Demographics of Nicaragua
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[edit] Demographics of Nicaragua
According to the CIA World Factbook, Nicaragua has a population of 5,570,129. Whites and Mestizos make up the majority (86%) of the population of Nicaragua with approx. 69% Mestizos and 17% Caucasian (mostly of Spaniard, German, Italian, or French ancestry). Nicaraguan demographics reflected a different composition prior to the Sandinista revolution of 1979 since most of the migration during the years that followed were primarily of upper or middle class Nicaraguans which were comprised primarily of whites. A growing number of these expats have been returning after, though a vast majority remains living abroad for the most part.
In the nineteenth century, there had been a substantial indigenous minority, but this group was also largely assimilated culturally into the mestizo majority. Primarily in the 19th century, Nicaragua saw several waves of immigration from other European nations. In particular the northern cities of Esteli, Jinotega and Matagalpa have significant fourth generation Germans. Most of Nicaragua's population lives in the western region of the country in the departments of Managua, Granada and Leon.
About 9% of Nicaragua's population is black, or Afro-Nicaragüense, and mainly reside on the country's sparsely populated Caribbean or Atlantic coast. The black population is mostly of West Indian (Antillean) origin, the descendants of indentured laborers brought mostly from Jamaica and Haiti when the region was a British protectorate. Nicaragua has the second largest black population in Central America after Panama. There is also a smaller number of Garifuna, a people of mixed Carib, Angolan, Congolese and Arawak descent.
The remaining 5% is comprised of the unmixed descendants of the country's indigenous inhabitants. Nicaragua's pre-Colombian population consisted of the Nahuatl-speaking Nicarao people of the west after whom the country is named, and six other ethnic groups including the Miskitos, Ramas and Sumos along the Caribbean coast. While very few pure-blooded Nicarao people still exist, the Caribbean peoples have remained distinct. In the mid-1980s, the government divided the department of Zelaya - consisting of the eastern half of the country - into two autonomous regions and granted the African and indigenous people of this region limited self-rule within the Republic.
There is also a small Middle Eastern-Nicaraguan community of Syrian, Armenian, Palestinian, Jewish and Lebanese people in Nicaragua with a total population of about 30,000, and an East Asian community of Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese people of almost 8,000. The Chinese arrived in the late 19th century but were unsubstantiated until the second census (in 1920) revealed 400 people of the Chinese nationality. See Chinese Nicaraguan. These minorities speak Spanish while maintaining their ancestral languages as well.
[edit] Language
Spanish is spoken by 90% of the country's population. In Nicaragua the Voseo form is common, just as in other countries in Central and South America like Honduras, Argentina and Ecuador. Spanish has many different dialects spoken throughout Latin America, Central American Spanish is the dialect spoken in Nicaragua. The black population of the east coast region have English as their first language. Several indigenous peoples of the east still use their original language along with Spanish and/or English, the main languages being Miskito language, Sumo language, and Rama language. Also, due to the arrival of the Chinese in the 19th century, there are an estimated 7,000 people who speak Chinese.[1] Nicaraguan Sign Language is also of particular interest to linguists.
[edit] Religion
Roman Catholicism has been the predominant religion for four centuries, but evangelical Protestant groups have increased significantly recently, and there are strong indigenous communities on the Caribbean coast. Small communities of Nicaraguans practice other faiths like Judaism by descendants of European Jewish immigrants, and Islam from the Middle East.
Roman Catholicism is the major religion and has been for four centuries, but evangelical Protestant groups have grown recently, and there are strong Anglican and Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast.
The 2005 census shows religious affiliation as follows:[2]
- Roman Catholic 58.5%
- Evangelical 21.6%,
- Moravian 1.6%
- Jehovah's Witnesses 0.9%
- none 15.7%
- other 1.6% (which includes Islam, Judaism and Buddhism among others)
[edit] Statistics
90% of Nicaraguans live in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent interior highlands. The population is 54% urban with Managua(capital) being the largest city, home to over a million inhabitants. An estimated 1.4 million Nicaraguans live outside of Nicaragua.
Population: 5,570,129 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 36.4% (male 1,031,897/female 994,633)
15-64 years: 60.5% (male 1,677,633/female 1,691,353)
65 years and over: 3.1% (male 76,758/female 97,855) (2006 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.89% (2006 est.)
Birth rate: 24.51 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate: 4.45 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate: -1.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 28.11 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.63 years
male: 68.55 years
female: 72.81 years (2006 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.75 children born/woman (2006 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Nicaraguan(s)
adjective: Nicaraguan
Ethnic groups: Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Amerindian 5%
Religions: Roman Catholic 58.5%, Evangelicals 21.6%, Moravian 1,6%, Jehovah's Witnesses 0.9%, other 1.6%, none 15.7% (2005 census)[3].
Languages: Spanish (official)
note: English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 67.5%
male: 67.2%
female: 67.8% (2003 est.)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.
- ^ Ethnologue Information on languages in Nicaragua
- ^ inec.gob.ni - p. 42-43
- ^ http://www.inec.gob.ni/censos2005/ResumenCensal/Resumen2.pdf - p. 42-43
