Demographics of Venezuela

The Demographics of Venezuela are the condition and overview of Venezuela's peoples. Demographic topics include basic education, health, and population statistics as well as identified racial and religious affiliations.

Overview

The Venezuelan people comprise a combination of heritages. The historically present Amerindians, Spanish colonists, and African slaves have all contributed to varying degrees. Later, waves of European groups (Italians, Portuguese and Germans) migrated to Venezuela in the 20th century, influencing many aspects of Venezuelan life, including its culture, language, food, and music.

About 51.6% of the population is Mestizo, while 43.6% are full white of European ancestry and/or Middle Eastern ancestry. Another 3.7% is black/African, while 2.7% is of full Amerindian ancestry, and 1.0% other races ( principally Asian people).^[1]^[2]

Three Amerindian tribes located in the country are the Wayuu, located in the west, in Zulia State, and the Timoto-cuicas, also in the west, in Mérida State, in the Andes.

About 85% of the population live in urban areas in the northern portion of the country and currently resides in the urban conglomerations (Caracas, Maracay, Maracaibo, Valencia, etc.) that are concentrated in Venezuela's northern coastal mountain strip. Nearly half of Venezuela's geographic area lies south of the Orinoco River; however, this region contains only 5% of the Venezuelan population.

The World Factbook 2011 estimate puts Venezuela's total population at 27,635,743 inhabitants.^[3] Additionally, over the past five years, Venezuelan society's general age structure has been trending towards the homologous structure found in Cuba, Western Europe, Japan, and other healthy and rapidly aging societies. Notably, there has been a significant increase in the proportion and gross numbers of elderly Venezuelans (aged 65 and up), as well as a corresponding drop in the total fertility.

Population

Census population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1873	1,732,411	—
1881	2,005,139	+1.84%
1891	2,221,572	+1.03%
1920	2,479,525	+0.38%
1926	2,814,131	+2.13%
1936	3,364,347	+1.80%
1941	3,850,771	+2.74%
1950	5,034,838	+3.02%
1961	7,523,999	+3.72%
1971	10,721,522	+3.61%
1981	14,516,735	+3.08%
1990	18,105,265	+2.48%
2001	23,232,553	+2.29%
2011	27,227,930	+1.60%

According to the 2010 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 28,980,000 in 2010, compared to only 5,094,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 29.5%, 64.9% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 5.6% was 65 years or older .^[4]

	Total population (x 1000)	Proportion aged 0–14 (%)	Proportion aged 15–64 (%)	Proportion aged 65+ (%)
1950	5 094	43.5	54.6	1.9
1955	6 221	44.8	53.1	2.0
1960	7 562	45.6	51.9	2.4
1965	9 067	46.4	51.0	2.6
1970	10 681	45.7	51.5	2.8
1975	12 681	43.3	53.6	3.0
1980	15 036	40.7	56.2	3.2
1985	17 269	39.0	57.6	3.4
1990	19 685	38.0	58.3	3.7
1995	22 035	36.0	59.9	4.1
2000	24 348	33.7	61.7	4.5
2005	26 664	31.3	63.7	5.0
2010	28 980	29.5	64.9	5.6

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Venezuela not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. ^[4]

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	263 000	69 000	193 000	46.5	12.6	34.1	6.46	107	54.3	52.9	55.8
1955-1960	309 000	73 000	236 000	44.9	10.9	34.2	6.46	89	57.1	55.6	58.7
1960-1965	375 000	77 000	298 000	45.1	9.5	35.7	6.66	73	59.9	58.2	61.7
1965-1970	397 000	76 000	320 000	40.1	8.0	32.4	5.90	60	62.6	60.5	64.9
1970-1975	411 000	76 000	334 000	35.1	6.7	28.6	4.94	49	65.0	62.4	67.7
1975-1980	476 000	81 000	395 000	34.2	5.8	28.4	4.47	39	67.3	64.6	70.4
1980-1985	519 000	89 000	430 000	32.0	5.3	26.5	3.96	34	68.9	66.0	72.0
1985-1990	561 000	92 000	468 000	30.3	4.9	25.3	3.65	27	70.5	67.7	73.5
1990-1995	563 000	101 000	461 000	26.9	4.8	22.1	3.25	23	71.5	68.7	74.5
1995-2000	569 000	114 000	455 000	24.5	4.9	19.7	2.94	21	72.1	69.3	75.1
2000-2005	585 000	129 000	456 000	22.9	5.0	17.9	2.72	19	72.7	69.9	75.8
2005-2010	598 000	142 000	456 000	21.4	5.1	16.3	2.55	17	73.7	70.8	76.8
2010-2015	601 000	159 000	442 000	19.9	5.3	14.6	2.40	15	74.5	71.7	77.6
2015-2020	595 000	178 000	417 000	18.4	5.5	12.9	2.28	13	75.3	72.5	78.4
* 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)

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Total population

It has a population of 31,292,000 as of 2014.

Population growth rate

1.508% (2009 estimate).

Sex ratio

Age	Ratio (males/females)
Total:	1.02
At birth:	1.07
Under 15:	1.07
15-64:	1.01
Over 65:	0.83

Literacy and education

The accepted formal and demographic definition of the literacy rate is that proportion or percentage of the Venezuelan population older than age 15 that can both read and write. The below are 2006 estimates from the INE.

Population group	%
Total population:	95.1%
Male:	95.4%
Female:	94.8%

Ethnicity

According to an autosomal DNA genetic study conducted in 2008 by the University of Brasilia (UNB) the composition of Venezuela's population is: 60.60% of European contribution, 23% of Amerindian contribution and 16,30% of African contribution.^[5]

Map of proportion in percentage of the mestizo population in Venezuela by Municipalities. Data from the 2011 Census.
Map of proportion in percentage of the white population in Venezuela by Municipalities. Data from the 2011 Census.
Map of proportion in percentage of the black and afro-descendant population in Venezuela by Municipalities. Data from the 2011 Census.
Concentration of the mestizo population, expressed in persons per square kilometers. Data from the 2011 Census.
Concentration of the white population, expressed in persons per square kilometers. Data from the 2011 Census.
Concentration of the black and afro-descendant population, expressed in persons per square kilometers. Data from the 2011 Census.

Religious affiliation

The overwhelming majority of Venezuelans denote themselves as adherents of Catholicism; this is true nominally if not in practice.

Religion	%
Roman Catholic:	96%
Protestant:	2%
Others:	2%

Alternatively, according to government estimates, 92% of the population is at least nominally Roman Catholic, and the remaining 8% are Protestant, a member of another religion, or non-religious. The Venezuelan Evangelical Council estimates that Evangelical Protestants constitute 10% of the population.^[6]

References

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.
Acosta, Maruja. "Urbanizacion y clases sociales en Venezuela." Revista Interamericana de Planificacion Bogota, 7, No. 26, June 1973, 22-44.
The article contains a statistical reference from the Wikipedia public domain Mestizos (2006).

↑ "Resultado Básico del XIV Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda 2011 (Mayo 2014)" (PDF). Ine.gov.ve. p. 29. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
↑ http://www.ine.gob.ve/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=95&Itemid=26 Venezuelan population by 30/Jun/2014 is 30,206,2307 according National Institute of Stadistics
↑ Venezuela World Fact Book. CIA
↑ 4.0 4.1 Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
↑ Godinho, Neide Maria de Oliveira (2008). "O impacto das migrações na constituição genética de populações latino-americanas". Universidade de Brasília. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
↑ International Religious Freedom Report 2008: Venezuela. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (21 December 2008). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.