Demographics of Nicaragua
[4] A Japanese research of "Genomic Components in America's demography" demonstrated that, on average, the ancestry of Nicaraguans is 58–62% European, 28% Native American, and 14% African, with a very small Near Eastern contribution.
[5] Non-genetic data from the CIA World Factbook establish that from Nicaragua's 2016 population of 5,966,798, around 69% are mestizo, 17% white, 5% Native American, and 9% black and other races.
[12] Ninety percent of Nicaraguans live in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent interior highlands.
The Creole population is mostly of West Indian (Antillean) origin, the descendants of indentured laborers brought mostly from Jamaica when the region was a British protectorate.
In particular the northern cities of Estelí, Jinotega and Matagalpa have significant populations of fourth generation Germans.
The Garifuna, a people of mixed Carib, Angolan, Congolese and Arawak descent, numbered 3,271 in 2005 (0.1%).
In the 19th century, the indigenous population was more demographically significant, but they have since largely been culturally assimilated into the mestizo majority.
In the mid-1980s, the government divided the department of Zelaya – consisting of the eastern half of the country — into two autonomous regions and granted the black and indigenous people of this region limited self-rule within the Republic.Relative to its overall population, Nicaragua has never experienced any large scale wave of immigrants.
[11] However, in the 19th century, Nicaragua received immigrants from Europe, who established many agricultural businesses such as coffee and sugar cane plantations, and also newspapers, hotels and banks.
[24] Nicaraguans are the third largest community of Central Americans living abroad, after Guatemalans and Salvadorans.
Nicaragua is also the second country in Central America by percentage of population living abroad.
In Nicaragua the Voseo form is common, just as in other countries in Central and South America like Honduras, Argentina, and Uruguay.
Bishops are expected to lend their authority to important state occasions, and their pronouncements on national issues are closely followed.
Roman Catholicism came to Nicaragua in the 16th century with the Spanish conquest and remained, until 1939, the established faith.
Popular religion revolves around the saints, who are perceived as intermediaries between human beings and God.
[31] Most localities, from the capital of Managua to small rural communities, honor patron saints selected from the Roman Catholic calendar with annual fiestas.
The high point of Nicaragua's religious calendar for the masses is neither Christmas nor Easter, but La Purísima, a week of festivities in early December dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, during which elaborate altars to the Virgin Mary are constructed in homes and workplaces.
General: This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook.
