Demographics of Colombia

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Colombia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

The Demography of Colombia is characterized for being the third-most populous country in Latin America, after Mexico and Brazil. Colombia experienced rapid population growth like most countries, but four decades of civil war and urban violence combined with mass poverty rates pushed millions of Colombians out of the country. However, a rebound economy in the 2000s in urban centres (perhaps the most urbanized Latin American nation) improved the situation of living standards for Colombians in a traditional class stratified economy.

Census [edit]

The population density of Colombia. Red showing concentration of population.

Demographics of Colombia, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

2005 Census [edit]

According to the 2005 census, there are 46,219,699 Colombians in the world (42,888,592 living in the national territory and 3,331,107 living abroad).

UN estimates [edit]

According to the 2010 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 46,295,000 in 2010, compared to only 12,000,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 28.7%, 65.6% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 5.6% was 65 years or older .^[1]

Urbanization [edit]

Movement from rural to urban areas was very heavy in the middle of the twentieth century, but has since tapered off. The urban population increased from 31% of the total population in 1938, to 57% in 1951 and about 70% by 1990. Currently the figure is about 77%. Thirty cities have a population of 100,000 or more. The nine eastern lowlands departments, constituting about 54% of Colombia's area, have less than 3% of the population and a density of less than one person per square kilometer (two people per sq. mi.).

Vital statistics [edit]

Registration of vital events is in Colombia not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. ^[1]

Ethnic diversity [edit]

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The country has a diverse population that reflects its colourful history and the peoples that have populated here from ancient times to the present. The historic amalgam of three main groups are the basics of Colombia's current demographics: indigenous Amerindians, European immigrants, and African slaves, have intermingled without limitation in its history.

Many of the indigenous peoples were absorbed into the mestizo population, but the remaining 700,000 currently represent over 85 distinct cultures. Today, less than 1% of the population can be identified as fully indigenous on the basis of language and customs. Most of the indigenous population live in the country's flatlands in the south and east.

The European immigrants were Spanish colonists, but many other Europeans (i.e. the Italians, Germans, the French, the Swiss, Poles and Russians). In smaller numbers, Belgian, Lithuanian, Dutch, British, Portuguese and Croatian communities. Most of the Europeans immigrated in the 19th century, during the First and the Second World War (1939–1945) and the Cold War (1945–1990) as well fleeing the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

Other immigrant populations include Asians and Middle Easterners, particularly Arabs (esp. Lebanese and Syrians but also Palestinians), Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Southeast Asians (esp. Vietnam after the end of the Vietnam War), Armenians arrived in large numbers after World War I, and East Indians or Pakistanis settled in Colombia. The Venezuelan population is increasing in Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cúcuta, Medellín, Santa Marta and Cartagena de Indias.

In the 1990s and 2000s, about half a million immigrants from Europe and North America (mainly the United States) usually are retired came to settle in urban areas and coasts of Colombia. It is not a new phenomenon, when about 5,000 Americans settled the Caribbean region in the late 19th century.^{[citation needed]}

Afro-Colombian children. Most of the Afro-Colombian population is concentrated in the Department of Chocó, region facing the Pacific Ocean.

The Africans were brought as slaves, mostly to the coastal lowlands, beginning early in the sixteenth century, and continuing into the nineteenth century. After abolition, a national ideology of mestizaje encouraged the mixing of the indigenous and white people into a single mestizo ethnic identity [2].

Colombian culture, cuisine, music and social life are from the polyglot ethnic and racial balance. One famous Colombian emigrant, pop music singer Shakira of Barranquilla is herself of Italian, French and Lebanese ancestry.

According to the 2005 census by the DANE the population of Colombia was composed of these racial groups:^[2]

• 58% Mestizo (European and Amerindian).
• 20% White (European).
• 14% Mulatto (European and Black/African).
• 4% Afro-Colombian.
• 3% Zambo (African and Amerindian).
• 1% Amerindian.

Other ethnic groups include Arabs counted with the Whites (Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians), Chinese, Roma or Gypsies from Eastern Europe, and South Asians (East Indians).^{[citation needed]}

Languages [edit]

Spanish (2nd largest population of Spanish speakers after Mexico), the official language, small communities of European languages, such as German, French, English, Italian and Portuguese in urban areas. There are 65 indigenous languages and two Creole languages: one in San Basilio de Palenque and one in San Andrés. There are 79,000 speakers of Romani in Colombia.[3]

Migration [edit]

By 2006, Colombia has accumulated millions of internally displaced persons. At least 1.5 million of them are registered in the government's databases. NGOs and others estimate that the actual number could be as high 2 to 3 million, which would be the highest number of any country in the western hemisphere, and second worldwide, after Sudan. Most of the displaced do not live in camps, but rather disperse themselves throughout Colombia's own cities, an estimated 40% in the ten largest urban areas. [4].

In recent years, the main destination for those Colombians that have left their nation for economic reasons and the effects of the internal conflict has been neighboring Venezuela and other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Peru. (see Colombian diaspora).

Historically, a sizable percentage of Colombian emigration has also been motivated by the need to escape from political persecution and bipartisan violence during the periods of "La Violencia" (1948–1958), and later due to the effects of the nation's current conflict (since 1964). This has resulted in numerous applications for political asylum abroad.

Colombians have emigrated in comparably high rates to the United States (esp. to Miami, Florida, the largest Colombian American community). Colombian enclaves appeared in New Jersey, New York City, Chicago, Houston, Washington, D.C. and California being L.A. and San Francisco. Other Colombians migrated to Canada and Europe (most to Spain, but also to France and Italy, and the United Kingdom, which has a sizable Colombian community in London). Tens of thousands went to Japan and even a few thousand to Australia, among other locations.^{[citation needed]}

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics [edit]

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[3]

Population [edit]

44,725,543 (July 2011 est.)

Median age [edit]

total: 27.6 years

male: 26.7 years

female: 28.6 years (2010 est.)

Sex ratio [edit]

At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

15–64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female

total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate [edit]

0.7% (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS [edit]

170,000 (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths [edit]

9,800 (2007 est.)

Nationality [edit]

noun: Colombia adjective: Colombian(s)

Religions [edit]

Roman Catholic 90%, Other 10% (Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Mormon, Jewish and Muslim).

Literacy [edit]

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 90.4%

male: 90.1%

female: 90.7% (2005 census)

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
2. ^ [1] (Spanish) DANE: 2005 Census
3. ^ The World Factbook - Colombia

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".

External links [edit]

• (Spanish) Colombian Department of Statistics
• (Spanish) 1951 Census

v t e Colombian people In Colombia Demographics of Colombia Afro-Colombians Arab Colombian (Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian) Japanese Colombian Russians in Colombia Spanish Colombian Lists of Colombians Race and ethnicity in Colombia Diaspora Australia Mexico Spain United Kingdom United States People of Colombian descent