More Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico from the United States than have migrated there since the end of the Great Recession in June 2009, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of recently made available government data from both countries.
The same data sources also show the overall flow of Mexican immigrants between the two countries is at its smallest since the 1990s, mostly due to a drop in the number of Mexican immigrants coming to the United States.
From 2009 to 2014, one million Mexicans and their families (including U.S.-born children) left the U.S. for Mexico, according to data from the 2014 Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID). U.S. census data for the same period show an estimated 870,000 Mexican nationals left Mexico to come to the United States.
A majority of those who returned to Mexico between 2009 and 2014 left of their own accord, according to the Mexican government’s ENADID survey data. Six in ten (61 percent) cited family reunification as the main reason for their return. By comparison, only 14 percent of Mexico’s return migrants said the reason for their return was deportation from the U.S.
The drop in the number of Mexicans living in the United States also is reflected in the share of adults in Mexico who report having family or friends living in the United States