Distr. GENERAL HRI/CORE/1/Add.56 30 June 1995 ENGLISH Original : SPANISH

[12 April 1995]

GE.95-18119 (95-95225/EXT)

1. According to surveys carried out by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology, 58% of the Colombian population is mestizo, 20% white, 14% mulatto, 4% black, 1.7% indigenous and 2.3% of other races.

2. Colombia is also a country with a diversity of regions and cultures. There are five major regions: the Atlantic coast, the bio-geographical region of Chocó (or Pacific region), the Orinoco region, Amazonia and the Andean region, which today are home to a population of 35 million people, who in cultural terms are predominantly mestizo.

3. Two major ethnic and social groups may be geographically and culturally distinguished from the general population: the Afrocolombian communities, numbering approximately one million people and living mainly along the Pacific coast and certain areas on the Atlantic coast; and the indigenous Amerindian peoples, of which there are about 82 groups with a total population of 700 000, living in territories in the Andes and in vast stretches of the lowlands (Orinoquía, Amazonia, Chocó and the Guajira peninsula). To these must be added the populations of the islands of San Andrés and Providencia (1000 persons) (see annexes ⁽¹⁾, maps and tables 1 and 2).

Language

4. Colombia recognizes Spanish as its national language; the country also has a wealth of languages among its indigenous communities. Sixty-four languages belonging to 13 families of languages have been identified (Chibcha, Arawak, Caribe, Macro-Tukano, Witot, Sikuani, Quechua, Kamsa, Kofan, Nukak-Maku, Bora, Saliba and Puinabe). The Constitution of 1991 (art. 10) establishes the languages and dialects of the ethnic groups as official in their territories, and directs that teaching should be bilingual in the communities that have their own linguistic traditions.

Religion

5. "Freedom of religion is guaranteed. All persons have the right to freely profess and individually or collectively disseminate their religion" (article 19 of the National Constitution).

6. The data gathered in the 1985 population census indicate that 95% of the population are Roman Catholic and the remaining 5% profess a variety of other religions. These statistics, which some specialized agencies consider do not reflect the true situation, can only be reassessed once the data from the population census carried out in 1993 have been consolidated.

Education

7. "Education is an individual right and a public service which has a social function ... The State, society and the family are responsible for education, which shall be compulsory from five to fifteen years of age and shall include, as a minimum, one year of pre-school education and nine years of basic education". (National Constitution, article 67).

8. In 1992 (last official figures) the numbers of pupils, teachers and schools, by urban and rural areas, public and private sectors, pre-school, basic, primary and middle levels, were as follows:

Source: National Department of Statistics

9. With the help of the subnational population projections prepared in 1991, it has been possible to observe - in a standardized series - the evolution of the country's population in the second half of this century.

10. Colombia has been one of the fastest countries in Latin America to cover the various stages of population transition, moving from high birth and mortality rates at the beginning of the period (see table) to falling birth rates and relatively low mortality rates towards the end of the period.

11. As the living and health conditions of the population have improved, as a result of the introduction of new medical technologies, the country has achieved significant advances in hygiene. Together with substantially increased access by women to education and work, this has led to important changes in reproductive behaviour (use of family planning, older age of mothers at the birth of their first child, smaller family size, etc.), which has helped the country to progress rapidly through the stages of demographic transition, a phenomenon that took more than a century in some developed countries and has taken only three decades in Colombia.

12. Increasing access to safe water and health services and greater information about food and nutrition are factors that, together with the Government's mass immunization campaigns, have resulted in a substantial drop in infant mortality, which fell from 123.2 to 27.3 per thousand between the beginning and the end of the period (1950-1994).

Source:DANE, Adjusted Population Censuses 1951-1964-1973 and 1985

DANE, Colombia: Subnational Population Projections 1985-2000

P: provisional figure

Population growth

13. The rapid decline in birth and mortality rates, decisive factors in population growth, have been reflected in this indicator (annual growth rate - r -) which fell from 3% at about the time of the 1964 census to 1.7% at the present. If deceleration of growth continues at the present rate, a rate of 1.4% is estimated for the year 2000.

14. The rapid process of urbanization the country has experienced has led to differential rates of growth in the urban centres and the rest of the country, moving from an essentially rural structure (61.3% rural population in 1951) to an eminently urban structure (72.9% urban population in 1993).

Fertility

15. The rapid decline in fertility (the global fertility rate fell from 6.8 in 1951 to an anticipated 2.7 this year) has largely contributed to the decline in the country's population growth.

16. The demographic change has been general throughout all parts of the country, but rates of reproduction have not changed to the same extent in all regions. In the large cities, the process is moving much faster, since there is greater access to information on methods of birth control and new patterns of behaviour are being adopted.

17. Analysing the behaviour of the fertility rate, it will be noted that it is considerably higher in the rural sector - 4.9 in 1986 and 3.8 in 1990, as compared with 2.8 in 1986 and 2.5 in 1990 in the urban sector.

18. The spread and adoption of contraception has had a notable effect in reducing family size and on the reproductive behaviour of women (as already indicated), raising the average age of women at the birth of the first child from 16.9 years at the beginning of the 1960s to 22.1 years at the present time.

19. Analysing the crude birth rate - the simplest and most basic indicator of fertility - we find that it fell by half during the reference period, from 47.3 at the outset to 24.0 births per 1000 population at the end of the period. This decline has reduced the base of the population pyramid, so that the first five-year age groups are gradually shrinking (in relation to the following age groups), resulting in the ageing of the country's population.

Mortality

20. In Colombia overall mortality rates have fallen to levels comparable with those of countries with more advanced conditions of development, declining from rates of around 17 per thousand in 1950-1955 to 5.9 per thousand at the present. Analysing mortality by gender, it will be seen that the rate among males is higher at all ages, and especially in the age groups at the beginning and end of life.

21. Looking at the structure of mortality, it will be seen that this has altered over recent years. Whereas in 1950-1955 42% of deaths occurred before the age of five years, this share has fallen to 12.5% in the last five-year period (1990-1995), while the percentage of deaths at ages over 60 years has risen from approximately 20 to 45%.

22. One of the indicators that has evolved most favourably over the last few decades is the infant mortality rate, which was 123.2 per thousand live births annually among infants under one year in the first five-year period of the series, and is now approximately 27 per thousand. This decline is evidence of improvement in the quality of life of the population and (hygiene, nutrition, immunization and other factors) and is directly associated with the country's level of development, with a direct effect on increased life expectancy at birth.

23. Although the breakdown by sectors is not available, it is known that because of the differences in development between the urban and rural areas, mortality among infants under one year is consequently higher in the rural areas.

24. Demographic analysis by gender has shown that approximately 105 males are born for every 100 females. However, the risk of mortality at birth or in the first year of life is much higher for males, so that the rate of survival in the first year (and at all ages) is higher among females.

Life expectancy

25. At the same time, the life expectancy at birth of the Colombian population has risen from 50 to 69.2 years over the period 1950-1994, which means that in four decades the country has gained nearly twenty years in life expectancy. This gain in average lifespan occurred fastest when mortality rates (especially infant mortality) were very high and has gradually tapered off as these rates have declined, a trend that will be proportionally maintained until the indicator approaches the biological limits if life.

26. If we look at life expectancy by gender, it will be seen that it is higher for females than for males at all stages and that the gain in years has been greater over the whole of the period. Where women have gained 20 years, men have gained approximately 17. Similarly, it will be seen that the gender differential has also increased, progressing from three years at the start of the series to nearly six at the end, which clearly indicates a comparative advantage for women in regard to their potential for life.

Age structure of the population

27. One of the most significant consequences of the declining birth rate and the control of mortality has been the change in the age structure of the population. The proportion of children under 15 years, which was 46% in about 1973, is now only 35%, while the population in the intermediate age groups (15 to 64 years) has been increasing in relative terms, rising from 51% to 60% over the same period. The same is true for the population over 65 years, which rose by one point from 3% to 4%.

28. Projections for the year 2000 indicate that young people under 15 years will constitute about 30% of the total population, the central groups will rise to 65% and the remaining 5% will comprise the population of 65 years and over.

Urban/rural distribution of the population

29. One of the processes that has been most clearly observed in the country in the last few decades is the phenomenon of urbanization and the concentration of the population in the cities. This has given rise to considerable changes in the spatial distribution of the population during the period under analysis.

30. If we examine the figures shown in the table of demographic indicators, it will be observed that there is a substantial population increase in the cities and a decrease in the rest of the country. The urban population was 38.7% of the overall population in the 1950s, while according to the most recent census, this proportion has risen to approximately 73% (provisional figure). The rural population, which at the start of the series accounted for 61.3%, has fallen by the end to only 27.1% of the national total.

31. Deceleration in the rate of growth has spread to the whole of the country, but with differences in spatial distribution. Vigourous expansion is to be observed in the departments of the Atlantic Coast, Meta, Valle and the National Territories (those which have shown the highest rates of growth on the whole); stagnation or slight decline in the Andean region; and chronic depression in the east, south and west of the country (with the exception of the Cauca Valley).

32. In conclusion, the spatial distribution of the population from the mid-century on has been characterized by a decline in the rural areas of the Andes, movement of the population towards the great plains, and an accentuated process of urbanization and population concentration in the big cities.

33. A number of economic and social indicators are presented below to give an overview of the country's situation and follow the progress of the sectoral objectives, strategies, programmes and plans proposed in the development plans.

Source: DANE, National household survey, stage 83,

March 1994.

Source: DANE, National rural household survey,

September 1994.

Source: Banco de la República.

Financial statistics.

Source: Banco de la República. Foreign trade statistics.

1/ Including private debts guaranteed by the public sector and short-term debts.

2/ Registered debts. Figures as at 30 June 1993.

Source: DANE. National accounts

p: provisional

pr: preliminary

Source: DANE, National accounts.

Source: DANE. Annual survey of manufacturing 1991-1992.

1/ Food products except beverages/various foods for animals and others

p: Provisional figures

n.a.: Data not available

Source: DANE-DIAN. Foreign trade statistics.

p: Provisional figures.

Source: DANE-DIAN. Foreign trade statistics.

p: Provisional figures.

Source: DANE. Foreign trade statistics.

p: Provisional figures.

Source: DANE. National accounts

p: Provisional figures

Source: DANE. National accounts.

1/ Final consumption within the national territory by both residents and non-residents.

p: Provisional figures.