Mexico’s population density compared to other countries. Is Mexico too crowded?

It is sometimes claimed that Mexico is ‘too crowded’ or ‘overpopulated’. Overpopulation, however, is an elusive concept, since it depends on the complex relationships between total population (and/or population density) and the resources available to support that population. In turn, the value of these resources depends in part on the technologies available to utilize them.

Even accepting that Mexico is not over-populated (since it apparently has sufficient resources to support its population), it is still interesting to compare Mexico’s population density with that of other countries.

As the table shows, Mexico’s overall population density of 55 persons per km² is low, compared to Asian and European countries: Bangladesh (1127), India (359), Japan (337), UK (255) and Germany (229).

On the other hand, it is easily the highest among large countries in the New World like Colombia (40), USA (31), Venezuela (29) and Brazil (22).

Q. What are the implications for development of a country having a high density of population?

In a future post, we will consider whether or not Mexico’s population is evenly distributed across the country.