Mexico City - How did it get so big?

In 1900, the population of Mexico City was about 500,000. The city began to grow rapidly westward in the early part of the 20th century due to the lack of opportunities in the states and to the centralism that has characterized Mexico up today and then began to grow upwards in the 1950s, with the Torre Latinoamericana as Mexico ’s first skyscraper.

The 1968 Olympic Games brought about the construction of large sporting facilities. In 1969, the Metro system was inaugurated. Explosive growth in the population of the city started from the 1960s, with the population overflowing the boundaries of the Federal District into the neighboring State of Mexico, especially to the north, northwest and northeast. Between 1960 and 1980 the city's population more than doubled to 8,800,000. In 1980, half of all the industrial jobs in Mexico were located in Mexico City. Under relentless growth, the Mexico City government could barely keep up with services. Villagers from the countryside who continued to pour into the city to escape poverty only compounded the city's problems.

With almost 17 million people in late 1980 ’s and no housing available, people took over lands surrounding the city, creating huge shantytowns that extended for many miles. This caused serious air and water pollution problems, as well as a sinking city due to over extraction of groundwater. Air and water pollution has been contained and improved in some several areas due to government programs, the renovation of vehicles and the modernization of the public transport. Today more than 23,000,000 souls live in Mexico’s metropolitan area.