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Population of Chile from 1950, projected up to 2050 (INE)
Chile has a population of over 16 million people. About 85% is urban-dwelling, roughly half of which (approx. 6.5 million people) is densely concentrated in Greater Santiago. The population growth is amongst the lowest in Latin America, at around 0.97%, and comes in third only to Uruguay and Cuba. The population is growing enough to fill the replacement rate, with the country\'s population expected to reach 20 million by the year 2025, and 20.2 million by 2050.
After three decades of recession and economic decline, Chile living standards rebounded and had unprecedented economic growth in the 1990s and early 2000s. In relation to income distribution, some 6.2% of the country populates the upper economic income bracket, 15% the middle bracket, 21% the lower middle, 38% the lower bracket, and 20% the extreme poor.Santiago Times
The population consists predominantly of mestizosUniversity of Talca www.atalca.clwww.nationbynation.comwww.bartleby.com (the product of racial mixture between colonial Spanish settlers and indigenous tribes, in varying degrees) and Europeans, with minor Amerindian admixture. In ethnic identity, the country is relatively homogenous, stemming from a largely cohesive national identity known locally as Chilenidad. Not defined by race, Chilenidad manifests a sense of shared non-indigenous cultural identity, and the major conscious divide among Chileans is based on indigenous and non-indigenous identities.
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The bulk of the Chilean population features a considerably homogenous mestizo quality"Elementos de Salud Pública" University of Chile, section 5.2.6, the product of miscegenation between colonial Spanish immigrants (mainly soldiers) and Amerindian females."DYS19 and DYS199 loci in a Chilean population of mixed ancestry" University of Chile Chile\'s ethnic structure can be classified as white and white-Mestizo 95%, Amerindian 3%, other 2%. Whites are mostly Spanish in origin (mainly Castilians, Andalusians and Basques), and to a lesser degree from Chile\'s various waves of immigrants (Italians, Germans, Israelis, Croatians, Arabs, etc.). Foreigners have always been scarce in Chile, totalling 600 in the whole colonial period. At the 1960 census they numbered 105,000 (55% being Spanish, German, or Italians[citation needed], in that order). Besides being small in number, they mixed quickly with the locals. The black population was always scant, reaching a high of 25,000 during the colonial period; its racial contribution is less than 1%. The current Native American population is relatively small (see below) according to the censuses; their numbers are augmented when one takes into consideration those that are physically similar, and those that are linguistically or socially thought to belong to them.
Amerindian contribution tends to be strongest in the lower echelons of society, with the middle majority presenting a more balanced degree of both European and Amerindian ancestry, while the upper echelons of society tend to register the lowest degree of Amerindian contribution. Almost the entirety of the population, however, presents a racially mixed origin, and only a small minority can truly be said to be unmixed European or unmixed Amerindian. However, it is most probable that the unmixed Chilean Amerindian population is now extinct. g
Based solely on physical appearance, between 5 and 10% of the current population would be classified as Amerindian (a range coinciding with the last two census findings of indigenous self-identification), some 30% would be classified as solely whiteracial structures in Chile--University of Chile, and the remaining majority, between 60 and 65%, would be the discernably white-mestizo population tending towards a slightly greater input on the European side, and averaging a racial mixture not much lower than the average ratio for Chile\'s overall population.
According to the Program of Human Genetics of the University of Chile, the average ratio of racial mixture for Chile\'s overall population, calculated by the use of nuclear markers, is approximately 60% European contribution and 40% Amerindian, depending on the socioeconomic level.www.scielo.cl According to Rothhammer (1987/2004), that average ratio stands at 57% European contribution and 43% Amerindian.Admixture Studies in Latin America: From the 20th to the 21st Centurywww.backintyme.com
The 1961 and 1971 Chilean censuses found that between 25 to 40% of the population claimed to be of "white", "Spanish" or "mostly European" descent.[citation needed] But in the 1981 and 1991 censuses, more people identified themselves as "mestizos" or not entirely Caucasian, thus an increase of the country\'s mestizaje identity.[citation needed]
| Those belonging to recognised indigenous communities (2002) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alacalufe | 2.622 | 0,02% | Mapuche | 604.349 | 4,00% |
| Atacameño | 21.015 | 0,14% | Quechua | 6.175 | 0,04% |
| Aymara | 48.501 | 0,32% | Rapanui | 4.647 | 0,03% |
| Colla | 3.198 | 0,02% | Yámana | 1.685 | 0,01% |
According to the 1992 Chilean census, a total of 10.5% of the total population declared themselves indigenous, irrespective of whether they currently practiced or spoke a native culture and language; almost one million people (9.7% of the total) declared themselves Mapuche, 0.6% declared to be Aymara, and a 0.2% reported as Rapanui.
At the 2002 census, only indigenous people that still practiced or spoke a native culture and language were surveyed: 4.6% of the population (692,192 people) fit that description; of these, 87.3% declared themselves Mapuche. Census 2002 IRE.
All other indigenous groups included non-Mapuche Amerindians, as well as the native Polynesian people of Easter Island, the Rapa Nui.
Relative to its overall population, Chile never experienced any large scale wave of immigrants.Chile: Moving Towards a Migration Policy www.migrationinformation.org The total number of immigrants to Chile, both originating from other Latin American countries and all other (mostly European) countries, never surpassed 4% of its total population. This is not to say that immigrants were not important to the evolution of Chilean society and the Chilean nation.
Some non-Spanish European immigrants arrived in Chile - mainly to the northern and southern extremities of the country - during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, including Britons, Italians, French, Germans, Austrians, Dutch, Scandinavians, Portuguese, Greeks and Croats.) Though relatively few, they did transform the country culturally, economically and politically.
In 1848 a small but noteworthy German immigration took place, sponsored by the Chilean government with aims of colonising the southern region. Though comprised only by an estimated 8,000, these Germans (some were Swiss) influenced the cultural composition of the southern provinces of Valdivia, Llanquihue and Osorno. They settled lands opened by the Chilean government in order to populate the region.
In the aftermaths of the Spanish Civil War, 2,200 Spanish Republicans landed in Valparaiso brought by the Winnipeg, a French ship which had been transformed by Pablo Neruda, then Consul in Paris for Immigration.
Also worth mentioning are the sizable Middle Eastern population, especially Palestinian Chilean communities, the latter being the largest colony of that people outside of the Arab world, along with Lebanese and Syrians.
There\'s an established community of Japanese-Chileans, one of the largest Asian-Latin American populations, descendants of migrant laborers whom arrived in the late 1800s and an estimated 100,000 (about 5,000 full-blooded) of Japanese descent live in the country. Also included are sizable Chinese and Korean communities.[citation needed]
The volume of immigrants from neighboring countries to Chile during those same periods was of a similar value, but there was an increase of Chinese, Taiwanese and Middle East Armenian immigration to Chile since the 1990s.
Currently, immigration from neighboring countries to Chile is greatest, and during the last decade immigration to Chile has doubled to 184,464 people in 2002, originating primarily from Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, and from other Latin American countries seeking new employment opportunities. A large majority of contract mine workers in famed mines in the Atacama Desert and the Andes come from neighboring Bolivia.
Afro-Chileans, descendants of slaves in a country where slavery was not widely practiced, live in an enclave of Arica province, near the Peruvian border.African-American foundation of Chile
Some historians questioned on the valid theory of thousands of Cherokee Indians whom fled the Trail of Tears settled in Chile and across South America in the mid 19th century, and about 10,000 Cherokee descendants live there today.[citation needed]
Emigration of Chileans has decreased during the last decade: It is estimated that 857,781 Chileans live abroad, 50.1% of those being in Argentina (the highest number), 13.3% in the United States, 8.8% in Brazil, 4.9% in Sweden, and around 2% in Australia, with the rest being scattered in smaller numbers across the globe. Other Chilean refugees settled (not ranked by order of size) in Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain.
Many pro-Allende refugees in the 1970s fled to East Germany, including current president Michelle Bachelet had also lived in Australia.Bachelet is first female Chilean leader New Age (Online Newspaper) While anti-Pinochet refugees formed a large expatriate community in Europe and a smaller community in North America (the US and Canada).
Over 10,000 Chileans fleeing from both regimes settled in the US (a small number compared to other Latino groups) in the 1970s and 1980s, the highest number settled in Miami, Florida. But smaller enclaves are in Washington, DC; New York City; and California (the Los Angeles area - Beverly Hills and Long Beach); and San Francisco (San Mateo County).
Historic emigration took place in the early 19th century when Chilean ranchers went to Mexico after their independence. Thousands of miners from Chile went to California, the U.S. during the 1850s California gold rush, as well in other gold rushes in Colorado (1870s) and the Yukon (1890s). Small numbers of Chilean miners also migrated to South Africa and Australia for the same reason.http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Chilean-Americans.html http://museumvictoria.com.au/origins/history.aspx?id=8
See also articles on overseas Chilean communities: Chilean American, Chilean Australian and Chileans residing in France and Sweden.
Chile. Population density by comuna, based on census 2002
16,284,742
| White-White/Amerindian | Amerindian |
|---|---|
| 95% | 3% |
| 10,788,748 | 829,903 |
For the precise numbers of declared religions among the population ages 15 and over as indicated by the results of the latest census, see source *2002 Census data. See also Category:Religion in Chile.
| Demographics of South America | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sovereign states | -->Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Guyana · Panama* · Paraguay · Peru · Suriname · Trinidad and Tobago* · Uruguay · Venezuela |  |
| Dependencies | -->Aruba* (Netherlands) · Falkland Islands (UK) · French Guiana (France) · Netherlands Antilles* (Netherlands) · South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK) | |
| * Territories also in or commonly reckoned elsewhere in the Americas (North America). | ||
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