Censo General de Población y Vivienda

The Censo General de Población y Vivienda (General Census of Population and Housing, or National Census of…) is the main national census for Mexico. It is produced by the national statistics agency INEGI, a decentralized agency of the Mexican Federal government, with the purpose of collating and reporting detailed demographic, socioeconomic and geographical data from across the nation. Since 1900 the censo general has been conducted on a decennial basis, taking place the year ending in zero of each decade. The only variation to this schedule thus far occurred with the fourth census (IV censo general), where difficulties arising from the Mexican Revolution resulted in its deferral from 1920 to 1921. As of 2014 there have been a total of 13 censos generales taken at the national level, the most recent completed in 2010.

From the 1990s INEGI began to produce an intermediate series of national population and housing censuses, surveying only a smaller and selected subset of key demographic indicators. This intermediate series—the Conteo de Población y Vivienda (Count of Population and Housing)—is also conducted decennially, in the years ending in "5" midway between two successive censos generales. These conteos allow the planning for public policy and services to be based on data that is more current than would otherwise be the case, as the alternating conteos and censos provide a refresh of key population indices that is no more than five years old.

The practice of census-taking in Mexico may have precedents dating back to the late pre-Columbian period. According to traditions recorded in several of the post-conquest historical sources, Xolotl—a 12th-century ruler of a "Chichimec" polity in the Valley of Mexico—ordered that a review be undertaken to enumerate the populace under his control. This survey, carried out at a place adjoining his capital Tenayuca, is supposed to have been conducted by the addition of stones to a pile representing each person counted.

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