Oaxaca has the largest indigenous population of any state of Mexico.6 According to the National Indigenous Institute, Oaxaca's indigenous population numbers 1,209,000. Included are members of 18 ethnic groups. Zapotecs account for about one-third, followed by Mixtecs, who account for 23.5%; Mazatecs, 14.4%; Chinantecos, 8.9%; and Mixes, 8.7%. A total of 8.8% are comprised of Chatinos, Triquis, Cuicatecos, Huaves, Nahuas, Amuzgos, Zoques, Chontales, Chochos and Ixcatecos, Tacuates, and Popolacas; and the remaining 2.1% by indigenous peoples not traditionally from Oaxaca.

In 150 of the 570 municipalities the majority speaks an indigenous language; in 95 municipalities less than 50% are monolingual. For the state as a whole, 20% of the population is monolingual, mostly adult women and the elderly. Nonetheless, there is a marked trend toward the loss of indigenous languages, especially among young people. Illiteracy extends to 42% of the population 15 years and over.

Even though less than half the state population is considered indigenous, major distinctions can be drawn. There are some communities where the vast majority are indigenous, and yet the public and elected offices are held exclusively by mestizos. The largest mestizo populations are found in the cities, and the number of indigenous who emigrate to find jobs and opportunities is growing, thereby furthering the process of acculturation that such changes entail. Young people stop wearing their traditional dress; the way they wear their hair and the accessories they carry cease to be traditional, and they even deny their origins and ethnicity. These migrants swell the ranks of the unemployed, the informal economy, and service workers.

The wide variety of ethnic groups also represents a form of breakdown (i.e. diversity also entails separation) and so it is hard for social organizations to embrace a set of ethnic groups, making it more difficult, in turn, to figure out how to negotiate with and approach the outside world and the state, and how to defend and preserve their cultures.