Native Americans are believed to make up 40-60 per cent of the total population; mestizos, 40-50; blacks and mulattos, 5-10 percent; and unmixed Europeans, 5-10 percent. The official national language is Spanish, but nearly 30 percent of the people speak aboriginal languages.
About the 52 percent of the population lives in the coastal lowlands, with an average population density of nearly 80 persons per squere kilometer. The most densily inhabited province is Guayas (which includes the conurbation of Guayaquil) with 130 persons per square kilometer. Forty-five percent of the population resides in the highland region, which has an average population density of 70 persons per square kilometer. Slightly more than 3 percent of the population lives in the eastern lowlands, which has an average density of only 2.4 persons per square kilometer. The development of oilfields and agriculture over the last 25 years has resulted in a significant increase in population in the eastern region.