MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexicans abroad send 14 billion US dollars back home.

Remittances from Mexicans living abroad, mainly from United States, support more than 1.4 million households in Mexico.

"One of the most direct and visible effects of emigration is the sending of remittances, which provide basic support for more than 1.4 million Mexican households" stated the country's National Population Council (Conapo) in an official release.

The government agency said an estimated 10 million Mexicans live in the United States, of which 4.5 million are considered illegal immigrants.

With Americans of Mexican origin included, the total number of those with links to Mexico rises to 26.6 million "which represents 9% of the U.S. population and 25% of Mexico's population" added Conapo.

Remittances totalled a record $13.8 billion during the first 10 months of this year, up 23.3% from the same period last year.

Most money transfers were sent to the states of Michoacan, Guanajuato, Zacatecas and Jalisco, which are located in the west and central Mexico and major sources of emigrants.

Mexico's demographic push seems to be reaching the end of a period of rapid acceleration and is expected to peak at 130 million in 2050.

By the middle of this century, Mexico's population is also expected to begin aging. Earlier this month Conapo said Mexico was ending a period of accelerated demographic growth, noting that the rate at which the population was increasing fell from 1.74% in 1994 to 1.06% this year.

Between 1994 and 2004, Mexico's population grew from 92 million to 105 million, while the average life expectancy increased by three years, from 72.6 to 75.2.

Additionally infant mortality rate fell by nearly one-third, from 28.5 per 1,000 live births in 1994 to 19.7 per 1,000 live births this year.

The birth rate declined 28% over the past decade, according to Conapo, from 3 children to 2.2 children per woman.