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 an armed conflict 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. In the years following 2002 the safety has been improving throughout the country. Young citizens now invest in education so they can stay and contribute to the country's future. Today the country has lots of economic potential.[1]
Census
2005 Census
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).
| # | Department | Capital | Area | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazonas | Leticia | 109,665 km² | 56,036 |
| 2 | Antioquia | Medellín | 63,612 km² | 5,671,689 |
| 3 | Arauca | Arauca | 23,818 km² | 208,605 |
| 4 | Atlántico | Barranquilla | 3,388 km² | 2,112,128 |
| 5 | Bogotá, Distrito Capital | Bogotá | 1,587 km² | 6,778,691 (not metropolitan) |
| 6 | Bolívar | Cartagena | 25,978 km² | 1,860,445 |
| 7 | Boyacá | Tunja | 23,189 km² | 1,211,186 |
| 8 | Caldas | Manizales | 7,888 km² | 908,841 |
| 9 | Caquetá | Florencia | 88,965 km² | 404,896 |
| 10 | Casanare | Yopal | 44,640 km² | 282,452 |
| 11 | Cauca | Popayán | 29,308 km² | 1,244,886 |
| 12 | Cesar | Valledupar | 22,905 km² | 879,914 |
| 13 | Chocó | Quibdó | 46,530 km² | 441,395 |
| 14 | Córdoba | Montería | 25,020 km² | 1,472,699 |
| 15 | Cundinamarca | Bogotá | 24,210 km² | 2,228,478 (without Bogotá) |
| 16 | Guainía | Inirida | 72,238 km² | 30,232 |
| 17 | Guaviare | San José del Guaviare | 53,460 km² | 81,411 |
| 18 | Huila | Neiva | 19,890 km² | 1,006,797 |
| 19 | La Guajira | Riohacha | 20,848 km² | 623,250 |
| 20 | Magdalena | Santa Marta | 23,188 km² | 1,136,901 |
| 21 | Meta | Villavicencio | 85,635 km² | 789,276 |
| 22 | Nariño | Pasto | 33,268 km² | 1,531,777 |
| 23 | Norte de Santander | Cúcuta | 21,658 km² | 1,228,028 |
| 24 | Putumayo | Mocoa | 24,885 km² | 299,286 |
| 25 | Quindío | Armenia | 1,845 km² | 518,691 |
| 26 | Risaralda | Pereira | 4,140 km² | 863,663 |
| 27 | San Andrés and Providencia | San Andrés | 52 km² | 59,573 |
| 28 | Santander | Bucaramanga | 30,537 km² | 1,916,336 |
| 29 | Sucre | Sincelejo | 10,670 km² | 765,285 |
| 30 | Tolima | Ibagué | 23,562 km² | 1,335,177 |
| 31 | Valle del Cauca | Cali | 22,140 km² | 4,060,196 |
| 32 | Vaupés | Mitú | 54,135 km² | 27,124 |
| 33 | Vichada | Puerto Carreño | 100,242 km² | 55,158 |
| Total | 1,141,748 km² | 42,888,592 | ||
UN estimates
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 .[2]
| Total population (x 1000) |
Proportion aged 0–14 (%) |
Proportion aged 15–64 (%) |
Proportion aged 65+ (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 12 000 | 40.7 | 53.9 | 5.4 |
| 1955 | 13 825 | 44.7 | 52.1 | 5.2 |
| 1960 | 16 005 | 44.2 | 50.6 | 5.2 |
| 1965 | 18 556 | 44.7 | 50.0 | 5.3 |
| 1970 | 21 330 | 43.8 | 50.7 | 5.5 |
| 1975 | 23 961 | 41.4 | 52.8 | 5.7 |
| 1980 | 26 875 | 38.8 | 55.3 | 5.9 |
| 1985 | 29 994 | 36.1 | 57.8 | 6.1 |
| 1990 | 33 203 | 34.5 | 59.2 | 6.3 |
| 1995 | 36 453 | 32.8 | 60.7 | 6.5 |
| 2000 | 39 764 | 30.8 | 62.4 | 6.7 |
| 2005 | 43 041 | 28.8 | 64.2 | 7.1 |
| 2010 | 46 295 | 26.7 | 65.6 | 7.6 |
Urbanization
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
UN estimates
The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.[2]
| Period | Live births per year |
Deaths per year |
Natural change per year |
CBR* | CDR* | NC* | TFR* | IMR* | Life expectancy total |
Life expectancy males |
Life expectancy females |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950-1955 | 608 000 | 213 000 | 395 000 | 47.2 | 16.6 | 30.6 | 6.76 | 123 | 50.6 | 49.0 | 52.3 |
| 1955-1960 | 673 000 | 197 000 | 476 000 | 45.2 | 13.3 | 31.9 | 6.76 | 105 | 55.2 | 53.5 | 56.9 |
| 1960-1965 | 758 000 | 198 000 | 560 000 | 43.9 | 11.5 | 32.4 | 6.76 | 92 | 57.9 | 56.2 | 59.7 |
| 1965-1970 | 813 000 | 200 000 | 613 000 | 40.8 | 10.1 | 30.6 | 6.18 | 82 | 60.0 | 58.3 | 61.8 |
| 1970-1975 | 784 000 | 198 000 | 586 000 | 34.6 | 8.9 | 25.7 | 5.00 | 73 | 61.7 | 59.6 | 63.9 |
| 1975-1980 | 836 000 | 196 000 | 640 000 | 32.9 | 7.8 | 25.1 | 4.34 | 57 | 64.0 | 61.7 | 66.3 |
| 1980-1985 | 862 000 | 187 000 | 675 000 | 30.3 | 6.6 | 23.7 | 3.68 | 43 | 66.8 | 63.6 | 70.2 |
| 1985-1990 | 888 000 | 198 000 | 690 000 | 28.1 | 6.3 | 21.8 | 3.24 | 35 | 68.0 | 64.5 | 71.7 |
| 1990-1995 | 917 000 | 216 000 | 701 000 | 26.3 | 6.2 | 20.1 | 3.00 | 28 | 68.7 | 64.5 | 73.0 |
| 1995-2000 | 914 000 | 221 000 | 693 000 | 24.0 | 5.8 | 18.2 | 2.75 | 24 | 70.3 | 66.5 | 74.2 |
| 2000-2005 | 911 000 | 231 000 | 680 000 | 22.0 | 5.6 | 16.4 | 2.55 | 21 | 71.7 | 68.0 | 75.5 |
| 2005-2010 | 921 000 | 246 000 | 675 000 | 20.6 | 5.5 | 15.1 | 2.45 | 19 | 72.9 | 69.2 | 76.7 |
| 2010-2015 | 909 000 | 268 000 | 641 000 | 18.9 | 5.6 | 13.3 | 2.30 | 16 | 73.9 | 70.3 | 77.6 |
| 2015-2020 | 887 000 | 293 000 | 594 000 | 17.4 | 5.7 | 11.7 | 2.17 | 14 | 74.9 | 71.4 | 78.6 |
| * CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman) | |||||||||||
Fertility and Births
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[3]
| Year | CBR (Total) | TFR (Total) | CBR (Urban) | TFR (Urban) | CBR (Rural) | TFR (Rural) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981-83 | 3,65 | |||||
| 1984-86 | 3,19 | |||||
| 1990 | 26,1 | 2,9 | 25,7 | 2,5 | 27,0 | 3,8 |
| 1995 | 26 | 3,0 | 25 | 2,5 | 30 | 4,3 |
| 2000 | 22,7 | 2,6 | 21,6 | 2,3 | 25,6 | 3,8 |
| 2005 | 20,4 | 2,4 | 19,0 | 2,1 | 24,3 | 3,4 |
| 2010 | 18 | 2,1 | 17 | 2,0 | 20 | 2,8 |
Ethnic diversity
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 20th 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.
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 .
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:[5][6][7]
- 66% Mestizo (European and Amerindian).
- 20% White (European).
- 10.6% Afro-Colombian, includes Mulatto (European and Black/African) and Zambo (African and Amerindian).
- 3.4% Amerindian.
Other ethnic groups include Arabs counted with the Whites (Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians), Chinese, Romani from Eastern Europe, and South Asians (East Indians). However a number of other Europeans and North Americans migrated to the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and, in smaller numbers, Poles, Lithuanians, English, Irish, and Croats during and after the Second World War. Today there is significant ongoing immigration of Venezuelans due to the political and economic situation in Venezuela.[8][9]
Many immigrant communities have settled on the Caribbean coast, in particular recent immigrants from the Middle East. Barranquilla (the largest city of the Colombian Caribbean) and other Caribbean cities have the largest populations of Palestinian, Lebanese, and other Arabs, Sephardi Jews and Romanies. There are also important communities of Chinese and Japanese.
Languages
Spanish (of which Colombia has the second-largest population of speakers after Mexico) is the official language, and there are small communities in urban areas speaking other European languages such as German, French, English, Italian and Portuguese. There are 65 indigenous languages and two Creole languages: one in San Basilio de Palenque and one in San Andrés. There are 5,000 speakers of Romani in Colombia.
Migration
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. Other Colombians migrated to Canada and Europe (most to Spain, but also to France and Italy, and the United Kingdom). Among other locations.
Today millions of Colombians have returned to their country thanks to improvements in security, Colombia is now a country on the road to recovery. Colombia is creating an economy that is today considered attractive and prosperous by many national and international investors. There are policies of the Colombian Government to help Colombians with housing loans. There is a support system for returning migrants. Certificates of competency are issued and there is a free employment service to help people find job.[10][11][12][1]
CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[13]
Population
44,725,543 (July 2011 est.)
Median age
total: 27.7 years
male: 26.7 years
female: 28.6 years (2010 est.)
Sex ratio
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
0.7% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS
170,000 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths
9,800 (2007 est.)
Nationality
noun: Colombia adjective: Colombian(s)
Religions
Roman Catholic 90%, Other 10% (Atheist, Agnostic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Mormon, Jewish and Muslim).
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 93.4%
male: 93.1%
female: 93.7% (2005 census)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Can Young People Rebuild Colombia's Social Capital?". theglobalist.com. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
- ↑ http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/dhs#_r=&collection=&country=&dtype=&from=1890&page=4&ps=&sk=&sort_by=nation&sort_order=&to=2014&topic=&view=s&vk=
- ↑ "Ethnic groups in Colombia" (PDF) (in Spanish). dane.gov.co. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bushnell, David & Rex A. Hudson (2010) "The Society and Its Environment"; Colombia: a country study: 87. Washingtion D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.
- ↑ "White Colombians" (PDF). Retrieved 28 May 2013.
- ↑ (Spanish) DANE: 2005 Census
- ↑ Análisis de la migración venezolana a Colombia durante el gobierno de Hugo Chávez (1999–2011). Identificación de capital social y compensación económica | Echeverry Hernández | Revista Análisis Internacional. Revistas.utadeo.edu.co (10 February 2012). Retrieved on 8 October 2012.
- ↑ Llegaron los venezolanos, Articulo Impreso Archivado. Semana.com (11 March 2012). Retrieved on 8 October 2012.
- ↑ "Opportunities for Colombians who are returning to the country" (in Spanish). conexioncolombia.com. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ↑ "Colombia provides opportunities for the development of its citizens in the country" (in Spanish). conexioncolombia.com. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ↑ "Entrepreneurship and employment programme for those who return to the country" (in Spanish). elempleo.com. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ↑ The World Factbook - Colombia
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".
External links
- (Spanish) Colombian Department of Statistics
- (Spanish) 1951 Census
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