Updated

A Mexican census report says 1.38 million Mexicans identify themselves as having African ancestors, equal to about 1.2 percent of the country's population.

For years Afro-Mexicans had been largely ignored in comparison with the country's Indian groups. As measured by speaking an Indian language, Indians make up about 6.5 percent of the population.

Mexico's national statistics institute says the study is based on a 2015 intermediate census in which respondents were asked to self-report their ethnicity and economic circumstances.

The Afro-Mexican population was concentrated largely in three southern states: Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Veracruz.

Afro-Mexicans also self-identified as Indian at a higher rate than average Mexicans.

Based on self-identification, about 65 percent of Afro-Mexican also identified as Indians, as opposed to 21.5 percent of the general population.