Nicaragua: People & Society#
| Population | 5,966,798 (July 2016 est.) |
|---|---|
| Nationality | noun: Nicaraguan(s) adjective: Nicaraguan |
| Ethnic groups | mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Amerindian 5% |
| 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 58.5%, Protestant 23.2% (Evangelical 21.6%, Moravian 1.6%), Jehovah's Witnesses 0.9%, other 1.6%, none 15.7% (2005 est.) |
| Demographic profile | Despite being one of the poorest countries in Latin America, Nicaragua has improved its access to potable water and sanitation and has ameliorated its life expectancy, infant and child mortality, and immunization rates. However, income distribution is very uneven, and the poor, agriculturalists, and indigenous people continue to have less access to healthcare services. Nicaragua's total fertility rate has fallen from around 6 children per woman in 1980 to just above replacement level today, but the high birth rate among adolescents perpetuates a cycle of poverty and low educational attainment. Nicaraguans emigrate primarily to Costa Rica and to a lesser extent the United States. Nicaraguan men have been migrating seasonally to Costa Rica to harvest bananas and coffee since the early 20th century. Political turmoil, civil war, and natural disasters from the 1970s through the 1990s dramatically increased the flow of refugees and permanent migrants seeking jobs, higher wages, and better social and healthcare benefits. Since 2000, Nicaraguan emigration to Costa Rica has slowed and stabilized. Today roughly 300,000 Nicaraguans are permanent residents of Costa Rica - about 75% of the foreign population - and thousands more migrate seasonally for work, many illegally. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 27.88% (male 848,537/female 815,032) 15-24 years: 21.78% (male 653,113/female 646,497) 25-54 years: 39.42% (male 1,113,772/female 1,238,550) 55-64 years: 5.79% (male 160,165/female 185,385) 65 years and over: 5.12% (male 136,661/female 169,086) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 54.1% youth dependency ratio: 46.3% elderly dependency ratio: 7.8% potential support ratio: 12.8% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 25.2 years male: 24.3 years female: 26 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 0.99% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 17.9 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 5.1 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | -2.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Population distribution | the overwhelming majority of the population resides in the western half of the country, with much of the urban growth centered in the capital city of Managua; coastal areas also show large population clusters |
| Urbanization | urban population: 58.8% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 1.96% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | MANAGUA (capital) 956,000 (2015) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.9 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.86 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Mother's mean age at first birth | 19.2 note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2011/12 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 150 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 19 deaths/1,000 live births male: 21.8 deaths/1,000 live births female: 16 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 73.2 years male: 71.1 years female: 75.5 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 1.92 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 80.4% (2011/12) |
| Health expenditures | 9% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 0.9 physicians/1,000 population (2014) |
| Hospital bed density | 0.9 beds/1,000 population (2012) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 99.3% of population rural: 69.4% of population total: 87% of population unimproved: urban: 0.7% of population rural: 30.6% of population total: 13% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 76.5% of population rural: 55.7% of population total: 67.9% of population unimproved: urban: 23.5% of population rural: 44.3% of population total: 32.1% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 0.27% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 9,900 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 300 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria note: active local transmission of Zika virus by Aedes species mosquitoes has been identified in this country (as of August 2016); it poses an important risk (a large number of cases possible) among US citizens if bitten by an infective mosquito; other less common ways to get Zika are through sex, via blood transfusion, or during pregnancy, in which the pregnant woman passes Zika virus to her fetus (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 15.5% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 5.7% (2007) |
| Education expenditures | 4.5% of GDP (2010) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 82.8% male: 82.4% female: 83.2% (2015 est.) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 223,992 percentage: 14% note: data represent children ages 5-17 (2005 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 11.9% male: 9.8% female: 15.6% (2010 est.) |