Wikipedia

Demographics of Paraguay

Paraguay's population is distributed unevenly through the country. The vast majority of the people live in the eastern region, most within 160 kilometres (99 mi) of Asunción, the capital and largest city, which borders on Argentina to the south and west. The Gran Chaco in the north-west, which accounts for about 60% of Paraguayan territory, is home to less than 2% of the population. The Paraguay government encouraged[when?] massive settlement of the vast Gran Chaco.

Demographics of Paraguay
Population pyramid of Paraguay in 2020
Population6,109,644 (2022 census)[1]
Growth rate0.89% (2022 census)
Birth rate16.32 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate4.87 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy78.37 years
Fertility rate2.4 children born/woman (2022 census)
Infant mortality rate23.21 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate-0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years24.3%
15–64 years66.9%
65 and over8.8%
Nationality
NationalityParaguayan
Major ethnic
Minor ethnic
Language
OfficialSpanish and Guarani
SpokenLanguages of Paraguay

Ethnically, culturally, and socially, Paraguay has one of the most homogeneous populations in South America. About 75% of the people are mestizo (mixed Spanish and Guaraní Native American descent), 20% are Whites, and the rest are small minorities of Indigenous or Afro Paraguayan origin.[4] Little trace is left of the original Guaraní culture except the language, which is spoken by 90% of the population. About 75% of all Paraguayans also speak Spanish. Guaraní and Spanish are official languages.

Paraguay has a history of foreign settlement, especially in the 20th century: Germans (the majority are Mennonites) with long-time Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner (President, 1954-1989) himself of German ancestry; Italians (around 40% of the total Paraguayan population is of full or partial Italian descent);[5][6][7] Japanese with Okinawans; Koreans; Chinese; Arabs, Ukrainians; Poles; Southern Europeans; Jews; Brazilians; and Argentines are among those who have settled in Paraguay. There are also an estimated 234,000 Afro-Paraguayans, or 4% of the population.[8]

European and Middle Eastern immigrants began making their way to Paraguay in the decades following the Paraguayan War of 1864-1870 (from 1870 onward). Only 28,000 men and 200,000 women had survived the war, the reason why Paraguay had since then a high rate of illegitimate births. The government pursued a pro-immigration policy in an effort to increase population. Government records indicated that approximately 12,000 immigrants entered the port of Asunción between 1882 and 1907, of whom almost 9,000 came from Italy, Germany, France, and Spain. Migrants also arrived from neighboring Spanish American countries, especially Argentina. The immigrant ethnic groups kept their cultures and languages to some extent, especially Brazilians - known as "Brasiguayos".[9][10]

Official records gave an imprecise sense of the number of Brazilians who came to the country. According to the 1982 census, 99,000 Brazilians resided in Paraguay. Most[quantify] analysts discounted this figure, however, and contended that between 300,000 and 350,000 Brazilians lived in the eastern border region.

Analysts also rejected government figures on the number of immigrants from South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The 1982 census reported that there were 2,700 Koreans in Paraguay, along with another 1,100 non-Japanese or non-Korean Asian immigrants. Virtually all Koreans and Chinese lived in Ciudad del Este or Asunción and played a major role in the importation and sale of electronic goods manufactured in Asia.

Paraguay became the site of radical and progressive colonies inspired by political thinkers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A group of radical socialist Australians in the 1890s voluntarily went to create a failed master-planned community, known as Nueva (New) Australia (1893 -1897); and Elisabeth Nietzsche, a German racial ideologist and sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche came to Paraguay in her attempt to build a colony, Nueva Germania (Neues Deutschland) (founded 1886) devoted to a hypothetical pure white "Nordic" society.

A 2022 census found that Paraguay's population shrank as a production of migration and having smaller families, as well as better data integrity, resulting in a loss of over one million.[11]

Population size and structure

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Historical population
YearPop.±%
1950 1,328,452—    
1962 1,819,103+36.9%
1972 2,357,955+29.6%
1982 3,029,830+28.5%
1992 4,152,588+37.1%
2002 5,163,198+24.3%
2012 6,461,041+25.1%
2022 6,109,644−5.4%
Source:[12]
 
Demographics of Paraguay, Data of Our World in Data, year 2022; Number of inhabitants in thousands.
 
Paraguay population density (people per km2)

According to the 2022 revision of the World Population Prospects[13][14] the total population was 6,703,799 in 2021, compared to only 1,473,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 33.5%, 61.4% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 5.1% was 65 years or older .[15]

Year Total population
( × 1000) 		Population percentage in age bracket
0–14 15–64 65+
1950 1 473
47.0%
50.1%
2.9%
1955 1 674
47.5%
49.5%
3.0%
1960 1 906
47.8%
49.0%
3.2%
1965 2 176
47.5%
49.2%
3.3%
1970 2 483
46.1%
50.4%
3.5%
1975 2 802
44.1%
52.3%
3.6%
1980 3 195
42.5%
53.8%
3.8%
1985 3 698
41.6%
54.5%
3.9%
1990 4 244
41.4%
54.6%
4.0%
1995 4 795
40.3%
55.4%
4.3%
2000 5 323
38.5%
57.2%
4.4%
2005 5 824
35.5%
59.8%
4.7%
2010 6 248
32.9%
61.8%
5.2%
2015 6 689
30.4%
63.7%
5.9%
2020 7 133
28.9%
64.3%
6.8%

Structure of the population

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Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2013) (Projections based on the 2002 Population Census.): [16]
Age Group Male Female Total %
Total 3 426 508 3 356 867 6 783 374 100
0–4 377 989 363 561 741 550 10.93
5–9 372 142 358 751 730 893 10.77
10–14 364 020 351 350 715 369 10.55
15–19 351 038 339 645 690 683 10.18
20–24 331 748 322 813 654 561 9.65
25–29 303 291 297 128 600 419 8.85
30–34 257 335 252 770 510 104 7.52
35–39 203 351 200 858 404 209 5.96
40–44 173 976 173 202 347 177 5.12
45–49 160 044 158 383 318 427 4.69
50–54 140 818 137 891 278 709 4.11
55–59 120 438 116 493 236 931 3.49
60–64 95 424 92 423 187 848 2.77
65–69 67 623 67 777 135 401 2.00
70–74 47 778 50 653 98 431 1.45
75–79 31 694 36 085 67 779 1.00
80+ 27 800 37 082 64 882 0.96
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0–14 1 114 151 1 073 662 2 187 813 32.25
15–64 2 312 357 2 091 608 4 403 965 64.92
65+ 174 895 191 597 366 492 5.40
Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2021) (Estimates or projections considering also the results of the 2012 Population Census.): [17]
Age Group Male Female Total %
Total 3 702 281 3 650 758 7 353 038 100
0–4 360 793 346 324 707 118 9.62
5–9 357 301 343 724 701 025 9.53
10–14 352 757 340 126 692 883 9.42
15–19 344 522 332 510 677 032 9.21
20–24 334 496 322 993 657 489 8.94
25–29 318 925 309 559 628 484 8.55
30–34 300 116 293 132 593 247 8.07
35–39 266 102 262 734 528 836 7.19
40–44 214 813 217 042 431 855 5.87
45–49 185 967 188 348 374 315 5.09
50–54 164 693 166 184 330 877 4.50
55–59 141 237 142 195 283 432 3.85
60–64 120 322 119 145 239 467 3.26
65-69 94 450 94 556 189 006 2.57
70-74 63 855 66 647 130 502 1.77
75-79 41 070 46 120 87 191 1.19
80+ 40 863 59 417 100 280 1.36
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0–14 1 070 851 1 030 174 2 101 025 28.57
15–64 2 391 192 2 353 844 4 745 036 64.53
65+ 240 238 266 740 506 978 6.89

Vital statistics

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Registration of vital events in Paraguay are not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. [15]

Period per year per 1000 total fertility rate (number of children per woman) infant mortality rate per 1000 births Life expectancy
live births deaths natural change crude birth rate crude death rate natural change total males females
1950–1955 70,000 14,000 56,000 44.3 8.9 35.4 6.50 73 62.6 60.5 64.6
1955–1960 76,000 15,000 61,000 42.7 8.6 34.1 6.50 70 63.2 61.1 65.1
1960–1965 84,000 16,000 68,000 41.3 8.0 33.3 6.45 62 64.3 62.3 66.3
1965–1970 92,000 18,000 74,000 39.5 7.6 31.8 6.15 59 65.0 63.0 66.9
1970–1975 94,000 19,000 75,000 35.6 7.1 28.6 5.35 53 65.9 63.7 68.0
1975–1980 108,000 21,000 87,000 36.1 6.9 29.2 5.20 51 66.5 64.3 68.7
1980–1985 129,000 24,000 105,000 37.3 6.8 30.4 5.20 49 67.0 64.9 69.3
1985–1990 139,000 26,000 113,000 34.9 6.6 28.3 4.77 47 67.6 65.4 69.9
1990–1995 145,000 28,000 117,000 32.0 6.2 25.8 4.31 43 68.5 66.3 70.8
1995–2000 148,000 30,000 118,000 29.3 5.9 23.3 3.88 39 69.4 67.2 71.7
2000–2005 151,000 32,000 119,000 25.1 5.4 19.7 3.24 36 70.7 68.7 72.9
2005–2010 153,000 34,000 119,000 23.4 5.4 18.0 2.89 32 71.7 69.7 73.9
2010–2015 161,000 38,000 123,000 21.7 5.4 16.3 2.60 30 72.2 70.0 74.5
2015–2020 165,000 43,000 122,000 20.7 5.5 15.2 2.45 28 72.7 70.4 75.1
2020–2025 19.4 5.7 13.7 2.33
2025–2030 18.0 6.0 12.0 2.23

Estimated births and deaths

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Year
[18] 		Population Live births Deaths Natural increase Crude birth rate Crude death rate Rate of natural increase TFR
2009 6,168,757 103,309 18,758 84,551 16.7 3.0 13.7
2010 6,265,877 100,584 21,281 79,303 16.1 3.4 12.7
2011 6,363,276 111,945 22,652 89,293 17.6 3.6 14.0
2012 6,461,041 118,549 22,807 95,752 18.3 3.5 14.8
2013 6,559,027 114,619 24,193 90,426 17.5 3.7 13.8
2014 6,657,232 116,592 22,625 93,967 17.5 3.4 14.1
2015 6,755,756 132,241 24,885 107,356 19.6 3.7 15.9
2016 6,854,536 128,117 27,243 100,874 18.7 4.0 14.7
2017 6,953,646 129,903 26,404 103,499 18.7 3.8 14.9
2018 7,052,983 123,187 29,139 94,048 17.5 4.1 13.4
2019 7,152,703 117,347 32,362 84,985 16.4 4.5 11.9
2020[19] 7,252,672 95,649 36,466 59,183 13.2 5.0 8.2 2.41
2021[20] 7,353,038 112,966 50,898 63,314 15.4 6.9 8.5
2022 (c) 6,109,644[21] 111,992 38,356 73,636 18.3 6.4 11.9

(c) = 2022 census preliminary results.

Current vital statistics

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[22]

Period Live births Deaths Natural increase
January–April 2022   15,829
January–April 2023   11,950
Difference

Total fertility rate

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[23] Total Fertility Rate (Wanted Fertility Rate):

Year TFR (Total)
1990 4.6
1995/96 4.3
1998 4.3
2004 2.9
2008 2,5 (2,2)

Ethnic groups

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Ethnic groups of Paraguay [4]
Ethnic groups percent
Mestizo
 
 75%
White
 
 20%
Afro-Paraguayans
 
 0.13%
Indigenous
 
 1.7%

The Paraguay's predominant ancestry is European, which represents a large part of the population, mainly descendants of Spaniards and Italians (who have contributed to repopulating the country after the Triple Alliance War) but there are also a large number of people of German ancestry, due to the German Mennonites (majority in the western part of the territory). There are 17 Mennonite colonies, only in the Paraguayan Chaco. It is one of the Latin American countries with the least indigenous traits (due to the fact that the traditional Paraguayan population; the Spanish mixture of Guaraní, had been annihilated by the war in 1870, which is why the country had to repopulate by resorting to immigration, especially the Italian in that country.) Taking into account the high fertility, Paraguay registers a majority young population structure. Of every ten people, four are under the age of 15 (2,339,000) and the population aged 15 to 29 represents a quarter of the total population. According to the Census (ECLAC, 1998), the population of indigenous nature that year was 29,482 people, that is, about 0.7% of the national population. There is a low percentage of people with distinctively Amerindian features and the absence of people with African features. The majority of the population is made up of mestizos who are descendants of the original population, the Guarani, and Europeans.

— Paraguay Embassy in Germany[24]

Religion

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Main article: Religion in Paraguay
Religions of Paraguay [4]
Religions percent
Roman Catholic
 
 89.6%
Protestant
 
 6.2%
Other or Unspecified
 
 1.9%
Other Christian
 
 1.1%
None
 
 1.1%

Languages

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Main article: Languages of Paraguay
Languages of Paraguay
Languages percent
Guaraní
 
 90%
Spanish
 
 87%

References

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  1. ^ "Paraguay has 6,109,644 inhabitants, according to the last Census". ABC Color (in Spanish). 31 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Censo Indígena 2022 - INE" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estadística - Paraguay. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Editorial".
  4. ^ a b c Francisco Lizcano Fernández (2005). "Composición Étnica de las Tres Áreas Culturales del Continente Americano al Comienzo del Siglo XXI" [Ethnic Composition of the Three Cultural Areas of the American Continent at the Beginning of the 21st Century]. Convergencia. Revista de Ciencias Sociales (in Spanish). 12 (38): 185–232.
  5. ^ "Italianos en el Paraguay elegirán representantes" (in Spanish). 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Los italianos y su aporte a la nación - Articulos - ABC Color".
  7. ^ "Ya se puede sacar la nacionalidad italiana" (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Afro-Latino: A deeply rooted identity among U.S. Hispanics". March 2016.
  9. ^ Hilton, Ronald (15 June 2001). "BRAZIL: Brazilians in Paraguay". Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  10. ^ "Culture of Paraguay - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family". www.everyculture.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  11. ^ "Over a million Paraguayans disappear in the latest census". The Americas. The Economist. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Evolución de la Población Total". DGEEC. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  13. ^ "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  14. ^ "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  15. ^ a b "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Archived from the original on 6 May 2011.
  16. ^ "Demographic Yearbook". United Nations Statistics Division.[not specific enough to verify]
  17. ^ "UNSD — Demographic and Social Statistics". unstats.un.org. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Live births, deaths, and infant deaths, latest available year (2002–2016)" (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division. 2 January 2018.
  19. ^ "Proyecciones de población nacional, áreas urbana y rural, por sexo y edad, PARAGUAY 2020" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  20. ^ "Proyecciones de población nacional, áreas urbana y rural, por sexo y edad, PARAGUAY 2021" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  21. ^ "Resultados preliminares del Censo 2022" (PDF). Insitituto Nacional de Estadística de Paraguay. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  22. ^ Ritchie, Hannah; Mathieu, Edouard; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Hasell, Joe; MacDonald, Bobbie; Beltekian, Diana; Roser, Max (5 March 2020). "Excess mortality using raw death counts". Our World in Data. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. ^ "Paraguay population's ethnicity & data".
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