Venezuelan people

Venezuelans
(Venezolanos)

1st row: Francisco de Miranda, Simón Bolívar, Simón Rodríguez, José Antonio Páez 2nd row: Rómulo Gallegos, Humberto Fernández Morán, Reynaldo Armas, Teresa Carreño 3rd row: Édgar Ramírez, Dayana Mendoza, Gustavo Dudamel, Bobby Abreu
Total population
World ±30,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Venezuela: 27,800,000
Colombia 250,000 United States 189,219 - 215,023 Spain 150,000 - 200,000 Italy 150,000 Portugal 100,000 Canada 8,035 -30,000 France 30,000 Panama 24,000 Germany 20,000 Syria 20,000 Mexico 17,000 England 15,000 Cuba 15,000 Australia 10,000 Brazil 7,000 Argentina 6,000 Ireland 5,000 Chile 4,000 Trinidad and Tobago 3,000 Peru 3,000 Costa Rica 3,000 Ecuador 3,000 United Arab Emirates 2,500 New Zealand 2,000 Bolivia 2,000 Netherlands 1,000 Saudi Arabia 1,000 Uruguay 1,000 Poland 60
Languages
Spanish and other native languages.
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic, small minorities of other religions. Native people are mainly animist.

Venezuelan people are from a multiethnic nation in South America called Venezuela. Venezuelans are predominantly Roman Catholic and speak Spanish. The majority of Venezuelans are the result of a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians (49,9% of the population are Mestizos)

Demography

Main article: Demographics of Venezuela

The population of approximately 28 million people (in 2006) made Venezuela the sixth-most populous country in Latin America (after Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Peru).

More than ninety percent of the Venezuelans live in urban areas – a figure significantly higher than the world average. The literacy rate (98 percent) in Venezuela is also well above the world average, and the rate of population growth slightly exceeds the world average. A large proportion of Venezuelans are young, largely because of recent decreases in the infant mortality rate. While 30 percent of the people are 14 years of age or younger, just 4 percent are aged 65 or older.

Ethnic groups

The country has a diverse population that reflects its colourful history and the peoples that have populated here from ancient times to the present. The historic amalgam of the different main groups forms the basics of Venezuela's current demographics: European immigrants, Amerindian peoples, Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners and other recent immigrants.

Many of the indigenous peoples were absorbed into the mestizo population, but the remaining 500,000 currently represent over eighty-five distinct cultures. The European immigrants were primarily Spanish colonists, but a high number of other Europeans brought by the past high growth (Portuguese, Italian, German, also many North Americans) migrated to the region in the middle 20th century by the Petroleum Growth, and in smaller numbers French, English and Polish communities immigrated during the Second World War and the Cold War.

Black Africans were brought as slaves, mostly to the coastal lowlands, beginning early in the 16th century, and continuing into the 19th century. Other immigrant populations include Asians and Middle Easterners, particularly Lebanese, Syrians, and Chinese.

About 49.9% of the population is mestizo, or of mixed European, African, and Amerindian ancestry, while 42.2% are white of European ancestry and/or Middle Eastern ancestry. Another 3.5% is black, or of mixed black African and European ancestry, while 2.7% is of Amerindian ancestry, and 1.1% other races ( principally Asian people).

In cities like Caracas, Maracaibo, Maracay, Valencia, Lecheria, Cabudare, Colonia Tovar, Porlamar-La Asunción, and the Andean States is concentrated the majority of the Europeans (mainly Spanish, Italians, Portuguese) and their descendants, emigrated in Venezuela after World War II

Pure indigenous Amerindians comprise 1 percent of the population. There are 101 languages listed for Venezuela in the Ethnologue database, of which 80 are spoken today as living languages.

Indigenous peoples

Main article: Indigenous peoples in Venezuela

Before the Spanish colonization of the region that would become the country of Venezuela, the territory was the home to many different indigenous peoples. Today more than fifty different indigenous ethnic groups inhabit Venezuela. Most of them speak languages belonging to the Chibchan and Cariban language families.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Venezuela

The National Institute for Statistics (INE) does not collect religious statistics, and accurate reports are hard to obtain. Based on various studies, more than 95% of the population adheres to Christianity, in which a huge segment of the population, between 81% and 90%, practices Roman Catholicism. About 1% of Venezuelans practice indigenous religions.

Under 1% practice Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Despite strong numbers of adherents, around 60% of respondents to a poll by El Tiempo report that they do not practice their faith actively.

• Culture of Venezuela

See also

• List of notable Venezuelans
• Latin Americans