Mexico population rises to 126M; now older, better educated

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's just-completed census puts the country's population at 126 million people, and finds it a bit older, better educated and more connected to the internet, officials announced Monday.

The every-decade census carried out last year raised the total count from 114 million in 2010. The census agency found that about 1.2 million were born outside Mexico — nearly 800,000 of them in the United States.

The median age has risen to 29 years from 26 in 2010 and 22 in 2000.

The average level of education rose to 9.7 years from 8.6 10 years ago and 7.5 in 2000, And illiteracy fell to 4.7%. It had been 9.5% 20 years ago.

Among those 12 years or older, nearly 76 percent of males and 49 percent of females were employed.

The number of people speaking one of Mexico's many Indigenous languages rose to nearly 7.4 million, up from 6.9 million a decade ago. But it slipped as a proportion of the overall population, to 6.1% from 6.6%. Some 2% of those surveyed — nearly 2.6 million people — considered themselves as Afro-Mexican or of African descent.

Over the past decade, internet access rose to cover 52% of households (up from 21%) and 87.5% of households reported having a cellphone, while the number with fixed phone lines slumped to 37.5% from 43.2% in 2010.

The most populous state was the State of Mexico, which borders Mexico City on three sides, with about 17 million people. The least populated was Colima on the west-central coast, with 732.000.