Mexico's Territory and Population

Mexico lies in southern North America, the subcontinent it shares with the United States and Canada; Central America begins south of its borders with Guatemala and Belize. Its continental and island territory covers about 1.964 million km², one of the largest countries in the world. Adding its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone, the total area reaches about 5.1 million km². It has two large peninsulas: Baja California in the northwest and Yucatán in the southeast.

According to INEGI’s 2020 Population and Housing Census, Mexico had 126,014,024 inhabitants: it is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. The most populous city is Mexico City, whose metropolitan area has more than 21 million people. Guadalajara (Jalisco) and Monterrey (Nuevo León) follow, with about 5 million each.