Mexico’s Silent Crisis: Over 500,000 Households Displaced by Violence in Five Years, New Data Reveals

MEXICO CITY — Violence has forcibly displaced people from more than half a million households across Mexico in the past five years, according to new figures released by the country’s national statistics agency. The data offers the first comprehensive snapshot of an internal displacement crisis that many have long described as invisible.

Until now, the Mexican government had not shared comprehensive data on those forced to flee their homes due to ongoing violence, leaving civil society groups to piece together fragmented information to understand the scope of the problem.

The figures published this week by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) — an autonomous agency that has at times clashed with the ruling party — provide the first wide-ranging snapshot of this ongoing crisis.

Between October 2020 and October 2025, people in approximately 510,000 households were forced to flee to another part of the country. This displacement, which can range from a single individual to an entire family, has affected an estimated 1.6 million people, including both those who fled and those left behind to deal with the aftermath.

The data reveals that the crisis has reached every corner of the country, with the states of Zacatecas, Morelos, Michoacán, Querétaro, and Colima experiencing the highest rates of displacement due to cartel violence.

While other autonomous agencies, civil society organizations, and state governments have published data on internal displacement, their findings have often been limited in scope.

Tracking internal displacement is inherently difficult, as many people flee in fear without intending to be found or report their situation, while others hope to return home once they determine it is safe to do so.

David Mora, a Mexico analyst for the International Crisis Group, described the new data as a “major breakthrough” that will help authorities and civil society address the long-term humanitarian consequences of the crisis. He noted that those forced to flee criminal violence often have almost no resources to turn to when they disappear into the fabric of Mexico, forced to start from scratch.

“For years, civil society and victims of forced displacement have been sounding the alarm, yet the federal government has not paid attention,” Mora said on Friday. “This data, coming from the independent INEGI, is a breakthrough. It is a huge step that they are attempting to put a number on this crisis, which is just the first step.”

The INEGI figures do not include people displaced before 2020, meaning the actual number of displaced people across the country is likely much higher. Cartel violence has ravaged key areas of Mexico since the beginning of the drug war around 2006 under President Felipe Calderón. This data focuses specifically on internally displaced people and does not capture those who have fled to the United States.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has remained largely silent on the issue, focusing instead on government efforts to reduce homicide rates and crack down on criminal groups. She is also facing pressure from the Trump administration to demonstrate progress on security.

She has addressed specific cases of families displaced by bursts of cartel violence, noting that authorities are working on ways to help them return home, but has largely avoided speaking about forced displacement as a widespread phenomenon.

At her morning news briefing on Wednesday, Sheinbaum questioned the figures, stating that she had asked INEGI to provide further details about the data, including the questions and methodology used to reach those numbers.

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