0 million
  • Durango957,943
  • Aguascalientes857,749
  • Hidalgo824,546
  • Tabasco818,658
  • Baja California Sur678,087
  • Zacatecas645,401
  • Nayarit527,325
  • Colima526,030
  • Campeche471,985
  • Tlaxcala468,430

People on the move

About 8.9% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are United States, Canada, Spain.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
United States11,279,561
Canada103,620
Spain77,724
Residents born abroad1.3% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 8.9% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostUnited States (11.3 million), Canada (103,620), Spain (77,724)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $65.1 billion a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

100% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 8%.

100%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
8%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2022)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 2024334,551Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 195043; the deadliest, in 1985, killed about 9,500 people (magnitude 8.1)NOAA NCEI
Hurricane-strength storms since 198084NOAA IBTrACS
Deaths in organized violence140,983 between 1993 and 2024UCDP

Now live it.

Born in Mexico, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in Mexico

Elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean

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How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences