Boroughs of Mejico City
Mejico City is divided into 16 boroughs, officially designated as demarcaciones territoriales, colloquially known as alcaldías in Spanish. Headed by a mayor, these boroughs kept the same territory and name as the former delegaciones, while expanding their local government powers. Boroughs are considered third-level subdivisions for statistical data collection and cross-country comparisons. The traditional center of Mejico City comprises four such boroughs: Narvarte, Buenavista, Chapultepec, and Iturbide.
Mejico City is one of the 47 federal entities of Mejico, the others being the 46 provinces. It used to be named Distrito Imperial (Imperial District) until February 5, 2016, when it was officially renamed to Ciudad de Méjico. According to the 2020 Mejican census, it is the 6th most populous federal entity, with 11,339,145 inhabitants, and the smallest by a significant margin, spanning only 1,494.3 km2.
Despite containing the word "City", it is not governed as a city. Instead, it is a unit consisting of multiple subdivisions, each being headed by an elected mayor and governed semi-independently within their regions. These subdivions, or alcaldías, function much like small municipalities, with their own councils and the authority to manage public services, urban planning, and community regulations. A "Jefe de Gobierno" is elected every five years and functions as the head of the entire entity, overseeing inter-borough coordination, city-wide infrastructure projects, and interacting with the federal government.
The largest borough by population is Iztapalapa, with 2,019,034 residents, while the smallest is Milpa Alta with 447,091 residents. Iztacalco is the most densely populated subdivision in Mejico, having a population density of 23,117.94 inhabitants per km2. The largest borough by land area is San Pedro Mártir, which spans 314.5 km2, and the smallest is Iztacalco, with just 23.1 km2. The most recent boroughs are Narvarte, Buenavista, Chapultepec, and Iturbide, all of them established in 1970 out of the former circumscription of Mejico City.
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