Demographics of Paraguay

Demographic features of the population of Paraguay include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Paraguay
Population pyramid of Paraguay in 2020
Population	7,356,409 (2022 est.)
Growth rate	1.14% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	16.32 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate	4.87 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy	78.37 years
Fertility rate	1.89 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Infant mortality rate	23.21 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	-0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	23.41%
15–64 years	68.71%
65 and over	7.88%
Nationality
Nationality	Paraguayan
Language
Official	Spanish and Guarani

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
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%
2015	6,755,756	+30.8%
2018	7,052,983	+4.4%
Source:^[1]

Characteristics

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 - has 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^[2]

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.

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.^[3] 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);^[4] 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.^[5]

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 that total, 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".^[6][7]

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.

Population

 

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^[8][9] 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 .^[10]

	Total population (x 1000)	Proportion aged 0–14 (%)	Proportion aged 15–64 (%)	Proportion aged 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

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2013) (Projections based on the 2002 Population Census.): ^[11]

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.): ^[12]

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

Registration of vital events in Paraguay are not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. ^[10]

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*	Life expectancy total	Life expectancy males	Life expectancy 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
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Births and deaths

^[13]

Year	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^[14]	7,252,672	95,649	36,466	59,183	13.2	5.0	8.2	2.41
2021^[15]	7,353,038	112,966	50,898	63,314	15.4	6.9	8.5
2022			39,762

• Deaths from January – April 2022 =   15,829
• Deaths from January – April 2023 =   11,950 ^[16]

Total fertility rate

^[17] 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

Ethnic groups of Paraguay ^[3]
Ethnic groups			percent
Mestizo			75%
White			20%
Afro-Paraguayans			3%
Indigenous			2%

Religions

Main article: Religion in Paraguay

Religions of Paraguay ^[3]
Religions			percent
Roman Catholic			89.6%
Protestant			6.2%
Other or Unspecified			1.9%
Other Christian			1.1%
None			1.1%

Languages

Main article: Languages of Paraguay

Languages of Paraguay
Languages			percent
Guaraní			90%
Spanish			87%

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[18][19]

Age structure

• 0–14 years: 23.41% (male 857,303/female 826,470)
• 15–24 years: 17.71% (male 640,400/female 633,525)
• 25–54 years: 42.63% (male 1,532,692/female 1,532,851)
• 55–64 years: 8.37% (male 306,100/female 295,890)
• 65 years and over: 7.88% (male 267,351/female 299,103) (2020 est.)

Dependency ratios

• total dependency ratio: 55.5
• youth dependency ratio: 49.9
• elderly dependency ratio: 10.6
• potential support ratio: 9.4 (2020 est.)

Median age

• total: 29.7 years
• male: 29.5 years
• female: 29.9 years (2020 est.)

Population growth rate

• 1.15% (2021 est.)

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: 1 male(s)/female
• 55–64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female
• total population: 1 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate

0.3% (2020 est.)

HIV/AIDS – people living with HIV/AIDS

19,000 (2020 est.)

HIV/AIDS – deaths

<500 (2020 est.)

Literacy

• definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 94%
• male: 94.5%
• female: 93.5% (2018 est.)

References

1. "Evolución de la Población Total". DGEEC. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
2. "Paraguay population's ethnicity & data".
3. 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.
4. (in Spanish). 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
5. "Afro-Latino: A deeply rooted identity among U.S. Hispanics".
6. Hilton, Ronald (15 June 2001). "BRAZIL: Brazilians in Paraguay". Retrieved 19 January 2017.
7. "Culture of Paraguay - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family". www.everyculture.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
8. "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
9. "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX). population.un.org ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
10. . esa.un.org. Archived from the original on 6 May 2011.
11. "Demographic Yearbook". United Nations Statistics Division.^{[not specific enough to verify]}
12. "UNSD — Demographic and Social Statistics". unstats.un.org. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
13. "Live births, deaths, and infant deaths, latest available year (2002–2016)" (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division. 2 January 2018.
14. "Proyecciones de población nacional, áreas urbana y rural, por sexo y edad, PARAGUAY 2020" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
15. "Proyecciones de población nacional, áreas urbana y rural, por sexo y edad, PARAGUAY 2021" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
16. 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.
17. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
18. "The World Factbook – Paraguay". 8 March 2022.
19. "IndexMundi".