Drug Use Prevalence, by Gender and Age

Basic Data

"Of the adult urban population of Mexico, 10.4% of them (representing 5.2 million people in total) had used illicit substances at some point in their lifetime, with the rate for males being about five times the rate for females. The prevalence for the preceding 12 months was 2.3% overall (3.5% for males and 1.2% for females).
"Rates were higher in the younger age groups. People aged 60 to 65 did not report having used any of the substances in our study in the preceding year. There was a very consistent relationship between gender and substance abuse. For all the adults, more males (18.2%) had used in their lifetime than had females (3.6%) (Table 2). For lifetime use the smallest male-female ratio, 4.5, was in the youngest age group (18-29 years old), and the largest ratio, 17.5, was among those 60 to 65.
"In general, younger persons were more likely to report use and to experience dependence. The rates of use among males aged 18 to 29 was 25.0% for lifetime use and 6.4% for use in the last 12 months (Table 2). There was a sharp decrease in the rates of use for the next age group (30–44 years), with male lifetime use being 14.4%, and use in the preceding 12 months being 1.5%."