Mexico's population loss accelerated to 27.6 people per 10,000 inhabitants in the April-June 2012 period, a level not seen since 2008, when the financial crisis cooled off the global economy, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or INEGI, said Monday.

The population loss "is the result of the difference between the immigration rate" of 14.3 new inhabitants from aborad per 10,000 people and emigration, which is running at 41.9 people per 10,000 inhabitants leaving Mexico for another country in the quarter, the INEGI said in a statement.

Immigration hit a "historic low" in the April-June 2012 period, solidifying the downward tendency, the federal agency said.

The high point for immigration occurred in the fourth quarter of 2007, when it hit 57.9 people per 10,000 inhabitants, the INEGI said.

Emigration, which surged to 144 people per 10,000 inhabitants in the April-June 2006 period, is now at 41.9 people per 10,000 inhabitants, a figure that is higher than the 34.3 people per 10,000 inhabitants registered in the January-March 2012 period and the 39.4 people per 10,000 inhabitants registered in the second quarter of 2011, the INEGI said.

The majority of those emigrating from Mexico are males between the ages of 15 and 24, but that segment is shrinking while emigration among those in the 30-49 age group is growing.

Men in the 30-49 age group accounted for 31 percent of emigrants in the 2006-2008 period, with the figure rising to 35 percent in the 2009-2011 period, the federal agency said.

The INEGI has been calculating the international migration figures since the second quarter of 2006 based on the National Occupation and Employment Survey. EFE