What is language and ethnic heritage of Mexico?

Answer 1

Mexico is a nation with a huge linguistic diversity. Spanish is the de-facto language (meaning Mexico does not have any official language) spoken by 92.7% of the Mexican population. 63 Amerindian languages are also recognized as national languages and can be used for official purposes; these include Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec, Tzeltal Maya, Tzotzil Maya and Otomi. It is estimated 5.7% of the population, or about 6 million people (the second largest after Peru), speaks any one of these languages besides Spanish and 0.8% speaks only one of these Amerindian languages. Nahuatl is spoken by about 1.5 million and about 800,000 to 1.2 million speak Yukatek Maya and about 700,000 more speak other Mayan languages.

Mexico is an ethnically diverse nation, and the Mexican constitution defines the country to be multicultural.

Most Mexicans are Mestizos, people of mixed European ("White") and Native American background. They account for 60-80% of the Mexican population (between 67 up to 90 million in 2010).

The Native American, or Amerindian population ranges from 10% to 30% of the population (between 11 and 34 million in 2010) and such people are the pure descendants of Native American peoples who inhabited Mexico before the arrival of Europeans during the 16th century. Some ethnic groups including this classification are the Nahuatl, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Otomi and Totonac.

There is also a percentage of Mexicans of pure white European descent, representing 9 to 17% of the population (10 up to 19 million in 2010). Most European or "Criollo" Mexicans are of Spanish descent, including Basques, Castilians and Galicians. There are also many descendants of other European ethnic groups, including French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Irish, Polish, Romanian, Greek, Russian, and British from contemporary (since 1821) Immigration as well as many first or second-generation immigrants of Canadian and Americandescent (since 1900).