[Direct and indirect measurement of Mexican migration to the United States 1990-1995]

Direct and indirect estimation techniques are applied to Mexican census and survey data to produce estimates of the number of Mexican migrants to the US during 1990-95 and their characteristics. A residual technique was applied to information from the Population and Housing Count of 1995 and the 1990 census. The success of such techniques depends largely on conceptual compatibility of the two censuses similarity of underenumeration and precision of available indicators of natural increase and internal migration during the study period. The final estimate of net emigration was 1.387 million persons during 1990-95 equivalent to an annual average of 277000 persons and an annual rate of international migration of ?0.31%. Among direct measures the 1992 National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID) was a major household survey with national coverage a large sample (64000 households) and the inclusion of questions allowing quantification of different types of migration. The ENADID indicated that 1.823 million Mexicans migrated to the US between January 1988 and November 1992 of whom 973000 still lived in the US at the survey date and 850000 had returned to Mexico. The numbers who migrated returned and still resided in the US increased steadily from 226000 130000 and 96000 respectively in 1988 to 581000 156000 and 425000 in 1992. The Survey of Migration in the Northern Border of Mexico (EMIF) is a continuing survey inspired by the procedures of statistical biology for quantifying mobile populations. The first phase lasted from March 1993 to March 1994 and the second was conducted during 1995. There was a net emigration of 167000 in the first phase and of 109000 in the second. Some differences were observed in the sociodemographic characteristics of the migrants in the first and second phases.