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Chile
Index
Population: 13.7 million (July 1993 estimate),
with 1.6
percent average annual population growth rate between
1982-92.
Projected annual population growth rate 1991-2000, 1.5
percent.
Density, 18 persons per square kilometer (1993), with
great
regional variations. Fifth, Eighth, and Santiago
Metropolitan
regions contained 63 percent of population, with about 39
percent
or 5.3 million in Santiago Metropolitan Region (1992).
Population
about 86 percent urban, 14 percent rural. Urban population
annual
growth rate in 1960-91, 2.6 percent; projected 1991-2000,
1.8
percent. Of some 335 communities nationally in 1993,
poorest
twenty-one located in regions of Araucanía (eleven),
Bío-Bío
(five), and Coquimbo (five), containing 2.62 percent of
national
population.
Ethnic Groups: Mestizo (mixed native American
and
European ancestry), 66 percent; European, 25 percent;
native
American, 7 percent; other, 2 percent. Under law of
September 28,
1993, state recognizes Mapuche (also called Araucanian),
Aymara,
Rapa Nui, Quechua, Colla, Alacalufe, and Yagán as main
indigenous
communities. Native Americans totaled 1.3 million in 1992,
including 928,069 Mapuche, 48,477 Aymara, and 21,848 Rapa
Nui.
Quechua and Aymara located in north; Alacalufe and Ona in
south;
Mapuche, who speak Mapudungu, in south and Central Chile,
mostly
around Temuco; Pascuene and Huilliche in Easter Island
territory.
Only Mapuche and former Huilliche islanders managing to
survive
culturally on mainland.
Official Language: Spanish (called Castellano
in
Chile).
Education and Literacy: In 1966 primary
education became
eight years and secondary education four years. School
calendar:
March through December. In mid-1980s primary school
attendance
varied between 93 percent and 96 percent; by 1989
secondary school
enrollment had risen to 75 percent. Students in
universities and
professional institutes numbered about 153,100 in 1989, or
10.3
percent. Combined primary and secondary school enrollment
ratio in
1987-90: 90 percent. Adult literacy rate 94.6 percent,
with average
of 7.5 years of schooling (1992).
Health: Heavy investments in programs for very
poor and
in water and sanitation systems helped lower infant
mortality rates
and raise life expectancy, giving country a relatively
high human
development index (HDI) world ranking of thirty-sixth in
1992.
Proportion of Chileans living in poverty decreased from 45
percent
in 1985 to 33 percent in 1992. Birthrate 22.4 per 1,000
population;
total fertility rate 2.7 children born per woman (1993);
death rate
5.6 deaths per 1,000 population (1992). In 1993 life
expectancy
estimated at seventy-one years male, seventy-seven years
female (74
total). Infant mortality rate in 1992: 17 per 1,000 live
births.
Population with access to health services in 1988-90, 95
percent;
safe water, 86 percent (rural/urban average), 100 percent
(urban);
sanitation 83 percent; sanitary services 100 percent
urban, 6
percent rural. Recorded twenty-eight cholera cases in
first nine
months of 1993, with no deaths. In 1984-89 population per
doctor:
1,230. Social security benefits expenditures as a
percentage of
GDP: 9.9 percent (1980-89).
Religion: In 1992 census, population segment
aged
fourteen years and older (totaling 9,775,222), 76.7
percent
declared Roman Catholic, 13.2 percent Evangelical or
Protestant, 7
percent indifferent or atheist, and 4.2 percent other,
including
small Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Orthodox communities.
Roman
Catholic Church source of significant opposition to
military regime
of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1973-90), playing key
role in
protection of human rights. Church's influence in society
has
diminished since 1970s because of substantial growth of
Pentecostal
(Evangelical) churches.
Data as of March 1994
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