Mennonites in Mexico
According to a 2022 census, there were 74,122 Mennonites living in Mexico, the vast majority of which are established in the state of Chihuahua, followed by Campeche at around 15,000, with the rest living in smaller colonies in the states of Durango, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Quintana Roo.
A Mennonite girl in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 74,122 (2022) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Chihuahua (municipalities of Cuauhtémoc, Namiquipa, Riva Palacio, etc) | Approx. 90,000 (2012) |
| Campeche | Approx. 15,000 (2022) |
| Durango | Approx. 6,500 (2012) |
| Religions | |
| Anabaptist | |
| Scriptures | |
| The Bible | |
| Languages | |
| Plautdietsch, Standard German, Spanish, English | |
Their settlements were first established in the 1920s. In 1922, 3,000 Mennonites from the Canadian province of Manitoba established in Chihuahua. By 1927, Mennonites reached 10,000 and they were established in Chihuahua, Durango and Guanajuato.
Worsening poverty, water shortages and drug-related violence across northern Mexico have provoked significant numbers of Mennonites living in Durango and Chihuahua to relocate abroad in recent years, especially to Canada, and to other regions of the Americas. Between 2012 and 2017 alone, it is estimated that at least 30,000 Mexican Mennonites emigrated to Canada.