Total population | |
---|---|
c.13.2 million Diaspora 1.4 million | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Bolivia 11 million | |
Argentina | ~1,000,000–2,000,000 [1] |
Brazil | 350,000-600,000 [2] |
Spain | 239.000 [3] -179,571 [4] (not including the naturalized, nor their descendants). [5] |
Chile | 148,059 (2022) [6] |
United States | 99,296 [7] |
France | 25,000 [8] |
Italy | 12,924 [9] |
Japan | 7,103 [10] |
Australia | 956 [11] |
Languages | |
Primarily Spanish Quechua, Aymara, Guarani and other languages of Bolivia | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Roman Catholic [12] (syncretism with traditional beliefs is widely practiced) Protestant and Mormon minorities [13] |
Bolivians (Spanish : Bolivianos) are people identified with the country of Bolivia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Bolivians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Bolivian.
Bolivia is, as its neighboring countries, a multiethnic and multilingual society, home to people of various ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of indigenous and Old World immigrants and their descendants. As a result, Bolivians do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Bolivia. Aside from the indigenous populations, Bolivians trace their ancestry to the Old World, primarily Europe and Africa, ever since the Spanish conquest of South America and founding of first Spanish settlements in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
Modern Bolivian population, estimated at 11 million is formally broken down into Amerindians (primarily Quechua and Aymara, Guaraní peoples), Mestizos, Europeans and Afro-Bolivians. The group's sole common language is Spanish (Bolivian Spanish), although the Guarani, Aymara and Quechua languages are also widely spoken in their communities and to some degree by others, and all three, as well as 34 other indigenous languages, are official languages of the country. The mutual influence and interaction of cultures of Bolivia have resulted in modern Bolivian society becoming one of prime examples of a melting pot according to some anthropologists.
Indigenous-Native peoples self-identification [14] | |
---|---|
Indigenous self-identification | 60 % |
None self-identification | 40 % |
Ethnic self-identification [15] | |
Mestizo | 68 % |
Indigenous | 21 % |
White Bolivian | 4 % |
Cholo | 2 % |
Afro-Bolivian | 1 % |
Other | 1 % |
n/a | 3 % |
The ethnic composition of Bolivia includes a great diversity of cultures. Most of the indigenous peoples have assimilated a mestizo culture, diversifying and expanding their indigenous heritage; as such, many people of exclusively Amerindian ancestry may simply identify as "Mestizo". Consequently, there is in Bolivia a mix of cultures, which joins together Hispanic and Amerindian cultures.
Mestizos are people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. They are distributed throughout the entire country and compose about 68% of the Bolivian population. [16] Most people assume their mestizo identity while at the same time identifying themselves with one or more Indigenous cultures. Genetic research indicates that the ancestry of Bolivian mestizos is predominantly indigenous. [17] [18] [19]
Indigenous, also called "originarios" ("native" or "original") and, less frequently, Amerindians. This ethnic group is composed by the descendants of the Pre-Hispanic cultures. They can be Andean, as the Aymaras and Quechuas (which formed the ancient Inca Empire), which concentrate in the western departments of La Paz, Potosí, Oruro, Cochabamba and Chuquisaca. There also is an important oriental ethnic population, composed by the Chiquitano, Guaraní and Moxos, among others, and that inhabit the departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, Tarija and Pando. According to the most recent census, the indigenous people compose 20% of the Bolivian population, but in reality, this number is closer to 62%. [20]
Modern estimates determine that White or European Bolivians now represent only 5% of the population [21] and according to a 2014 survey by Ipsos, 3% of people questioned said they were white. [22] In the 1900 census, White Bolivians composed 12.72% or 231,088 (115,139 men, 115,949 women) of the total population and the last official census that collected data of racial origin. [23] Most people who identify as white are descendants of criollos and European immigrants, coming mostly from Spain, Croatia, Germany and Italy. [21] They are usually concentrated in the largest cities — La Paz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Cochabamba and Tarija (being the department where the eurodescendants predominate by density but not by quantity). In the Santa Cruz Department there is an important colony (70.000 inhabitants) of German-speaking Mennonites. [24]
Afro-Bolivians are descendants of African slaves, who arrived in the times of the Spanish Empire. They inhabit the department of La Paz and in the provinces of Nor Yungas and Sud Yungas. 23,330 people self-identified as Afro-Bolivian in the 2012 census. [25]
The Indigenous peoples of Bolivia are divided into two ethnic groups: the Andeans, who are in the Andean Altiplano and the valley region, and the ethnic culture of the oriental Llanos region, who inhabit the warm regions of eastern Bolivia (Gran Chaco).
N° | Group | Population | % | N° | Group | Population | % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Quechua | 1,837,105 | 18.26% | 6 | Guarayo | 23,910 | 0.24% |
2 | Aymara | 1,598,807 | 15.89% | 7 | Afro-Bolivian | 23,330 | 0.23% |
3 | Chiquitano | 145,653 | 1.45% | 8 | Movima | 18,879 | 0.19% |
4 | Guaraní | 96,842 | 0.96% | 9 | Tacana | 18,535 | 0.18% |
5 | Mojeño | 42,093 | 0.42% | 10 | Tsimane Chimán | 16,958 | 0.17% |
Source: 2012 Census of Bolivia [25] | |||||||
The Roman Catholic church has a dominant religious presence in Bolivia. [13] While a vast majority of Bolivians are Catholic Christians, [28] a much smaller portion of the population participates actively. In the decades following the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), the Church tried to make religion a more active force in social life.
A 2008 survey for Americas Barometer, with 3,003 respondents and an error (+/- 1,8%) [29] returned these results:
Religion | Percentage | Notes |
---|---|---|
Catholic | 81.6% | |
Evangelical | 10.3% | Pentecostal, Non-Catholic Charismatic |
No religion | 3.3% | Secular, Atheist |
Other Protestant | 2.6% | Historic Protestant: Adventist, Baptist, Calvinist, Salvation Army, Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian |
Mormon and Jehova's Witness | 1.7% | |
Non-Christian | 0.4% | Baháʼí Faith, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu |
Traditional religions | 0.1% | Native religions |
Other reviews of the population vary from these specific results. [30]
Some cultural development of what is now Bolivia is divided into three distinct periods: pre-Columbian, colonial, and republican. Important archaeological ruins, gold and silver ornaments, stone monuments, ceramics, and weavings remain from several important pre-Columbian cultures. Major ruins include Tiwanaku, Samaipata, Inkallaqta and Iskanwaya. The country abounds in other sites that are difficult to reach and hardly explored by archaeologists.
The Spanish brought their own tradition of religious art which, in the hands of local indigenous and mestizo builders and artisans, developed into a rich and distinctive style of architecture, literature, and sculpture known as "Mestizo Baroque." The colonial period produced the paintings of Perez de Holguin, Flores, Bitti, and others, and also the works of skilled but unknown stonecutters, woodcarvers, goldsmiths, and silversmiths. An important body of native baroque religious music of the colonial period was recovered in recent years and has been performed internationally to wide acclaim since 1994. Bolivian artists of stature in the 20th century include, among others, Guzman de Rojas, Arturo Borda, María Luisa Pacheco, Master William Vega, Alfredo Da Silva, and Marina Núñez del Prado.
Many dances and songs contain elements from both the native and European cultures. Caporales seems to be the most popular Bolivian dance of present times — in a few decades it has developed into an enormously popular dance, [31] not only in the Highlands where it originated, but also in the Lowlands and in Bolivian communities outside the country. In the Highlands, other traditional and still very popular dances are:
In the Lowlands, there are:
It is fashionable among Bolivian Andean women of indigenous descent to wear a ski. It was originally a Spanish peasant skirt that the colonial authorities forced indigenous women to wear. Now it is a symbol of pride in being indigenous and is considered a status symbol.
Another fashion is the bowler hat, which was adopted from the British. The position of the hat can indicate a woman's marital status and aspirations.
Bolivian cuisine stems mainly from the combination of Spanish cuisine with traditional indigenous Bolivian ingredients, with later influences from Argentines, Germans, Italians, Basques, Croats, Russians, and Poles, due to the arrival of immigrants from those countries. [32]
The traditional staples of Bolivian cuisine are corn and potatoes. These ingredients have been combined with a number of staples brought by the Spanish, such as rice, wheat, and meat, such as beef, pork, and chicken
This is a demography of the population of Peru including population density, ethnicity, education level, the health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The demographic characteristics of the population of Bolivia are known from censuses, with the first census undertaken in 1826 and the most recent in 2024. The National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia (INE) has performed this task since 1950. The population of Bolivia in 2024 reached 11 million for the first time in history. The population density is 11.36 inhabitants per square kilometer, and the overall life expectancy in Bolivia at birth is 68.2 years. The population has steadily risen from the late 1800s to the present time. The natural growth rate of the population is positive, which has been a continuing trend since the 1950s; in 2012, Bolivia's birth rate continued to be higher than the death rate. Bolivia is in the third stage of demographic transition. In terms of age structure, the population is dominated by the 15–64 segment. The median age of the population is 23.1, and the gender ratio of the total population is 0.99 males per female.
Mestizo is a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though their ancestors were Indigenous. The term was used as an ethno-racial exonym for mixed-race castas that evolved during the Spanish Empire. It was a formal label for individuals in official documents, such as censuses, parish registers, Inquisition trials, and others. Priests and royal officials might have classified persons as mestizos, but individuals also used the term in self-identification. With the Bourbon reforms and the independence of the Americas, the caste system disappeared and terms like "mestizo" fell in popularity.
The Aymara or Aimara, people are an indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. Approximately 2.3 million Aymara live in northwest Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. The ancestors of the Aymara lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Inca Empire in the late 15th or early 16th century, and later of the Spanish in the 16th century. With the Spanish American wars of independence (1810–1825), the Aymaras became subjects of the new nations of Bolivia and Peru. After the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile annexed territory with the Aymara population.
Cochabamba, from Quechua qucha or qhucha, meaning "lake", pampa meaning "plain", is one of the nine departments of Bolivia. It is known to be the "granary" of the country because of its variety of agricultural products from its geographical position. It has an area of 55,631 km2. Its population in the 2024 census was 2,005,373. Its capital is the city of Cochabamba, known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" because of its spring-like temperatures all year.
Cochabamba is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and the fourth largest city in Bolivia, with a population of 630,587 according to the 2012 Bolivian census. Its name is from a compound of the Quechua words qucha "lake" and pampa, "open plain." Residents of the city and the surrounding areas are commonly referred to as cochalas or, more formally, cochabambinos.
Quechua people, Quichua people or Kichwa people may refer to any of the Indigenous peoples of South America who speak the Quechua languages, which originated among the Indigenous people of Peru. Although most Quechua speakers are native to Peru, there are some significant populations in Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina.
The languages of Bolivia include Spanish; several dozen indigenous languages, most prominently Aymara, Quechua, Chiquitano, and Guaraní; Bolivian Sign Language. Indigenous languages and Spanish are official languages of the state according to the 2009 Constitution. The constitution says that all indigenous languages are official, listing 36 specific languages, of which some are extinct. Spanish and Quechua are spoken primarily in the Andes region, Aymara is mainly spoken in the Altiplano around Lake Titicaca, Chiquitano is spoken in the central part of Santa Cruz department, and Guarani is spoken in the southeast on the border with Paraguay and Argentina.
Chileans are an ethnic group and nation native to the country of Chile and its neighboring insular territories. Most Chileans share a common culture, history, ancestry and language. The overwhelming majority of Chileans are the product of varying degrees of admixture between European ethnic groups with peoples indigenous to Chile's modern territory. Chile is a multilingual and multicultural society, but an overwhelming majority of Chileans have Spanish as their first language and either are Christians or have a Christian cultural background.
The demographic history of Peru shows the structure of the population in different historical periods. Peru's population drastically increased in the 1900s, with a diverse range of ethnic divisions living in the country. Lima is its capital city situated along the Pacific Ocean coast, where most of its population lives, and its population size is around 9.75 million. Major cities are located near the coastal areas of Peru. In terms of population and area size, it is the fourth and third largest country in South America, a place where the ancestral transcends and all forms of art combine. Peru became an independent country on July 28, 1821. However, Peru did not have a proper national census until 1876, more than a half-century after independence. They took the data before the federal census through different mediums but not on a national level. The significant migration in Peru consisted of Indigenous people, Europeans, enslaved Africans, and Asians; Spaniards were the first European who came to Peru, arrived in 1531, and discovered the Inca culture. The Incas established pre-Columbian America's greatest and most advanced kingdom and monarchy. However, native Americans were still in a larger proportion to total population.
The Media Luna or Media Luna Ampliada refers to a group of four departments – Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, and Tarija – in Bolivia which are home to a greater proportion of opponents to the national government led by Evo Morales and the Movement for Socialism (MAS) than the rest of the country. Pando has seen increasing support for MAS since 2009, while Tarija was initially supportive but has opposed MAS in every election after 2014. In contrast to the predominantly Indigenous Andean populations of the Andean region such as La Paz and Cochabamba, the departments in the Media Luna are majority mestizo, as well as being made up of the remaining 26 groups of lowland indigenes with white minorities, specifically in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
The Morenada is an Andean folk dance whose origins are still under debate. This dance is practiced mainly in Bolivia as well as in Peru and in recent years with Bolivian immigration in Chile, Argentina and other countries.
Totora, Tutura or T'utura is a town in the Carrasco Province of the Cochabamba Department in Bolivia. It is the capital and most-populous place of the Totora Municipality. As of the 2012 census, the population is 1,925. The first settlers were the Inca. Totora was officially settled in 1876, and declared a town by the Government of Bolivia in 1894.
Latin America's population is composed of a diverse mix of ancestries and ethnic groups, including Indigenous peoples, Europeans, Africans, Asians, and those of mixed heritage, making it one of the most ethnically diverse regions globally. The specific composition of the group varies from country to country. Many have a predominance of European-Amerindian or Mestizo population; in others, Amerindians are a majority; some are dominated by inhabitants of European ancestry; and some countries' populations have large African or Mulatto populations.
Race and ethnicity in Colombia descend mainly from three racial groups—Europeans, Amerindians, and Africans—that have mixed throughout the last 500 years of the country's history. Some demographers describe Colombia as one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the Western Hemisphere and in the World, with 900 different ethnic groups. Most Colombians identify themselves and others according to ancestry, physical appearance, and sociocultural status. Social relations reflect the importance attached to certain characteristics associated with a given racial group. Although these characteristics no longer accurately differentiate social categories, they still contribute to one's rank in the social hierarchy. A study from Rojas et al. involving 15 departments determined that the average Colombian has a mixture of 47% Amerindian, 42% European, and 11% African. These proportions also vary widely among ethnicities.
White Bolivians, also known as Caucasian Bolivians, are Bolivians who have predominantly or total European and West Asian ancestry, most notably from Spain and Germany, and to a lesser extent, Italy and Croatia.
The Indigenous peoples in Bolivia or Native Bolivians are Bolivians who have predominantly or total Amerindian ancestry. They constitute anywhere from 20 to 60% of Bolivia's population of 11,306,341, depending on different estimates, and depending notably on the choice Mestizo being available as an answer in a given census, in which case the majority of the population identify as mestizo, and they belong to 36 recognized ethnic groups. Aymara and Quechua are the largest groups. The geography of Bolivia includes the Andes, the Gran Chaco, the Yungas, the Chiquitania and the Amazon Rainforest.
The Bolivian Civil War, also known as the Federal War was a civil war in Bolivia fought from 1898 to 1899. The war saw two factions, a conservative side supported by the political, economic and religious elite of the country with control of the armed forces and who defended a unitary state, and a liberal faction opposed to the policies set by the state and that intended to transform the country into a federation, with support of the peasantry, the indigenous peoples and small Catholic businesses.
Jesús Lara Lara was a Bolivian writer, poet, novelist, linguist, indigenist, journalist and politician. He was a member of the Unión Nacional de Poetas y Escritores de Cochabamba.