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Mexico

Population: 104.96 million (#11 out of 240 countries)



  Wikipedia article on Mexico

 World Factbook article on Mexico

Maps are public domain courtesy of the CIA World Factbook.
Ward (congregation)  Branch (congregation)  Temple  Mission  Stake 
 People Groups of Mexico
# Group Name Primary Language Population % of total
1 Mexicans Spanish 94924000 90.44%
2 American Indian Spanish 10390000 9.9%
3 Mayan Mayan 950000 0.91%
Total population of above people-groups: 106264000 (101.25% of national population).
Selected people groups and language data from Ethnologue.com and other sources.
 People-Groups of Mexico
Friendship, humor, hard work, honesty and personal honor are important to Mexicans.
 Cities of Mexico
#City NamePopulationMap #City NamePopulationMap
1 Mexico City 8235744 Map 2 Monterrey 2562531 Map
3 Guadalajara 1626152 Map 4 Puebla de Zaragoza 1266258 Map
5 Netzahualcóyotl 1255456 Map 6 Ecatepec 1218135 Map
7 Ciudad Juárez 798499 Map 8 Naucalpan 772483 Map
9 León 758279 Map 10 Tijuana 747381 Map
11 Tlalnepantla 702270 Map 12 Torreón 675510 Map
13 Zapopan 668323 Map 14 San Luis Potosí 658712 Map
15 Mérida 600620 Map 16 Guadalupe 535332 Map
17 Chihuahua 530783 Map 18 Acapulco 515374 Map
19 Toluca 487612 Map 20 Veracruz Llave 472657 Map
21 Saltillo 457716 Map 22 Aguascalientes 455234 Map
23 Hermosillo 448966 Map 24 Mexicali 438377 Map
25 Tampico 433021 Map 26 Coatzacoalcos 432944 Map
27 Morelia 428486 Map 28 Querétaro 416340 Map
29 Culiacán 415046 Map 30 Durango 348036 Map
31 Tlaquepaque 328031 Map 32 Ciudad López Mateos 315059 Map
33 Jalapa 300041 Map 34 Tuxtla Gutiérrez 295608 Map
35 Oaxaca de Juárez 294961 Map 36 Reynosa 282667 Map
37 Cuernavaca 281294 Map 38 Matamoros 266055 Map
39 Irapuato 265042 Map 40 Mazatlán 262705 Map
41 Villahermosa 261231 Map 42 Monclova 240056 Map
43 Orizaba 225739 Map 44 Ciudad Obregón 219980 Map
45 Nuevo Laredo 219468 Map 46 Celaya 214856 Map
47 Ciudad Victoria 207923 Map 48 Tepic 206967 Map
49 Uruapan 187623 Map 50 Tlaxcala 185555 Map
51 Pachuca 180630 Map 52 Benito Juarez-Cancun-Q.Roo 176765 Map
53 Poza Rica de Hidalgo 172232 Map 54 Ensenada 169426 Map
55 Gómez Palacio 164092 Map 56 Los Mochis 162659 Map
57 Cuatlas 162117 Map 58 Ciudad Madero 160331 Map
59 Tehuacan 155563 Map 60 Zacatecas 154989 Map
61 Colimas 154347 Map 62 Campeche 150518 Map
63 Zamora de Hidalgo 145597 Map 64 Minatitlan 142060 Map
65 Tapachula 138858 Map 66 Guaynas 123438 Map
67 Salamanca 123190 Map 68 Chilpacingo 114244 Map
69 Nogales 107936 Map

Religion in Mexico
 General Religious Data
 Percentage attending religious services weekly: 46%
 Estimated weekly average attending religious services (all faiths): 48281140
 Major Religious Groups
# Faith Congregations Active Members Adherents Percent Annual Growth
1 Catholic 0 0 93413510 89.00% 1.53%
2 Protestant 0 0 6297540 6.00% 1.53%
3 other 0 0 5247950 5.00% 1.53%
4 Jehovah's Witnesses 11287 533665 1655597 1.58% 1.53%
5 Seventh-day Adventists 1611 510626 1021252 0.97% 7.00%
6 Latter-day Saints 1903 250492 1043718 0.994% 3.2%
Country religious adherents data courtesy of the World Factbook.LDS membership and unit data are derived from the LDS Church Almanac. Seventh-day Adventist statistics are from the Adventist yearbook statistical reports. Jehovah's Witness data are from the Jehovah's Witness yearly statistical report. Other data are from a variety of sources available upon request.

Extrinsic Religious Challenges and Opportunities: National and Cultural

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico
 Official LDS Statistics
 LDS Members: 1043718
 Missions: 20
 Temples: 12
 Stakes: 206
 Districts: 41
 Wards: 1408
 Branches: 495
 Total Congregations: 1903
 Derived LDS Statistics
 Approx. Active Members: 250492
 Percentage of Members Attending Church Weekly: 24%
 Average members per congregation: 548
 Average active members per congregation: 131
 LDS, as percent of population: 0.9944%
 Active LDS, as percent of population: 0.2386%
 LDS, as percentage of churchgoers: 0.518%
 National population per LDS congregation: 55154
 Annual LDS Membership Growth
# Year Members Annual Growth
Rate		 Wards Branches Units Unit Growth
Rate		 Proportionality
Ratio
1 1976 141768 0% 0 0 0 0% 0
2 1978 199557 16.93% 0 0 0 0% 0
3 1980 231266 7.36% 0 0 0 0% 0
4 1982 236990 1.22% 0 0 0 0% 0
5 1984 238889 0.4% 0 0 0 0% 0
6 1986 293000 10.17% 0 0 0 0% 0
7 1988 360000 10.26% 0 458 458 0% 0
8 1990 570000 22.58% 531 602 1133 42.42% 1.878
9 1992 659000 7.24% 729 649 1378 9.75% 1.346
10 1994 688000 2.15% 780 603 1383 0.18% 0.083
11 1996 728000 2.82% 847 535 1382 -0.03% -0.01
12 1998 783000 3.64% 1059 488 1547 5.63% 1.546
13 2000 846931 3.92% 1242 472 1714 5.12% 1.306
14 2002 918975 4.08% 1348 478 1826 3.16% 0.774
15 2004 980053 3.22% 1375 495 1870 1.19% 0.369
16 2006 1043718 3.15% 1408 495 1903 0.87% 0.276
LDS membership and unit data 1976-2000 from Mark Davies' WW-LDS.
Proportionality Ratio is the ratio of the increase in units to the increase in membership. A ratio of 1 means that membership and church units are growing at the same rate.
 National Population and LDS Growth Rates
 Current LDS Membership Growth Rate: 3.15%
 Current LDS Unit Growth Rate: 0.87%
 Annual Population Growth Rate: 1.53%
 Relative LDS Population Growth Rate (LDS membership growth rate minus population growth rate): 1.62%
 Scriptures Available
Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Bible are available in Spanish. Book of Mormon selections are available in Mayan.

Intrinsic Challenges and Opportunities of the Church of Jesus Christ
  History and Overview of the Church in Mexico
Temple marriage rates are extremely low. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism notes:

'The percentage of adults in a temple marriage varies from about 45 percent in Utah to less than 2 percent in Mexico and Central America.' (Source: Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, 1992, 4:1531). Several new temples have been constructed or are under construction in Mexico, which over time may result in some improvement in temple marriage rates among active members.

Home teaching rates in Mexico are also very low, with 5-20% home teaching rates not uncommon, and wards and branches with home teaching rates consistently over 50% are by far the exception.
 Cultural Issues and Proselytism
While Protestant radio and television stations have been operating in Mexico for decades, there are as yet no Spanish-language LDS radio stations in Mexico. Spanish-language LDS stations are desparately needed.
 Convert Retention and Member Activity
At year-end 1999, the LDS Church Almanac reports 846,931 LDS members living in Mexico. This represents the most LDS members living in any country outside of the United States. While this appears numerically impressive, a sobering reality check was provided by the 2000 Mexican Census, as reported in the Arizona Republic:

'The current Mexican Mormon Church was established in 1961 and claims just under 850,000 members, Pratt said. However, figures from the 2000 Mexican census, based on self-reported data, place active membership at 205,229. [24%]' (Source:Arizona Republic, July 10, 2001, http://www.azcentral.com/news/0710mormons10.html).

Indeed, while nominally identifying oneself as a Latter-day Saint does not necessarily guarantee church activity, it would be difficult to claim that those who do not even identify themselves as Latter-day Saints are active or contributing members. The LDS activity rate derived from a comparison of the 2000 Mexican Census to official membership data -- 24% -- is comparable to that cited in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:

'Attendance at sacrament meeting varies substantially. Asia and Latin America have weekly attendance rates of about 25 percent...'(Source: Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, 1992, 4:1527.)

While there are some very dedicated LDS members in Mexico, these represent only a fraction of the total number of individuals 'on the rolls.' Much of this inactivity occurs soon after baptism, and many nominal members have never set foot in an LDS chapel more than once or twice. Adult male converts are especially prone to inactivity, creating serious challenges for local leadership. Lowell Bennion and Lawrence Young note: 'For the U.S. as a whole, only 59% of baptized males ever receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. In the South Pacific, the figure drops to 35%; in Great Britain, 29%. In Mexico (with almost 850,000 members) the figure is 19%.' (Source: Lowell C. Bennion and Lawrence Young, Dialogue, Spring 1996, p.19.)

The number of wards and branches in Mexico have not increased as rapidly as LDS membership, due in large part to rampant inactivity. While mission policies are highly heterogenous, much of the problem stems from quick-baptize missionary approaches, which race individuals who have demonstrated little commitment to baptism within 10-day or 14-day target periods. Most individuals have read very little in the Book of Mormon at the time of baptism and have been to church only once or twice. Post-baptismal fellowshipping is also inconsistent. In light of these factors, it can hardly be considered surprising that up to 80% of converts are lost within two months of baptism, and 30-40% of baptizees never return to church again after baptism. Groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists which focus on consistent fulfillment of basic pre-baptismal commitments like church attendance and scripture reading have experienced retention rates of 70-80% and above, in contrast to LDS retention rates below the one-quartile mark.

For a nation where Latter-day Saints have been proselyting for over 150 years, those trends are highly concerning. Pray for improved convert retention in Mexico, and pray that missionaries will have the gift of discernment to understand when individuals are truly converted as demonstrated by the 'fruits of repentance.'
 Missionary Service
While Mexico is providing an increasing fraction of its own missionaries, fewer than 10% of young men of mission age serve full-time missions, and the 18 LDS missions in Mexico still depend heavily on the United States for the bulk of their missionary force. The Church in Mexico is also heavily dependent on the U.S. membership for chapel construction, temple construction, and other expenses.
 Full-time LDS Missions
 International LDS Atlas: Mexico

Maps by Marc Schindler. Used with permission.
 LDS Links

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