Mexico Civil Registration Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
Registro Civil de México

Record Description
Civil records in Mexico cover about 90 to 95% of the population. Beginning in 1859, the Mexican government began requiring births, marriages, and deaths to be recorded by civil authorities on a municipality/district level. Although these records are a great source of genealogical information, they are not complete as civil registration wasn't strictly enforced in Mexico until 1867 and people did not always comply. For this reason, church registers must be used alongside the civil records.

The civil records of Mexico have been preserved relatively well. Some of the older registers may have some physical damage; however, in general they are in good condition to extract genealogical information.

Please note that the records pertaining to this super collection are in their respective states. In order to find the records for this collection you will need to search within the collection of civil registration records for that state.

Record Content
Birth records may contain the following information:


 * Registration date and place
 * Name of registrant
 * Registrant's age, place of origin and residence
 * Relationship between registrant and deceased
 * Name and age of deceased
 * Religion, marital status, occupation and origin of deceased
 * Name of spouse, if married
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Witnesses and their personal information
 * Sometimes, parents’ names
 * Sometimes, place of burial

Search the Records
Each collection has search instructions available in the associated article. See Mexico Civil Registration Records Collections for available articles.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about other people listed in the record. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors, such as:


 * Use the parents' names to locate any children.
 * Search for the parents' marriage. If their age is not given, estimate it and search for their baptismal record.
 * Continue to repeat this process for each ancestor.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Check for variant spellings of the names.
 * Check for an index. Some records have indexes at the end of the volume.
 * If earlier generations are not in the record, search neighboring parishes.
 * If the event you are looking for is after 1859, try searching the civil registration.

Related Websites

 * Online maps of Mexico
 * Online histories of Mexico

Related Wiki Articles

 * Mexico
 * Mexico Civil Registration

FamilySearch Historical Record Collections

 * Mexico, Aguascalientes, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Campeche, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Chiapas Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Chihuahua, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Coahuila, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Colima, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Distrito Federal Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Durango, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Guanajuato, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Guerrero, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Hidalgo, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Jalisco, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, México, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Michoacan, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Morelos, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Nayarit, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Nuevo León, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Oaxaca, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Puebla, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Querétaro, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Quintana Roo, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, San Luis Potosí, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Sonora, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Tamaulipas, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Tlaxcala, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Veracruz, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Yucatán, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico, Zacatecas, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)