Demographics of Ecuador Information & Demographics of Ecuador Links at HealthHaven.com

Ecuador's population is very diverse, comprising many races and ethnic groups. In general, Ecuadorians trace their origins from four sources of migration: Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians.

Mestizos or Mixed blood Indigenous (those of mixed Amerindian and Spanish ancestry) are by far the largest of all the ethnic groups, constituting over 65 per cent of the current population. In second place are the Amerindians, who account for approximately a quarter of the population. The whites/Caucasians are mainly criollos, unmixed descendants of Spanish colonists, and account for 7 percent of the Ecuadorian population. Notwithstanding there were more or less large waves of immigration from Palestine, Italy, Germany, France and other European countries. The Afro-Ecuadorian community, including mulattos and zambos, constitutes the remaining 3 percent.

In recent decades, there has been high emigration due to the economic crisis that plagued the country during the 1990s after the war with Peru and the corrupt political machine. Consequently, over 400,000 Ecuadorians each live in Spain and Italy, and around 100,000 in the United Kingdom (Ecuadorian Britons) while several hundred thousand Ecuadorians live in the US, (450,000 by some estimates) mostly in the city of New York and the state of New Jersey. Other Ecuadorians have emigrated across Latin America, tens of thousands have gone to Japan and to Australia. One famous American of Ecuadorian (see Ecuadorian American) descent is pop music vocalist Christina Aguilera

Ecuador has seen increased immigration from the Middle East, Asia (especially China and Japan), North America and Europe. In Ecuador live about 100,000 American and 30,000 European Union expatriates.^{[citation needed]}

There is a diverse community of Middle Eastern peoples Ecuadorians, numbering in the tens of thousands, mostly from Lebanese, Syria, Palestinian and Eastern Europe origin, prominent in commerce and industry, and concentrated in the coastal cities of Guayaquil, Quevedo y Machala. They are well assimilated into the local culture and are referred commonly as "turcos" since the early migrants arrived with passports issued by the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the century.

Ecuador contains also communities of Italians, Jews, Armenians, French and Greek-Ecuadorians. Ecuadorian Jews, who number around 1000 are mostly of German or Italian descent. There are 225,000 English speakers and 112,000 German speakers in Ecuador of which the great majority reside in Quito, mainly all descendants of immigrants who arrived in the late 1800s. Most of the descendants of European immigrants strive for the preservation of their heritage. Therefore some groups even have their own schools (e.g. German School Guayaquil and German School Quito, Liceo La Condamine (French Heritage), Alberto Einstein (Jewish Heritage) and British School of Quito), cultural and social organizations, churches and country clubs. Their contribution for the social, political and economical development of the country is immense, specially in relation to their percentage in the total population. Most of the families of European heritage belong to the Ecuadorian upper class and had married into the wealties families of the country.

There is also a small Asian-Ecuadorian (see Asian Latino) community estimated at 25,000, mainly consists of those having any amount of Chinese Yunan and Han descent, whose ancestors arrived as miners, farm hands and fishermen in the late 1800s.

Due to the prevalence of Malaria and Yellow fever in the coastal region until the end of the 19th century; the Ecuadorian population was most heavily concentrated in the Highlands and valleys of the "Sierra" region, today's population is distributed more evenly between the "Sierra" and the "Costa" (the coastal lowlands)region. Migration towards the cities—particularly larger cities—in all regions has increased the urban population to about 55 percent.

The "Oriente" region, consisting of Amazonian lowlands to the East of the Andes and covering about half the country's land area, remains sparsely populated and contains only about 3% of the country's population, that for the most are indigenous peoples who maintain a wary distance from the recent mestizo and white settlers. The territories of the "Oriente" are home to as many as nine indigenous groups: Quichua, Shuar, Achuar, Huaorani, Siona, Secoya, Shiwiar, and Cofan, all represented politically by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, CONFENIAE.

As a result of the oil exploration and the development of the infrastructure required for the exploitation of the oil fields in the eastern jungles during the seventies and early eighties, there was a wave of settlement in the region. The Majority of these wave of internal inmigration came from the southern province of Loja as a result of a draught that lasted three years and affected the southern provinces of the country. This boom of the petroleum industry has led to a mushrooming of the town of Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja) as well as substantial deforestation and pollution of wetlands and lakes.

[edit] CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

[edit] Population

13,212,742 (July 2004 est.)

Urban: 57%

Rural: 43%

[edit] Age structure

0-14 years: 34.9% (male 2,430,303; female 2,351,166)

15-64 years: 60.6% (male 4,116,289; female 4,198,667)

65 years and over: 4.5% (male 284,082; female 329,727) (2003 est.)

[edit] Median Age

Total: 22.5 years

Male: 22 years

Female: 23 years (2002)

[edit] Population growth rate

1.50% (2006 est.)

[edit] Birth rate

24.94 births/1,0

[edit] Death rate

5.29 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)

[edit] Net migration rate

[edit] Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female

total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

[edit] Infant mortality rate

Total: 31.97 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 26.39 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)

Male: 37.28 deaths/1,000 live births

[edit] Life expectancy at birth

total population: 71.89 years

male: 69.06 years

female: 74.86 years (2003 est.)

[edit] Total fertility rate

2.99 children born/woman (2003 est.)

[edit] HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

0.3% (2001 est.)

[edit] HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

20,000 (2001 est.)

[edit] HIV/AIDS - deaths

97,732 (2001)

[edit] Nationality

noun: Ecuadorian(s)

adjective: Ecuadorian

[edit] Ethnic groups

Main article: Ethnic groups in Ecuador

Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and Spanish) 65%

Amerindian (mostly Quechua but including ten separate indigenous communities) 25%

Afro-Ecuadorian (mostly from Cimarron communities and Slave ship castaways) 9%

others (Germans, Italians, Spanish, Middle Eastern and other Caucasians; Chinese and other Asians) 3%

[edit] Religions

Roman Catholic: aprox. 90%

Protestant: aprox. 6%

Jewish: under 0.1%

Eastern Orthodox: under 0.2%

Muslim: (Suni) under 0.1%

Buddhism: under 0.25%

Animism: belifs under 0.5%

Atheist: and agnostics: balance of 100%.

[edit] Languages

Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua).

Achuar-Shiwiar - 2,000 Pastaza province. Alternate names: Achuar, Achual, Achuara, Achuale.

Chachi - 3,450 Esmeraldas Province, Cayapas River system. Alternate names: Cayapa, Cha' Palaachi.

Colorado - 2,300 Santo Domingo de los Colorados province. Alternate names: Tsachila, Tsafiki.

Quechua 9 separate dialocts are spoken in as many areas in the country with a combined population of 1'460,000.

Shuar - 46,669 (2000 WCD). Morona-Santiago Province. Alternate names: Jivaro, Xivaro, Jibaro, Chiwaro, Shuara.

Waorani - 1,650 (2004). Napo and Morona-Santiago provinces. Alternate names: Huaorani, Waodani, Huao.

[edit] Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 92.5%

male: 94%

female: 91% (2003 est.)

[edit] See also

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