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Colombia SOCIETY
Population: In 1988 estimated at 28 million;
rate of
annual growth approximately 2 percent in late 1980s.
Education and Literacy: In late 1980s, about 90
percent
of children between seven and eleven years of age attended
primary
school in urban areas; number often fell below 70 percent
in many
rural areas and below 50 percent in more isolated
communities.
Approximately 30 percent of twelve-year-old population
attended
secondary school in 1985; significant urban-rural
variations.
Estimated 80 percent of all university students attended
programs
in just five cities. Literacy rate estimated at 88 percent
in 1987.
Health: Access to and availability of health
care and
medical services improved substantially in 1970s and
1980s;
nonetheless, rural and urban poor continued to suffer from
higher
mortality and morbidity rates. In 1988 life expectancy at
birth
estimated at sixty-eight years for females and sixty-four
years for
males.
Language: Spanish.
Ethnic Groups: In late 1980s, mestizos
constituted
approximately 50 percent of population, whites 25 percent,
mulattoes and zambos (black-Indian mix) 20 percent,
blacks
4 percent, and Indians 1 percent.
Religion: Over 95 percent of population Roman
Catholic in
late 1980s; remainder primarily various Protestant groups.
Data as of December 1988
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