Demographics of Nicaragua

Nicaragua's demographics is slightly mixed and includes mainly the following groups:

1. European descendants. Of European descent, especially Spanish with different groups (Native Americans, Asians), who live mainly in the Pacific, North, Central and some areas of the Caribbean. They correspond to more than 90% of the population.

Teenagers from Nicaragua.

2. Mestizo minority groups, which correspond to 9% of the population:

• African Descendants (most of Jamaica). They correspond to about 8% of the population and live particularly on the Atlantic coast.

• Descendants of Native American tribes:
  • Misquitos, which mainly inhabit the North Atlantic Autonomous Region, on the banks of the main rivers such as Coco, Wawa, Prinzapolka, Bambana and Grande de Matagalpa;
  • Mayangnas inhabiting the North Atlantic Autonomous Region in the area of mines and the Bosawás Reserve in Jinotega;
  • Creoles and branches that inhabit the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region, in the area of the city of Bluefields.

• Descendants of Asian immigrants (mainly young people), Jews, Syrians and other Arab nationalities.

Territorial distribution of the population

A dividing line of Nicaragua's demographic gap, separating the western part of the country (very populated) from the east (very populated).

Nicaragua has two large regions that are well differentiated in terms of population density, between the two Autonomous Regions (North Caribbean Coast and South Caribbean Coast) and the department of Río San Juan, totaling 67,000 square kilometers, that is,, 55% of the total area of the country, while, in turn, these three dependencies comprise an amount of 995,000 inhabitants (as of 2015), that is, 16% of the total population of the nation, which explains a notable demographic gap between the eastern half and the western half of the territory. Historically, this also translates into a smaller amount of communication infrastructures in the most sparsely populated area compared to the most populated area.

Geographically, the most populated area is the Pacific, with the most important cities being Managua, with more than one million inhabitants, León with more than 211 thousand inhabitants, Masaya with more than 186 thousand inhabitants, Chinandega with more than 136 thousand inhabitants, and Granada with more than 132 thousand inhabitants. The main universities, production centers, ports and airports are located in the Pacific. The northern zone has cities such as Matagalpa with more than 165,000 inhabitants, Jinotega with more than 144,000 inhabitants, and Estelí with more than 129,000 inhabitants where ancestry of European origin predominates, mostly Spanish and German immigrants. In the South Pacific zone, including Managua, the population of European descent also predominates.

Characteristics of the population

Total population

6 779 096 (2022)

Demographic history

The first population census in Nicaragua was carried out in 1906.

Projections

Main cities

Ethnography

Most of the population is mestizo, followed by the white population and indigenous and black minorities.

Demographics

• Population: 6 595 674 (2020)
• Gender:
  • Men: 3 254 564 (49.3%)
  • Women: 3 341 110 (50.7%)
• Urbanization
  • Rural: 2 722 435 (41.3%)
  • Urban: 3 873 239 (58.7%)

• 1.66% annual population variation

Nicaragua is currently the fourth most populous nation in Central America. However, by 2020 the country's population will exceed that of El Salvador. The fertility rate fell from 3.3 children per woman in 1995 to 2.7 children per woman in 2005. This decrease was practically the average for Central America, since it was much less than in El Salvador and Costa Rica, but greater than in Honduras and Guatemala.

The country has a growth rate of 1.4% per year (1 percentage point more than El Salvador and one less than Honduras). Demographically, the country's population will more than double during the first half of the XXI century, reaching just over 11 million, although at the same time it is its maximum, the country will only grow according to projections up to 8,769,510 in 2079 and will begin to decrease in 2080, the same as Honduras, which will start with -0.5% annually, to later be -2% in the 2090s and -3.3% in 2100.

Demographic profile

Despite being one of the poorest countries in Latin America, Nicaragua has improved its access to drinking water and sanitation and has improved its life expectancy, infant mortality and immunization rates. However, the distribution of income is very unequal, and the poor, farmers and indigenous people continue to have less access to health services. Nicaragua's total fertility rate has fallen from about 6 children per woman in 1980 to below replacement level today, but the high birth rate among adolescents perpetuates the cycle of poverty and low educational attainment.

Nicaraguans emigrate mainly to Costa Rica and, to a lesser extent, to the United States. Nicaraguan men have seasonally migrated to Costa Rica to harvest bananas and coffee since the early 20th century. Political turmoil, civil war, and natural disasters from the 1970s to the 1990s dramatically increased the flow of refugees and permanent migrants seeking work, higher wages, and better health and social benefits. Since the year 2000, Nicaraguan emigration to Costa Rica has slowed and stabilized. Currently, some 296,541 Nicaraguans reside permanently in Costa Rica - around 75% of the foreign population - and thousands more emigrate seasonally for work, many of them illegally.

Migration

Emigration abroad

The following table shows the number of Nicaraguans living abroad.

Nicaraguans abroad

Country	Population abroad on a permanent basis	Major target countries
NicaraguaNicaragua	682.865	United States, Costa Rica, Spain, Panama, Canada, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela

Immigration from abroad

The following table shows the number of foreigners in Nicaragua.

Foreigners in Nicaragua

Country	Permanent foreign population	Principal countries
NicaraguaNicaragua	42.172	Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Panama