POPULATION
The population of Chile was estimated at 13 million at the beginning of 1990. It was 11, 275 in the 1982 census and has increased at an average annual rate of 1.7 percent. Immigration from Europe contributed much to the comparatively rapid growth of the population in the first decades following the World War II. The great majority of the population is mestizo, that is, mixed Europeans and American Indian descent. Estimates of the portion of the population of "pure" European descent vary between 2 and 30 percent. Only about 5 percent are "pure" descendants of the native Indian population. These are mainly concentrated in the Andes in northern Chile, in some valleys of south central Chile, and along the southern coast.
The official language is Spanish. The indigenous Indian population still uses native languages, mainly Araucanian. Approximately 89.5 percent of the population is Catholic, and 8 percent Protestant.
Nearly 90 percent of the population is concentrated in central Chile, in the area between Coquimbo in the north and Puerto Montt in the south, mainly in the region's Central Valley. Even in this part of the country, with the exception of Santiago metropolitan area, the average population density does not exceed 50 inhabitants per square kilometer (130 per square mile). The average population density for the country is 17 per square kilometer. Chile is one of the most urbanized countries in Latin America, with 86 percent of the population residing in urban areas.
Click here to return to Chile's page
Click here to return to Andean Countries' Index page