Bolivians

For other uses, see Bolivian (disambiguation).
Bolivians
Bolivianos
Bolivians in World map
Total population
c. 13.2 million
Diaspora 1.4 million
Regions with significant populations
 Bolivia 11 million
 Argentina~1,000,000–2,000,000[1]
 Brazil350,000-600,000[2]
 Spain239.000[3]-179,571[4] (not including the naturalized, nor their descendants).[5]
 Chile148,059 (2022)[6]
 United States99,296[7]
 France25,000[8]
 Italy12,924[9]
 Japan7,103[10]
 Australia956[11]
Languages
Primarily Spanish
Quechua, Aymara, Guarani and other languages of Bolivia
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic[12]
(syncretism with traditional beliefs is widely practiced)
Protestant and Mormon minorities[13]

Bolivians (Spanish: Bolivianos) are people identified with the country of Bolivia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Bolivians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Bolivian.

Bolivia is, as its neighboring countries, a multiethnic and multilingual society, home to people of various ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of indigenous and Old World immigrants and their descendants. As a result, Bolivians do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Bolivia. Aside from the indigenous populations, Bolivians trace their ancestry to the Old World, primarily Europe and Africa, ever since the Spanish conquest of South America and founding of first Spanish settlements in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

Modern Bolivian population, estimated at 11 million is formally broken down into Amerindians (primarily Quechua and Aymara, Guaraní peoples), Mestizos, Europeans and Afro-Bolivians. The group's sole common language is Spanish (Bolivian Spanish), although the Guarani, Aymara and Quechua languages are also widely spoken in their communities and to some degree by others, and all three, as well as 34 other indigenous languages, are official languages of the country. The mutual influence and interaction of cultures of Bolivia have resulted in modern Bolivian society becoming one of prime examples of a melting pot according to some anthropologists.

  1. ^ Cónsul Boliviano con los días contados por Raúl Kollman, 9 April 2006, p.12.
  2. ^ "O Brasil tem pouco imigrante". Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  3. ^ Benencia, Roberto; Canevaro, Santiago (2017). "Migración boliviana y negocios. De la discriminación a la aceptación. La salada como fenómeno social" (PDF). REMHU: Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana. 25 (49). Brasília: 184. doi:10.1590/1980-85852503880004910. ISSN 1980-8585.
  4. ^ "Población por comunidades y provincias, país de nacimiento, edad (grupos quinquenales) y sexo". INE. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  5. ^ Europapress (22 August 2013). "Nueve de cada diez bolivianos en España ya están en situación regular" (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Estimaciones de extranjeros". INE. 2 April 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  7. ^ US Census Bureau 2012 American Community Survey B03001 1-Year Estimates HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY SPECIFIC ORIGIN retrieved September 20, 2013
  8. ^ "BOLIVIA Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática". inei.gob.pe.
  9. ^ "Boliviani in Italia 2022". www.tuttitalia.it/.
  10. ^ "在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計 結果の概要". moj.go.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Bolivia country brief".
  12. ^ "Las religiones en tiempos del Papa Francisco" (in Spanish). Latinobarómetro. April 2014. pp. 6, 31. Archived from the original (pdf) on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  13. ^ Religion affiliation in Bolivia as of 2018. Based on Latinobarómetro. Survey period: 15 June to 2 August 2018, 1,200 respondents.