Population & Culture

As of 1998, Chile had a population of 14.8 million residents. From an ethnic point of view, most residents of Chile are “Colored” (66%); followed by Europeans (25%), Indians (6%) and others (3%) such as Asians and Middle Easterners. As for languages, Chile has 93.2% of residents speaking Spanish as a first language. Others speak immigrant languages (Italian, German, Arabic, etc.) or aboriginal languages. There are two types of aboriginals: native Indians from the continent and Polynesians from Easter Island.

As for the native Indians, we must make a distinction between Araucans, Mapuches and Quechuas who generally live in reserves in the southern parts, and in the Land of Fire we find the Alakalufs, Yagans and a few hundred Onas. In a 1996 survey, Mapuches represented 81.3% of aboriginals, followed by Aymaras (14.1%) and other ethnic groups (4.36%): Atacameños (1.5 %), Rapanuis (1.2 %), Coyas (0.8 %), Quechuas (0.5 %), Yaganes (0.15 %) and Kawashkares (0.02 %).

Administratively, Chile is divided into 13 regions, including the city of Santiago, and these regions are divided into 40 provinces. The provinces are then divided into municipalities. Apart from Santiago, the capital (4,385,000 residents), the other large cities are Concepción, Valparaíso (276,000 residents), Viña del Mar, Talcahuano (247,300 residents), Antofagasta (218,000 residents), Temuco (211,000 residents) and Punta Arenas (113,000 residents).