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Demographics of Colombia
The Demography of Colombia is characterized for being the third-most populous country in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico. 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.
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 persons per sq. mi.).
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 primarily Spanish colonists, but many other Europeans immigrated during the Second World War (1930-1945) and the Cold War (1945-1990).
Other smaller immigrant populations include Asians and Middle Easterners, particularly Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Southeast Asians (esp. Vietnam after the end of the Vietnam war), Armenians arrived in large numbers after WWI, and east Indians or Pakistanis settled in Colombia.
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 black 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 is herself of Italian, French and Lebanese Arab ancestry.
Migration
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 the highest number of any country in the western hemisphere, and second worldwide, after Sudan. Most of the displaced do not live in camps, bur rather disperse themselves throughout Colombia's own cities, an estimated 40% in the ten largest urban areas. [*].
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, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica (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 US . Colombian enclaves appeared in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Other Colombians migrated to Canada and Europe . Tens of thousands went to Japan and even a few thousand to Australia, among other locations.
2005 Census
According to the 2005 census, there are 45,421,609 Colombians in the world .
Demographic data from the CIA World Factbook
Population
7,033,914 as of 2007
Age structure
0-14 years: 30.3%
15-64 years: 64.5%
65 years and over: 5.2% (2006 est.)
Median age
total: 26.3 years
male: 25.4 years
female: 27.4 years (2006 est.)
Population growth rate
1.433% (2007 est.)
Birth rate
20.16 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate
5.54 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate
-0.29 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 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: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
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Infant mortality rate
total: 20.35 deaths during 2004 to 2006
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 71.99 years
male: 68.15 years
female: 75.96 years (2006 est.)
Total fertility rate
2.54 children born/woman (2006 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate
0.7% (2020 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS
190,000 (2006 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths
3,600 (2003 est.)
Nationality
noun: Colombian(s)
adjective: Colombian
Ethnic groups
(rounded numbers): mestizo 58%, white 20%, mulatto 14%, black 4%, mixed black-Amerindian 3%, Amerindian 1%, Asian 1%.
Ethnic groups
According to the 2005 census by the DANE the population of Colombia was composed by these ethnic groups:
58% Mestizo
20% White
14% Mulatto
4% Afro-Colombian
3% Mixed Black-Indian
1% Indians
Religions
Roman Catholic 90%, other 10% .
Languages
Spanish (2nd largest population of Spanish speakers after Mexico), the official language, small communities of European languages, such as German, French in urban areas. 65 indigenous languages and two creol languages: one in San Basilio de Palenque and one in San Andres.
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.5%
male: 92.4%
female: 92.6% (2003 est.)
External links
Colombian Department of Statistics
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Demographics of Colombia
