Language

There is no de jure official language at the federal level in Mexico. Spanish, however, is used as a de facto official language and is spoken by 97% of the population. The Law of Linguistic Rights, however, grants all 62 indigenous languages spoken in Mexico (regardless of the number of speakers) the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken, and indigenous peoples are entitled to request some public services and documents in their languages. Along with Spanish, the law has granted them the status of 'national languages'.

The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Approximately 6% of the population speaks an indigenous language and 3% do not speak Spanish. Nahuatl is spoken by 1.5 million, whils Yucatec Maya is spoken by 800,000. Some of the national languages are in danger of extinction; Lacandon is spoken by fewer than a hundred people.

English is widely used in business, at the border cities, as well as by the one million American citizens that live in Mexico, mostly retirees in small towns in Baja California, Guanajuato and Chiapas. Other European languages spoken by sizable communities Mexico are Venetian, Plautdietsch, German, French and Romani.