Guatemala Demographics

Population Density of Guatemala in 2018.

Population

Total population

18 584 043 (2022)

Projections

• Year 2030: 212 559
• Year 2040: 24 261 439
• Year 2050: 26 920 713
• Year 2060: 29 093 028
• Year 2070: 30 631 949
• Year 2080: 31 461 686
• Year 2090: 31 625 261
• Year 2100: 31 270 073

Source: Guatemala - Population 1950 - 2100

Demographic profile

Guatemala is a predominantly poor country that has difficulties in several areas of health and development, such as infant and maternal mortality, malnutrition, literacy, and knowledge and use of contraceptives. The country's large indigenous population is disproportionately affected. Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America and has the highest fertility rate in Latin America. It also has the highest population growth rate in Latin America, which is likely to continue due to its large population of reproductive age and high birth rate. Almost half of Guatemala's population is under the age of 19, making it the youngest population in Latin America. Guatemala's total fertility rate has slowly declined over the past few decades, due in part to limited government-funded health programs. However, the birth rate is still closer to three children per woman and is markedly higher among its rural and indigenous populations.

Guatemalans have a history of legal and illegal emigration to Mexico, the United States, and Canada due to lack of economic opportunity, political instability, and natural disasters. Emigration, mainly to the United States, intensified during the civil war from 1960 to 1996 and accelerated after the signing of a peace agreement. Thousands of Guatemalans who fled to Mexico returned after the war, but labor migration to southern Mexico continues.

Urban and Rural Population

Most of the Guatemalan population is 54% urban and 46% rural.

Graphic of demographic evolution of Guatemala between 1880 and

Religion

The predominant religion is Christianity to which many indigenous Guatemalans have incorporated traditional forms of worship. A study carried out by the Latinobarometro corporation highlights that in 2013 the Catholic religion went from being the majority religion to 47%, Protestantism went to 40%, 2% practice other religions, mostly Mayan spirituality and 11% are Mayan religion, although it is not completely defined.

Language

24 languages are spoken in Guatemala. The official language is Spanish. A large percentage of the population speaks one of the 22 Mayan languages. The Peace Accords signed in December 1996 ensure the translation of some official documents and voting materials into several indigenous languages.

• Spanish: it is the dominant language in the center and east of the country, with 55-60%.
• Indigenous languages: 40-45% (more than 20 Mayan languages, including achí, k'iche, kaqchikel, q'eqchi', mam. Non-Mayan languages are Garifuna and Xinca.

Ternary Age

There are a total of 7,003,337 men and 7,358,328 women in the country, divided by age according to the following statistics:

Rates

According to the national population statistics for the year 2000, the population growth rate is 2.63% per year. The following statistic shows the different reasons for the growth of the national population.

Sex ratio

In Guatemala, there is a higher female population with a number of 7,538,328 women, while there are 7,003,337 men of the male sex according to statistics made in the year 2000.

• At birth: 1.05 male/female
• Less than 15 years: 1.04 male/female
• 15-64 years: 1 male/female
• 65 years and more: 0.88 male/female
• Total population: 1.01 male/female

Births and deaths

• Infant mortality rate: 47.03 deaths/1000 live births (est. 2000).
• Life expectancy at birth: total population: 66.18 years. male 63.53 years. female 68.96 years (est. 2000).
• Total fertility rate: 4.66 births/women (est. 2000).
• The average number of children over 12 years of age (according to Census 2018) is 3.8.

Ethnic groups

Historically, the territory of Guatemala was inhabited by indigenous peoples where the Maya, Tz'utujil, Quiché, etc. predominated. Since the arrival of the Europeans, first with the Spanish, the inhabitants have mixed, forming a population called ladino, which includes both mestizo and white people and even indigenous people who identify with a Spanish-speaking culture and similar to the rest. of Latinamerica. Also over time, immigrants have arrived who have decided to settle in the country, which causes the appearance of new ethnic groups and new cultures in the country. According to the National Institute of Statistics of Guatemala (INE), for the 2018 Census, these are the percentages of ethnic groups that exist in Guatemala: Ladinos -a category that includes Mestizos, Hispanicized Indigenous and Mestizos of Caucasian appearance- (56%), indigenous (43%) -understood as those who wear the clothing and actively practice the Mayan languages-.

Demographic evolution

Guatemala City, Mixco, and Villa Nueva, the three most populous cities in the Department of Guatemala, the most populous department in the country.

The Guatemalan population has experienced strong demographic growth during the 20th century.

Based on historical census projections, this is the evolution of the Guatemalan population:

In addition, an estimated 500,000 to 1.5 million people of Guatemalan descent live in Mexico, the US, and Canada.

It should be noted that according to Mauricio Guerra, manager of the INE, he explained that scientific bases were used for the 2018 census; In addition, he said that the projections are inaccurate since they are made based on approximations, the opposite of the method used for the census, therefore the actual population of Guatemala in 2018 is 14,901,286 inhabitants.

Demographic transition

Guatemala is a young nation, with 70% of people under 30 years of age (2002 Census Data). reaching 26 million in 2050 (obviously with an older population), and by 2080 ECLAC estimates that the country will reach 34 million, although this will be its maximum, it will remain almost stable and during the last decade of this century will begin to decrease with -1.1% annually (being a higher start than the other Central American countries although also one of the latest) and by 2100 with -2%. Studies also indicate that due to the high fertility rate (3.2 children per woman in 2007), immigration abroad does not affect population growth as it does in the case of El Salvador and Nicaragua. [2]