People in Chile

Compared to other Latin American countries, Chile’s population is relatively homogeneous.
The first Spanish settlers mixed with local natives, predominantly the Araucan. Descendants of these mixed marriages, the mestizos, today make up 92 % of the population.

European immigration, which began only in the 19th century, is less important in Chile than in other American countries. Among the early immigrants were Germans, who emigrated after the unsuccessful revolution of 1848. These immigrants settled mainly in the area of Valdivia and Puerto Montt, where today live about 100 000 Chileans of German descent. Throughout the country there are small groups of Italians, Austrians, Swiss, British, Yugoslavian and French. But the number of pure Europeans is only about 2 %. Less than 7 % of the population are Indians, the largest group among them being the Mapuche who live in the south of the country. Other ethnic groups are the Aymara and the Tierra del Fuego.

Chile has 15.8 million inhabitants; the density of population is 21 inhabitants per square kilometre. Nine tenths of the population live in the central region between Concepción and La Serena.

The average growth of population was 2.3 % by the middle of the 20th century, slowing to 1.7 % in the 1990s. About 86 % of the population live in cities, and about one third have made their home in the capital, Santiago.

The communities in the south, as well as those in the desert area of the north, are all very isolated and separated form the other parts of the country by wide, unpopulated regions.