Demographics of South America
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As of 2017, South America has an estimated population of 418.76 million people.
Population and density
Country / Territory | Area (km2)[1] (sq mi) |
Population (July 2017 est.)[2] |
Population density (per km2) |
Capital |
---|---|---|---|---|
Argentina | 2,766,890 km2 (1,068,300 sq mi) | 44,293,293 | 16.0/km² (41.4/sq mi) | Buenos Aires |
Bolivia | 1,098,580 km2 (424,160 sq mi) | 11,138,234 | 10.13/km² (26.3/sq mi) | La Paz and Sucre[3] |
Brazil | 8,514,877 km2 (3,287,612 sq mi) | 217,240,060 | 24.35/km² (63.1/sq mi) | Brasília |
Chile[4] | 756,950 km2 (292,260 sq mi) | 17,789,267 | 23.5/km² (60.9/sq mi) | Santiago
|
Colombia | 1,138,910 km2 (439,740 sq mi) | 47,698,524 | 41.88/km² (105.9/sq mi) | Bogotá |
Ecuador | 283,560 km2 (109,480 sq mi) | 16,290,913 | 57.45/km² (148.8/sq mi) | Quito |
Falkland Islands (United Kingdom)[5] | 12,173 km2 (4,700 sq mi) | 3,198[6] | 0.26/km² (0.7/sq mi) | Stanley |
French Guiana (France) | 91,000 km2 (35,000 sq mi) | 221,500[7] | 2.7/km² (5.4/sq mi) | Cayenne |
Guyana | 214,999 km2 (83,012 sq mi) | 737,718 | 3.43/km² (8.9/sq mi) | Georgetown |
Paraguay | 406,750 km2 (157,050 sq mi) | 6,943,739 | 17.07/km² (44.2/sq mi) | Asunción |
Peru | 1,285,220 km2 (496,230 sq mi) | 31,036,656 | 24.14/km² (62.5/sq mi) | Lima |
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (United Kingdom)[8] |
3,093 km2 (1,194 sq mi) | 30 | 0/km² (0/sq mi) | Grytviken |
Suriname | 163,270 km2 (63,040 sq mi) | 591,919 | 3.62/km² (9.4/sq mi) | Paramaribo |
Uruguay | 176,220 km2 (68,040 sq mi) | 3,360,148 | 19.06/km² (49.4/sq mi) | Montevideo |
Venezuela | 912,050 km2 (352,140 sq mi) | 31,304,016 | 34.32/km² (88.9/sq mi) | Caracas |
Total | 17,824,513 | 418,762,546 | 24.49/km2 | – |
Largest population centres
Rank | City name | Member state
|
Pop. | Rank | City name | Member state
|
Pop. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
São Paulo |
1 | São Paulo | Brazil | 21,090,792 | 11 | Fortaleza | Brazil | 3,985,297 | Rio de Janeiro |
2 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | 13,693,657 | 12 | Salvador | Brazil | 3,953,290 | ||
3 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | 13,131,431 | 13 | Recife | Brazil | 3,914,397 | ||
4 | Bogotá | Colombia | 10,777,931 | 14 | Medellín | Colombia | 3,777,009 | ||
5 | Lima | Peru | 9,904,727 | 15 | Curitiba | Brazil | 3,502,804 | ||
6 | Santiago | Chile | 6,683,852 | 16 | Campinas | Brazil | 3,094,181 | ||
7 | Belo Horizonte | Brazil | 5,829,923 | 17 | Guayaquil | Ecuador | 2,952,159 | ||
8 | Caracas | Venezuela | 5,322,310 | 18 | Cali | Colombia | 2,911,278 | ||
9 | Porto Alegre | Brazil | 4,258,926 | 19 | Quito | Ecuador | 2,653,330 | ||
10 | Brasília | Brazil | 4,201,737 | 20 | Maracaibo | Venezuela | 2,576,836 |
Religion
An estimated 90.0% of South Americans are Christians[10] (82% Catholic, 8% other Christian denominations mainly traditional Protestants and Evangelicals but also Orthodoxy), accounting for ca. 19% of Christians worldwide.
were an important part of colonial life in Latin America.Both Buenos Aires, Argentina and São Paulo, Brazil figure among the largest Jewish populations by urban area.
Japanese Buddhism and Shinto-derived Japanese new religions are common in Brazil and Peru. Korean Confucianism is especially found in Brazil while Chinese Buddhism and Chinese Confucianism is spread throughout the continent.
Kardecist Spiritism can be found in several countries.
Religions in South America as of 2013:[11]
Country | Christians | Catholics | Other Christians | No religion (atheists and agnostics) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Argentina | 88% | 77% | 11% | 11% |
Bolivia | 96% | 74% | 22% | 4% |
Brazil | 86% | 64% | 22% | 9% |
Chile | 70% | 57% | 13% | 25% |
Colombia | 92% | 80% | 12% | 7% |
Paraguay | 95% | 85% | 10% | 2% |
Peru | 94% | 81% | 13% | 3% |
Suriname | 51% | 29% | 22% | 5% |
Uruguay | 58% | 47% | 11% | 41% |
Venezuela | 88% | 71% | 17% | 8% |
Racial
In terms of
Country | Amerindians | White people | Mestizos | Mulattos | Black people | Zambos | East Asians | Other | East Indians |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Argentina | 1.0% | 85.0% | 14.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Bolivia | 53.0% | 14.0% | 30.0% | 2.4% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Brazil | 0.4% | 47.7% | 22.9% | 20.1% | 7.6% | 0.0% | 1.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Chile | 3.0% | 52.0 % | 48.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Colombia | 1.8% | 37.0% | 49.0% | 8.2% | 2.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Ecuador | 25.0% | 9.9% | 56.1% | 3.9% | 5.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Guyana | 10.5% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 29.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 19.9% | 39.8% |
Paraguay | 3.0% | 43.0% | 55.0% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Peru | 37.0% | 20.0% | 38.0% | 2.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Suriname | 3.8% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 15.7% | 21.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 13.4% | 42.6% |
Uruguay | 0.0% | 88.0% | 8.0% | 4.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Venezuela | 2.7% | 42.7% | 49.7% | 7.7% | 2.0% | 0.0% | 0.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
South America is home to 400 million people, of which 180 million is composed of
According to genetic tests, the most prevalent DNA marker found in all people of the continent (including Whites and mixed peoples) is a marker for Iberian genes (Portuguese and Spaniard).[.
Brazil has 31 million Italians and Argentina 20, Uruguay, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador also have considerable Italian diasporas. Brazil has 15.7 million Germans, Austrians, Luxembourgers and Swiss (second largest German diaspora after US) and Argentina 3.5 million consisting mostly of Russian Volga Germans. Other German groups can be found in Chile, Bolivia (mostly Mennonites), Paraguay (mostly German-Brazilians but including Mennonites), Peru, Uruguay and colonies in Venezuela.
Brazil has the largest Slavic population with the number of Poles[14] reaching 3 million people, followed by Ukrainians and Russians but comprising many other nationalities. Argentina following with the second largest number of Slavs, comprises a sizeable Croatian population, although Chile's Croatian community is the largest outside Croatia.
Brazil has the largest Dutch and Scandinavian (mostly
The number of
South America is also home to 124 million Castizo, Mestizo or Caboclo people (citizens whose DNA is mostly European spanning from 65 to 90% European genes with considerable Indigenous admixture) and 27 million people with pure Indigenous extraction, mostly found in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, South of Colombia and parts of Chile and Northwest Argentina. Mestizos make the majority in Paraguay, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.
Most East Indian Hindus and Muslims live in Guyana and Suriname which is also home to a large Muslim Javanese community. East Indians are the vast majority in Guyana, followed by Blacks and also the majority in Suriname where they are followed by Maroons and Creoles.
Indonesians from the island of Java make 13.7% of Suriname's population which figures as 275 thousand
South America is home to over 5 million
Brazil is home to the largest
Other Asian nationalities can be found in smaller numbers, such as South Asians or East Indians, Southeast Asians and Central Asians. Brazil has 5 thousand Vietnamese people, 10 thousand East Indians, as well as 5 thousand Afghans, and a small number of Iranians. Argentina also have small numbers of Southern Asians or East Indians, while being home to most Southeast Asians, mostly Filipino.
Brazil is home to the largest
Roughly 14% of the population in French Guiana is of European ancestry, numbering at 35 thousand people. The vast majority of these are of French heritage, though there are also people of Dutch, British, Spanish and Portuguese ancestry. Countries that make part of South America but do not have Romance languages as their official national languages are Guyana, Suriname and the Falkland Islands.
Suriname has 2% of Europeans and Levantines or 12 thousand people, including Lebanese and Jews. Most Boeroes or Dutch Surinamese left after independence in 1975. There are less than 3 thousand Whites in Guyana where 0.5% of the population is counted as "others". The Falkland Islands have a low population density.
According to the 2012 census, the average daily population of the Falklands was 2,932, excluding military personnel serving in the archipelago and their dependents. The Falklands are a homogeneous society, with the majority of inhabitants descended from Scottish and Welsh immigrants who settled the territory in 1833. Other groups are English, French, Gibraltarian, Scandinavian, Saint Helenian and Argentine.
Indigenous peoples
Quechua | Guarani | Aymara |
Nahuatl | Mayan languages | Mapuche |
Indigenous people make up about half of the population of
Argentina
(68,454).Bolivia
In
Brazil
The Amerindians make up 0.4% of
Chile
According to the 2002 Census, 4.6% of the Chilean population (including the
Colombia
Colombia's indigenous peoples nonetheless encompass at least 85 distinct cultures and more than 1,378,884 people..
Ecuador
At the present the 25% of Ecuador's population is of indigenous heritage. Approximately 96.4% of Ecuador's Indigenous population are Highland Quichuas living in the valleys of the Sierra region. Primarily consisting of the descendants of Incans, they are
Peru
Indigenous population in Peru make up around 25%. Native Peruvian traditions and customs have shaped the way Peruvians live and see themselves today. Cultural citizenship—or what Renato Rosaldo has called, "the right to be different and to belong, in a democratic, participatory sense" (1996:243)—is not yet very well developed in Peru. This is perhaps no more apparent than in the country's Amazonian regions where indigenous societies continue to struggle against state-sponsored economic abuses, cultural discrimination, and pervasive violence.[24]
Venezuela
Indigenous population in Venezuela form about 2% of the total population,[25] although many Venezuelans share some indigenous ancestry. Indigenous people are concentrated in the Southern Amazon rainforest state of Amazonas, where they make up nearly 50% of the population and in the Andes of the western state of Zulia. The most numerous indigenous people, at about 200,000, is the Venezuelan part of the Wayuu (or Guajiro) people who primarily live in Zulia between Lake Maracaibo and the Colombian border. Another 100,000 or so indigenous people live in the sparsely populated southeastern states of Amazonas, Bolívar, and Delta Amacuro.
See also
References
- ^ Land areas and population estimates are taken from The 2008 World Factbook which currently uses August 2007 data, unless otherwise noted.
- ^ "The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- ^ La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia;
- Santiago is the administrative capital of Chile; Valparaísois the site of legislative meetings.
- ^ Claimed by Argentina.
- ^ "The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- INSEE, Government of France. "Population des régions au 1er janvier"(in French). Retrieved 20 January 2009.
- ^ Claimed by Argentina; the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean are commonly associated with Antarctica (due to proximity) and have no permanent population, only hosting a periodic contingent of about 100 researchers and visitors.
- INEGI. p. 5. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
- ^ Christians – Pew Research Center
- ^ "Las religiones en tiempos del Papa Francisco" (in Spanish). Latinobarómetro. April 2014. p. 7. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ^ "CIA — The World Factbook -- Field Listing — Ethnic groups". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
- ISSN 1405-1435. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 September 2008.
- ^ "Composição étnica do Brasil".
- ^ "INDEC: Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas (ECPI) 2004–2005". Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ^ Indigenous identification was treated in a complex way in the 2001 Census, which collected data on self-identification, capacity to speak an indigenous language, and learning an indigenous language as a child. CEPAL, "Los pueblos indígenas de Bolivia: diagnóstico sociodemográfico a partir del censo del 2001 Archived 30 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine," 2005, p. 32
- ^ CEPAL, "Los pueblos indígenas de Bolivia: diagnóstico sociodemográfico a partir del censo del 2001 Archived 30 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine," 2005, p. 42
- ^ Fineberg, Gail. "'500 Years of Brazil's Discovery'". Loc.gov. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "Brazil urged to protect Indians". BBC News. 30 March 2005. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ Colitt, Raymond (17 January 2007). "Brazil sees traces of more isolated Amazon tribes". Reuters. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "El gradiente sociogenético chileno y sus implicaciones ético-sociales". Medwave.cl. 15 June 2000. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ DANE 2005 national census
- ^ "Health equity and ethnic minorities in emergency situations", Pier Paolo Balladelli, José Milton Guzmán, Marcelo Korc, Paula Moreno, Gabriel Rivera, The Commission on Social Health Determinants, Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization, Bogotá, Colombia, 2007
- ISBN 978-0-8130-3378-5, UPF.com
- ^ Van Cott (2003), "Andean Indigenous Movements and Constitutional Transformation: Venezuela in Comparative Perspective", Latin American Perspectives 30(1), p52