National Institute of Indigenous Peoples in the context of "Tzotzil language"

Indigenous peoples of Mexico (Spanish: Pueblos indígenas de México), also known as Native Mexicans (Spanish: Mexicanos nativos), are those who are part of communities that trace their roots back to populations and communities that existed in what is now Mexico before the arrival of Europeans.

The number of Indigenous Mexicans is defined through the second article of the Mexican Constitution. The Mexican census does not classify individuals by race, using the cultural-ethnicity of Indigenous communities that preserve their Indigenous languages, traditions, beliefs, and cultures. As a result, the count of Indigenous peoples in Mexico does not include those of mixed Indigenous and European heritage who have not preserved their Indigenous cultural practices. Genetic studies have found that most Mexicans are of partial Indigenous heritage. According to the National Indigenous Institute (INI) and the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (CDI), in 2012 the Indigenous population was approximately 15 million people, divided into 68 ethnic groups. The 2020 Censo General de Población y Vivienda reported 11,132,562 people living in households where someone speaks an Indigenous language, and 23,232,391 people who were identified as Indigenous based on self-identification.