User:Rune.welsh/Sandbox/List of metropolitan areas of Mexico

The following is a list of all metropolitan areas in Mexico as defined in 2004 by a joint task force of the National Population Council (CONAPO), the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) and the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Data Processing (INEGI).

The task force identified a total of 55 metropolitan areas in the country. The state with most metropolitan areas is Veracruz with nine (eight being entirely in its territory and one shared with the neighbouring state of Tamaulipas). Three states do not have any: Baja California Sur, Campeche and Sinaloa. The only entity whose area is entirely within a metropolitan area is the Federal District.

Background
The first attempt to clasify metropolitan areas in Mexico in a systematic way was done by Luis Unikel in 1976, where he followed a definition set by an expert panel appointed the United Nations in 1966.

Definition and criteria for delimitation
In the 2004 definition of metropolitan areas, municipalities were classified as being either core or external per their relationship with the main city.

Core municipalities
Core municipalities contain the main city and are considered to be the source of the metropolitan area. To be identified as such, a municipality must satisfy one of the following criteria:


 * Municipalities which are physically joined by a continuous urban spread with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants.
 * Municipalities with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants which also have a high degree of physical and functional integration with neighbouring municipalities of predominantly urban character. These are said to be in conurbation.
 * Single municipalities which contain a city of at least 1 million inhabitants.
 * Single municipalities which contain a city of at least 250,000 inhabitants and share conurbation processes with a city across the border with the United States.

External muncipalities
External municipalities are not in conurbation with the main city, but instead are functionally related to it. To be identified as such, a municipality must satisfy all the following geographical and statistical criteria:


 * The main settlement of the municipality (usually where municipal president is located) must not be more than 10 km away from the main city and linked to it by a paved, two-line highway.
 * At least 15% of the working age population must be employed in the core municipalities. Alternatively, 10% of the employed population in the external municipality must live in core municipalities.
 * At least 75% of the employed population must work in activities other than agriculture.
 * Must have a mean population density of 20 inhabitants per hectare.

In addition some cases were identified where legislation (either local or federal) considered a municipality part of a metropolitan area for the purposes of urban planning and policy. These were also included in the external muncipality count as part of the study.

List by population
The following table shows the 55 metropolitan areas ordered by decreasing population. At the time of the study it was found that nine areas had a population of 1 million inhabitants or more; 14 had a population between 500,000 and 999,999 and 32 had a population between 100,000 and 499,999. In total, all metropolitan areas concentrated 51,502,972 inhabitants or 52.8% of the country's population in the year 2000. Figures in the table below use the data from the XII General Population and Housing Census (2000).

Also listed is the extension of each metropolitan area. In total they occupy 142,337 km², that is, 7.2% of the country's area (1,972,550 km²).

Fix this text ->''It is important to realize that some municipalities, especially in the north, tend to be occupy a large extension of land but have a low population count, however this land may not be covered in its entirety by a city or another form of urban development. This may lead to the counter-intuitive result of some large metropolitan areas having a comparatively low population. To help to understand this fact the population density of each area is provided and the five largest and the five densest areas are highlighted in the table below.''

Notes and references
www.conapo.gob.mx/prensa/2005/102005.pdf www.cmq.edu.mx/docinvest/document/DI32145.pdf

* Conurbaciones de México