With an estimated 46 million people in 2008, Colombia is the third-most populous country in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico. It is also home to the third-largest number of Spanish speakers in the world after Mexico and Spain. It is slightly ahead of Argentina by almost 6 million people. At the outset of the 20th century, Colombia's population was approximately 4 million. The population increased at a rate of 1.9% between 1975 and 2005, predicted to drop to 1.2% over the next decade. Colombia is projected to have a population of 50.7 million by 2015. These trends are reflected in the country's age profile. In 2005 over 30% of the population was under 15 years old, compared to just 5.1% aged 65 and over.
The population is concentrated in the Andean highlands and along the Caribbean coast. The nine eastern lowland departments, comprising 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 square mile). Traditionally a rural society, movement to urban areas was very heavy in the mid-20th century, and Colombia is now one of the most urbanized countries in Latin America. The urban population increased from 31% of the total in 1938 to 60% in 1975, and by 2005 the figure stood at 72.7%. The population of Bogotá alone has increased from just over 300,000 in 1938 to approximately 8 million today. In total seventy one cities now have populations of 100,000 or more (2013). As of 2010 Colombia has the world's largest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs), estimated up to 4.5 million people.
The life expectancy is 74.79 years, infant mortality of 15.92 per thousand. 93,4 % Colombians can read and write and spends about 7.3% of GDP to education.
Colombia is ranked third in the world in the Happy Planet Index.
Languages Main article: Languages of ColombiaMore than 99.2% of Colombians speak the Spanish language, but also 65 Amerindian languages, 2 Creole languages and the romani language are spoken in the country. English language also has official status in the San Andrés and Providencia Islands.
The overwhelming majority of Colombians speak Spanish (see also Colombian Spanish), but in total 101 languages are listed for Colombia in the Ethnologue database. The specific number of spoken languages varies slightly since some authors consider as different languages what others consider are varieties or dialects of the same language, the best estimates recorded that 68 languages are spoken in the country today. Most of these belong to the Chibchan, Arawak and Cariban language families. There are currently about 500,000 speakers of indigenous languages.
Ethnic groups Colombia is ethnically diverse Main article: Race and ethnicity in ColombiaThe descendants of the original native inhabitants, Spanish colonists, African people originally brought to the country as slaves and 20th-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East have produced a diverse cultural heritage in Colombia. The demographic distribution reflects a pattern is influenced by colonial history. Whites tend to live mainly in urban centers, particularly in Bogotá and the burgeoning highland cities. The populations of the major cities also include mestizos. Mestizo campesinos (people living in rural areas) also live in the Andean highlands where the Spanish conquerors mixed with the women of Amerindian chiefdoms. Mestizos include artisans and small tradesmen that have played a major part in the urban expansion of recent decades.
According to the 2005 census, 49% of Colombia's population is Mestizo or of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry. Approximately 37% is White Colombian (predominantly Spanish, and a part of Italian, Portuguese, and German). About 10.6% is of African ancestry. Indigenous Amerindians comprise 3.4% of the population. The 2005 census reported that the "non-ethnic population", consisting of whites and mestizos (those of mixed white European and Amerindian ancestry), constituted 86% of the national population.
The Wayuu are the largest indigenous ethnic group in ColombiaMany of the Indigenous peoples in Colombia were absorbed into the mestizo population, but the remainder currently represents over eighty-five distinct cultures. 567 reserves (resguardos) established for indigenous peoples occupy 365,004 square kilometres (over 30% of the country's total) and are inhabited by more than 800,000 people in over 67,000 families. Some of the largest indigenous groups are the Wayuu, the Arhuacos, the Muisca, the Kuna, the Paez, the Tucano and the Guahibo. Cauca, La Guajira and Guainia have the largest indigenous populations.
The Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia (ONIC), founded at the first National Indigenous Congress in 1982, is an organization representing the indigenous peoples of Colombia, who comprise some 800,000 people – roughly 2% of the population. In 1991, Colombia signed and ratified the current international law concerning indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989.
Black Africans were brought as slaves, mostly to the coastal lowlands, beginning early in the 16th century and continuing into the 19th century. Large Afro-Colombian communities are found today on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. The population of the department of Chocó, running along the northern portion of Colombia's Pacific coast, is over 80% black. A number of other Europeans and North Americans migrated to the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and, in smaller numbers, Poles, Lithuanians, English, Irish, and Croats during and after the Second World War.
Many immigrant communities have settled on the Caribbean coast, in particular recent immigrants from the Middle East. Barranquilla (the largest city of the Colombian Caribbean) and other Caribbean cities have the largest populations of Palestinian, Lebanese, and other Arabs, Sephardi Jews and Romanies. There are also important communities of Chinese and Japanese. There is a major migration trend of Venezuelans, due to the political and economic situation in Venezuela.
Religion Main article: Religion in Colombia See also: Freedom of religion in Colombia Salt Cathedral of ZipaquiráThe National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) does not collect religious statistics, and accurate reports are difficult to obtain. However, based on various studies, more than 95% of the population adheres to Christianity, the vast majority of which (between 81% and 90%) are Roman Catholic. About 1% of Colombians adhere to indigenous religions and under 1% to Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. However, around 60% of respondents to a poll by El Tiempo reported that they did not practice their Catholic faith actively.
Like the rest of Latin America, Colombia is seeing a continuous increase of Protestant adherents, most of them being converts from Catholicism to Protestantism. Now Protestants constitute between 10 to 13% of the Colombian population While Colombia remains a mostly Roman Catholic country by baptism numbers, the 1991 Colombian constitution guarantees freedom and equality of religion.
Today there is more openness to a great diversity of beliefs, including the activity of atheists who made the first World Congress of atheists in Bogota in the year 2001.
Largest cities v t e Largest cities or towns of Colombia Rank City name Department Pop. Rank City name Department Pop. ! Bogotá Medellín 1 Bogotá Bogotá 7,571,345 11 Santa Marta Magdalena 485,112 Cali Barranquilla 2 Medellín Antioquia 3,729,970 12 Soacha Cundinamarca 483,007 3 Cali Valle del Cauca 3,225,580 13 Pasto Nariño 422,618 4 Barranquilla Atlántico 2,185,359 14 Villavicencio Meta 410,222 5 Cartagena de indias Bolívar 1,492,545 15 Manizales Caldas 402,972 6 Cúcuta Norte de Santander 1,358,676 16 Montería Córdoba 400,790 7 Bucaramanga Santander 1,276,329 17 Bello Antioquia 391,591 8 Pereira Risaralda 616,512 18 Valledupar Cesar 380,302 9 Ibagué Tolima 600,000 19 Buenaventura Valle del Cauca 369,753 10 Soledad Atlántico 561,851 20 Neiva Huila 333,116
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