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With over 41 million people, Colombia is the third-most populous country in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico. It also has the third largest Black/African-descent population in the western hemisphere after Brazil and the US. Movement from rural to urban areas was very heavy in the middle of the 20th century, but has since tapered off. The urban population increased from 31% of the total population in 1938, to 57% in 1951 and about 70% by 1990. Currently the figure is about 77%. Thirty cities have a population of 100,000 or more. The nine eastern lowlands departments, constituting 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 sq. mi.). The country has a diverse population that reflects its colorful history and the peoples that have populated here from ancient times to the present. The historic amalgam of three main groups are the basics of Colombia's current demographics: indigenous Amerindians, European immigrants, and African slaves. Many of the indigenous peoples were absorbed into the mestizo population, but the remaining 700,000 currently represent over 85 distinct cultures. The European immigrants were primarily Spanish colonists, but many other Europeans (Italian, German, French, Swiss and in smaller numbers Belgian, Lithuanian, Dutch, English and Croatian communities) immigrated during the Second World War and the Cold War. For example, former Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus is the son of Lithuanian immigrants. The Africans were brought as slaves, mostly to the coastal lowlands, beginning early in the 16th century, and continuing into the 19th century. After abolition, a national ideology of mestizaje encouraged the mixing of the indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities into a single mestizo ethnic identity. Other smaller immigrant populations include Asians and Middle Easterners, particularly Arabs, Chinese, and Japanese. As of 2006, Colombia has about 3 million internally displaced persons, the highest number of any country in the western hemisphere, and second worldwide, after Sudan. Religion 87% of the population practices Roman Catholicism. Another 9% is divided mainly amongst the Protestant, Mormon, Jewish and Muslim religions. 3% of the population declares itself to be Non Religious. 1% of Colombians practice indigenous religions. |
Colombia Information: Inside
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