Persistent rurality in Mexico and ‘the right to stay home’

Abstract

This study compares Mexico's rural population and cross-border out-migration trends between 2000 and 2010 censuses. In spite of widespread predictions of post-NAFTA depopulation, the size of Mexico's rural population has remained steady. This study documents the significant absolute size and geographic concentration of Mexico's persistent rural population as well as the decreasing rate of outmigration to the United States. Mexico experienced two contradictory trends between 2000 and 2010: (1) migration intensity increased in one-third of predominantly rural municipalities, while (2) more than half of the rural population continued to live in municipalities with low dependency on cross-border migration.