Nicaragua single age population pyramid 2020

According to ,

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

has a population of .

Whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

and Mestizos and tribally unaffiliated Native Americans combined make up about 86% of the population. The remainder of the Nicaraguan population is 9% English-speaking Afro-Nicaraguans, and 5% Tribal Native American. Prior to the

Sandinista revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation F ...

of 1979 since most of the migration during the years that followed were primarily of upper or middle-class Nicaraguans, a group primarily made up of whites. A growing number of these expats have returned, while many continue to live abroad. The 42.5% of the population live below to the poverty line, The general poverty rate is estimated of 47.3%, although much of the population lives in the lower middle class because of low salaries and a minimal amount of PIB (US$1000–3000). The most populous city in the country is the capital city,

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

, with a population of 1.2 million (2005). As of 2005, over 4.4 million inhabitants live in the Pacific, Central and North regions. 2.7 million inhabitants reside in the Pacific region alone, while inhabitants in the Caribbean region only reach an estimated 700,000. The Census Bureau in Nicaragua is the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC). The institution is in charge of completing

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

es and surveys. INEC ran its first census in 1906, the last census was taken in 2005, it was the eighth to date.

Population

According to the total population was in , compared to only 1,295,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 34.5%, 60.9% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 4.6% was 65 years or older .Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (01.07.2009) (estimates):

Population distribution

Ninety percent of Nicaraguans live in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent interior highlands. The population is 54% urban. The most populous city in Nicaragua is the capital city,

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

, with a population of 1.2 million (2005). As of 2005, over 4.4 million inhabitants live in the Pacific, Central and North regions of the country. There are 2.7 million residents in the Pacific region. The Caribbean region has an estimated 700,000 residents. In addition, many Nicaraguans live abroad.

Departments by population

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Nicaragua not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.

Fertility and births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Births and deaths

Ethnic groups

In the 19th century, there had been a substantial

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

minority, but this group was also largely assimilated culturally into the mestizo majority. Primarily in the 19th century, Nicaragua saw several waves of immigration from other European nations. In particular the northern cities of

Estelí Estelí (), officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and municipality within the Estelí department. It is the 3rd largest city in Nicaragua due to the high urbanization of its municipality, at 83%, with an urban population of ...

Jinotega Jinotega () (derived from Náhuatl: ''Xiotenko'' ‘place next to the jiñocuajo trees’) is the capital city of the Department of Jinotega in north-central Nicaragua. The city is located in a long valley surrounded by the cool climate and D ...

and

Matagalpa Matagalpa () is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 111,258 (2021 estimate), According to the 2005 census 443,847 (8.6%) residents consider themselves to belong to an indigenous people or to an ethnic community. The remaining majority of the Nicaraguan population (91.6%) are deemed mestizo and white, with the majority of these being of Spanish, with some German, Italian, Portuguese and French ancestry. Mestizos and whites mainly reside in the western region of the country. Possibly also a part of the black or Afro-Nicaraguan population, which mainly resides on the country's sparsely populated Caribbean (or Atlantic) coast, is included in the majority population which does not consider itself to belong to an ethnic community. In the 2005 census, there were only 19,890 Creoles (0.4% of the total population). The Creole population is mostly of

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

(Antillean) origin, the descendants of indentured laborers brought mostly from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

when the region was a British protectorate. The

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian ...

, a people of mixed Carib,

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

n, Congolese and

Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Great ...

descent, numbered 3,271 in 2005 (0.1%). 112,253 people considered themselves "Mestizo de la Costa Caribe" (mestizo of the Caribbean coast). In addition to the inhabitants who declared themselves Indigenous or Ethnic community, 13,740 answered "Other". Another 47,473 responded "Not Sure" and an additional 19,460 responded "Ignore".

Indigenous population

The Native American population, the unmixed descendants of the country's indigenous inhabitants, numbered 227,760 (4.4% of the total population) in 2005. Nicaragua's

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

consisted of many indigenous groups. In the western region, the Nahua people (also known as the Pipil-Nicaraos) were present along with other groups such as the Chorotega people. The central region and the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua were inhabited by indigenous peoples who were mostly

Chibcha The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan lan ...

-related groups that had migrated from South America, primarily present day Colombia and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. These groups include the Miskitos (120,817 people),

Matagalpa Matagalpa () is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 111,258 (2021 estimate),Ramas (4,185 people), Sumos (9,756 people) and Ulwa (698 people). Other indigenous peoples include the Subtiaba (19,949 people) and modern-day Chorotegas who are also known as the Mangue (46,002 people). In the 19th century, there was still a substantial indigenous minority, but this group was largely assimilated culturally into the mestizo majority. In the mid-1980s, the government divided the department of Zelaya – consisting of the eastern half of the country — into two autonomous regions and granted the black and indigenous people of this region limited self-rule within the Republic.

Immigration

Relative to its overall population, Nicaragua has never experienced any large scale wave of

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

. The total number of immigrants to Nicaragua, both originating from other Latin American countries and all other countries, never surpassed 1% of its total population prior to 1995. The 2005 census showed the foreign-born population at 1.2%, having risen 0.06% in 10 years. However, in the 19th century, Nicaragua received immigrants from Europe, who established many agricultural businesses such as coffee and sugar cane plantations, and also newspapers, hotels and banks.

Emigration

During the

Nicaraguan Revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation F ...

and the Civil War, thousands of Nicaraguans left the country. After the 1990 Nicaraguan Elections some people returned, but many more emigrated during the rest of the decade. In 1998, the

Hurricane Mitch Hurricane Mitch is the second-deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, causing over 11,000 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately 7,000 in Honduras and 3,800 in Nicaragua due to cataclysmic flooding from the slow motion ...

killed almost 4,000 people in the country and destroyed much of the Nicaraguan economy, as a result thousands of Nicaraguans received the TPS for emigrate to the United States as "refugees". In recent years, many Nicaraguans had left the country to escape poverty and unemployment. Nicaraguan emigration is a recent process. During the 1990–2004 period, more than 800,000 Nicaraguans left the country, compared to 100,000 during the 1970–1989 period. According to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, in 2005 there were 683,520 Nicaraguans living outside Nicaragua legally. If those who are undocumented are counted, some sources estimate as many as 1,500,000 Nicaraguans living abroad by the end of 2005. Nicaraguans are the third largest community of Central Americans living abroad, after Guatemalans and

Salvadoran Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvad ...

s. Nicaragua is also the second country in Central America by percentage of population living abroad. Remittances to Nicaragua represent about 15% of the country's

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

. In 2008 Nicaragua received close to one billion dollars in remittances; an increase from the $750,000,000 received in 2007, according to the

Language

The official language of Nicaragua is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, or Nicañol as Nicaraguan Spanish is sometimes referred to, and is spoken by the country's population. In Nicaragua the

Voseo In Spanish grammar, () is the use of as a second-person singular pronoun, along with its associated verbal forms, in certain regions where the language is spoken. In those regions it replaces , i.e. the use of the pronoun and its verbal fo ...

form is common, just as in other countries in Central and South America like Honduras,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Spanish has many different dialects spoken throughout Latin America, Central American Spanish is the dialect spoken in Nicaragua. ;Phonology Some other characteristics of Nicaraguan phonology include: * /s/ at the end of a syllable or before a consonant is pronounced like * ''j'' (/x/), is aspirated; it is soft as the /h/ in English (e.g.: Yahoo). * Intervocalic /b/, /d/, and /g/ show no sign of reduction, and are much more pronounced than in most dialects. * In some regions the double /l/ is pronounced with a ( "Shhh") sound, Argentina has a similar accent. * There is no confusion between /l/ and /r/, as in the Caribbean. * /s/, /z/ and in some cases /c/ (as in ''cerrar'') are pronounced as * /m/ at the end of a word tends to be pronounced as Nicaraguans on the Caribbean coast speak their indigenous languages and also English. The indigenous peoples of the east who use their original language tend to also speak Spanish and/or English, the main languages being

Miskito language Miskito ( in the Miskito language) is a Misumalpan language spoken by the Miskito people in northeastern Nicaragua, especially in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, and in eastern Honduras. With 700,000 speakers, Miskito is the most ...

, Sumo language, and

Rama language Rama is one of the indigenous languages of the Chibchan family spoken by the Rama people on the island of Rama Cay and south of lake Bluefields on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Other indigenous languages of this region include Miskito and ...

. Creole languages are also present in the Caribbean coast, Nicaragua Creole English has 30,000 speakers. Nicaragua has many minority groups. Many ethnic groups in Nicaragua, such as the

Chinese Nicaraguan Chinese Nicaraguans (; es, Sino-nicaragüenses) are Nicaraguans of Chinese ancestry who immigrated to or born in Nicaragua. They are part of the Chinese diaspora. Chinese people first arrived in Nicaragua's Caribbean coast in the latter part of ...

s and Palestinian Nicaraguans, have maintained their ancestral languages while also speaking Spanish and/or English. Minority languages include Chinese, Arabic, German, Italian among others. Nicaragua also has a total of 3

extinct language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, l ...

Nicaraguan Sign Language Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN; es, Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua) is a form of sign language which developed spontaneously among deaf children in a number of schools in Nicaragua in the 1980s. It is of particular interest to linguists as it off ...

is also of particular interest to linguists.

Religion

Religion is a significant part of the culture of Nicaragua and forms part of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. Religious freedom, which has been guaranteed since 1939, and religious tolerance is promoted by both the Nicaraguan government and the constitution.

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

s are expected to lend their authority to important state occasions, and their pronouncements on national issues are closely followed. They can also be called upon to mediate between contending parties at moments of political crisis. Although Nicaragua has no official religion it is nominally

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. Practicing Roman Catholics are no longer the majority and are declining while

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

groups and Mormons are growing rapidly have been growing since the 1990s. There are also strong Anglican and Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast. Roman Catholicism came to Nicaragua in the 16th century with the Spanish conquest and remained, until 1939, the established faith.

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

and various

Christian sect A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

s came to Nicaragua during the 19th century, but only during the 20th century have Protestant denominations gained large followings in the Caribbean Coast of the country. Popular religion revolves around the saints, who are perceived as intermediaries between human beings and God. Most localities, from the capital of

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

to small rural communities, honor

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

s selected from the Roman Catholic calendar with annual ''fiestas''. In many communities, a rich lore has grown up around the celebrations of patron saints, such as Managua's Saint Dominic (Santo Domingo), honored in August with two colorful, often riotous, day-long processions through the city. The high point of Nicaragua's religious calendar for the masses is neither

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

nor

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, but La Purísima, a week of festivities in early December dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

, during which elaborate altars to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

are constructed in homes and workplaces.

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the 2022 World Population Review. *One birth every 4 minutes *One death every 15 minutes *One net migrant every 31 minutes *Net gain of one person every 7 minutes Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

:6,301,880 (2022 est.)

Ethnic groups

Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and White) 69%, White 17%, Black 9%, Amerindian 5%

Age structure

:0-14 years: 25.63% (male 811,731/female 777,984) :15-24 years: 19.51% (male 609,962/female 600,567) :25-54 years: 42.41% (male 1,254,683/female 1,376,052) :55-64 years: 6.63% (male 188,591/female 222,766) :65 years and over: 5.82% (2020 est.) (male 159,140/female 201,965)

Birth rate

:16.52 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 97th

Death rate

:5.17 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 191st

Median age

:total: 27.3 years. Country comparison to the world: 148th :male: 26.4 years :female: 28.2 years (2020 est.)

Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

:1.8 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 145th

Population growth rate

:0.92% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 104th

Net migration rate

:-2.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 170th

Mother's mean age at first birth

:19.2 years (2011/12 est.) :note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

Contraceptive prevalence rate

:80.4% (2011/12)

Life expectancy at birth

:total population: 74.78 years. Country comparison to the world: 132nd :male: 72.56 years :female: 77.11 years (2022 est.)

Urbanization

:urban population: 59.6% of total population (2022) :rate of urbanization: 1.45% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major infectious diseases

:degree of risk: high (2020) :food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever :vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria

Education expenditures

:3.4% of GDP (2019) Country comparison to the world: 132nd

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write :total population: 82.6% :male: 82.4% :female: 82.8% (2015)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

:total: 8.5% :male: 6.4% :female: 12.9% (2014 est.)

Languages

Spanish (official) 95.3%, Miskito 2.2%, Mestizo of the Caribbean coast 2%, other 0.5%; note - English and indigenous languages found on the Caribbean coast (2005 est.)

Religions

Roman Catholic 50%, Evangelical 33.2%, other 2.9%, none 0.7%, unspecified 13.2% (2017 est.)

References

External links

CIA World Factbook
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Demographics Of Nicaragua Society of Nicaragua

Population

Structure of the population

Population distribution

Departments by population

Vital statistics

Fertility and births

Ethnic groups

Indigenous population

Immigration

Emigration

Language

Religion

Other demographic statistics

Population

Ethnic groups

Age structure

Birth rate

Death rate

Median age

Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

Population growth rate

Net migration rate

Mother's mean age at first birth

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Life expectancy at birth

Urbanization

Major infectious diseases

Education expenditures

Literacy

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

Languages

Religions

See also

References

External links