User:Dr Brains/sandbox

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Colombia

See also: List of Colombian Departments by population

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.

More than 99.2% of Colombians speak the Spanish language, but a hundred Amerindian languages ​​are spoken in the country.

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 the third in the world in the Happy Planet Index.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Race and ethnicity in Colombia

The country's ethnic diversity.

Afro-Colombian Fruit Vendor woman in Cartagena wearing the colors of the Colombian flag on her dress and apron.

According to the 2005 census, 49% of the population is Mestizo, or of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry. Approximately 37% is of European ancestry (predominantly Spanish, partly Italian, Portuguese, and German). About 10.6% is of African ancestry, whereas Indigenous Amerindians comprise 3.4% of the population. Other sources claim that up to 29% of Colombians (13 million people) have some African ancestry. The 2005 census reported that the "non-ethnic population", consisting of whites and mestizos (those of mixed white European and Amerindian ancestry, including almost all of the urban business and political elite), constituted 86% of the national population. The 86% figure is subdivided in to 49% mestizo and 37% white.

The overwhelming majority of Colombians speak Spanish (see also Colombian Spanish), but in total 101 languages are listed for Colombia in the Ethnologue database, of which 80 are spoken today. Most of these belong to the Chibchan, Arawak and Cariban language families. The Quechua language, spoken in the Andes region of the country, has also extended more northwards into Colombia, mainly in urban centers of major cities. There are currently about 500,000 speakers of indigenous languages.

The various groups exist in differing concentrations throughout the nation, in a pattern that to some extent goes back to colonial origins. The whites tend to live mainly in the urban centers, particularly in Bogotá and the burgeoning highland cities. The populations of the major cities are primarily white and mestizo. The large mestizo population includes most campesinos (people living in rural areas) of the Andean highlands where the Spanish conquerors had mixed with the women of Amerindian chiefdoms. Mestizos had always lived in the cities as well, as artisans and small tradesmen, and they have played a major part in the urban expansion of recent decades, as members of the working class or the poor.

Indigenous peoples

The Wayuu represent the largest indigenous ethnic group in Colombia.

Main article: Indigenous peoples in Colombia

Before the Spanish colonization of what is now Colombia, the territory was home to a significant number of indigenous peoples. Many of these 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. The 1991 constitution established their native languages as official in their territories, and most of them have bilingual education (native and Spanish).

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.

Immigrant groups

Día de las Velitas, (Little candles' day) one of the traditional holidays in Colombia. It is the Christmas opening day of the country.

Main article: Immigration to Colombia

The first and most substantial wave of modern immigration to Colombia consisted of Spanish colonists, following the arrival of Europeans in 1499. However a low 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. Today is a major migration trend of Venezuelans, due to the political and economic situation in Venezuela.

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 Lebanese and Arabs, Sephardi Jews, Roma. There are also important communities of Chinese and Japanese.

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.

Impact of armed conflict on civilians

Around one third of the people in Colombia have been affected in some way by the ongoing armed conflict. The FARC is the leading guerilla in Colombia. Those with direct personal experience make up 10% of the population and many others also report suffering a range of serious hardships. Overall, 31% have been affected on a personal level or as a result of the wider consequences of the conflict. During the 1990s, an estimated 35,000 people died as a result of the armed conflict. Trade unions in Colombia are included among the victimized groups with over 2,800 of their members being murdered between 1986 and 2010.

During the first six months of 2011 it is estimated that 98,000 people had to flee their homes due to the internal armed conflict. A total of 3.7 million people have been displaced due to violence between 2000 and 2011.

Las Lajas Sanctuary in Nariño.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Colombia

See also: Freedom of religion in Colombia

The 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. Religious groups are readily able to obtain recognition as organized associations, although some smaller ones have faced difficulty in obtaining the additional recognition required to offer chaplaincy services in public facilities and to perform legally recognized marriages. Before the constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, Catholicism was the official states religion. After the 1991 constitution, there was a separation between the Catholic Church and the state, although the Catholic Church still holds a privilege position in Colombia.

Currently in Colombia there is some religious persecution against Evangelical Protestant leaders coming from Terrorist organizations, mostly FARC. They persecute Protestant leaders especially in rural areas for their biblical teaching that violence should not be acceptable.

Health

Main article: Health care in Colombia

Life expectancy at birth in 2005 was 72.3 years; 2.1% of the population would not reach the age of 5, and 9.2% would not reach the age of 40; the life expectancy increased to 74.79 years by 2012. Health standards in Colombia have improved greatly since the 1980s. A 1993 reform transformed the structure of public health-care funding by shifting the burden of subsidy from providers to users. As a result, employees have been obligated to pay into health plans to which employers also contribute. Although this new system has widened population coverage by the social and health security system from 21% (pre-1993) to 56% in 2004 and 66% in 2005, health disparities persist, with the poor continuing to suffer relatively high mortality rates. In 2002 Colombia had 58,761 physicians, 23,950 nurses, and 33,951 dentists; these numbers equated to 1.35 physicians, 0.55 nurses, and 0.78 dentists per 1,000 population, respectively. In 2005 Colombia was reported to have only 1.1 physicians per 1,000 population, as compared with a Latin American average of 1.5. The health sector reportedly is plagued by rampant corruption, including misallocation of funds and evasion of health-fund contributions.