The population of Mexico City proper was 9,800,000 in 1995. The population of the metropolitan area reached 16.9 million in 1996. The city's population growth was phenomenal during most of the 20th century, spurred by migration from the provinces and a high birth rate. From 1950 through 1970, the city's population grew 4.2 percent a year, from 3,050,000 in 1950 to 6,874,000 in 1970. By 1980 the national census reported 8,831,000 people residing in Mexico City. But from 1970 to 1990 the annual growth rate decreased to only 0.9 percent.
In part, the growth rate slowed after the mid-1970s because the government introduced a population control policy. As late as 1970, the government denied that a population problem existed. However, during the administration of Mexican president Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1970-1976) the government began a concerted effort to reduce birth rates, providing information on family planning through the national system of social security hospitals. In the capital, the government began an advertising campaign suggesting smaller families as an ideal.
Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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