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Nicaragua - People

Most Nicaraguans are of both European and indigenous ancestry, and the culture of the country reflects the mixed Ibero-European and indigenous heritage of its people. The Nicaraguan Mestizo population harbors a high proportion of European male and Native American female substrate. Finally, the amount of African ancestry is also interesting, probably because of the contribution of Spanish conquerors with North African genetic traces or that of West African slaves. Only the indigenous of the eastern half of the country remain ethnically distinct and retain their tribal customs and languages. A large black minority, of Afro-Caribbean origin, is concentrated along the Caribbean coast. In the mid-1980s, the central government divided the eastern half of the country--the former department of Zelaya--into two autonomous regions and granted the people of the region limited self-rule under an elected regional council of 45 deputies and an indirectly-elected governor.

Distribution of wealth inequality and disparity of household consumption levels are significant. Nicaragua’s Gini Coefficient is 0.36 (where 0 is the absolute equality and 1 is absolute inequality). The 80-20 rule very much applies to describe the Nicaraguan market. Twenty percent of the population own 80 percent of the nation’s wealth and 80 percent of the population barely own 20 percent of the wealth. Two out of every three people in rural areas are poor compared with one in every three people in urban areas. Income distribution is highly skewed with 51% of national consumption spent by the richest population quintile and only 5% by the poorest quintile. This results in limited purchasing power for most consumers. According to International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) data, 42 percent of the Nicaraguan population lives in poverty, and 15 percent live in extreme poverty. Among the rural population, the overall poverty rate is 63 percent with 27 percent in extreme poverty. However, according to data from the World Bank, household consumption expenditure per capita growth (annual percent) was 1.8 percent in 2011 and 0.7 percent in 2012.

The proportion of poor households is higher among those headed by women than those headed by men. Poverty is concentrated at an alarming rate in families with children under 14 years of age. Social exclusion reaches 40% of the population in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Of particular concern is the high percentage of young people between 12 and 24 who neither study nor work, a phenomenon found mainly in rural areas. At 26% of Nicaraguans aged 15-24 years have no schooling, and 49% had less than 3 years’ education as of 2001, often due to poverty.

As a result of poverty and lack of education, many young women especially in marginal urban and rural areas, have low self-esteem, no future expectations and nothing else to do except have a baby. Girls subject to domestic violence often see pregnancy as a way to escape from the family home. Young men are still influenced by the cultural factors behind machismo, and young women haveinsufficient power in relationships. Gender relations are affected by the discrepancy between the expected and real roles of men.

Men’s role as providers has been declining as economic depression reduces opportunities for work in the formal sector of the economy, and cultural globalisation has alienated men and made it hard for them to identify with their children. Men find it increasingly difficult to maintain their authority in the family and to act as traditional role models for their children. The response of many men to this crisis of authority is violence, generally directed at women and children because they have unequal power in relationships with men. Studies in Nicaragua have shown that 50% of women have experienced gender-based violence, and 33% of girls and 20% of boys have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 12.

Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion, but Evangelical Protestantism has experienced rapid growth over the past 10 years. There are strong Anglican and Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast, and a small Muslim population exists in Managua and in the larger cities along the Pacific coast. Buddhist and Jewish communities are small. Most Nicaraguans live in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent interior highlands. The population is 58% urban.

As a workforce, Nicaragua’s population is characterized as flexible, with good working habits, and fast learners. As a market, it is a young market that offers opportunities for consumer-oriented and intermediate products. This is mainly because the industrial sector is not developed and does not satisfy domestic demand. Consumer-oriented products are attractive to the young and rising middle class segment. Consumption of processed foods, like sweetened-flavored soft drinks, processed sweets and snacks have grown in urban areas. This is related to consumer habits. The Nicaraguan diet is high on carbohydrates but low on proteins, vegetables and fruits. More than 65 percent of the local population’s daily calories are derived from carbohydrates.

Nicaragua has the lowest prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS in Central America. The epidemic started late, the first case being reported in 1987. By 2002 803 HIV seropositive cases had been reported, of which 368 were AIDS and 199 had died as of 2002. UNAIDS estimated a low annual incidence of 3.27 per 100,000 with a total of 5,800 people living with HIV/AIDS. The Central America Region (CAR) is characterized by a concentrated HIV/AIDS epidemic with low prevalence among the general population, but high prevalence among certain subgroups such as men who have sex with men (MSM); transgender persons; male and female sex workers (SW); clients of sex workers and their partners; certain ethnic groups such as the Garífuna and Kuna; and mobile populations. According to UNAIDS in 2011, HIV prevalence in adults in CAR is highest in Belize (2.3%), followed by Panama (0.8%), Guatemala (0.8%), El Salvador (0.6%), Costa Rica (0.3%), and Nicaragua (0.2%). Data from Honduras from 2009 showed a HIV prevalence of 0.8%. These relatively low national percentages mask the concentrated epidemic among key populations (KP). The data available suggests that intravenous drug use is not a major factor in HIV transmission in the region.

Explosive population growth and rapid urbanization magnify many of Nicaragua's development problems. High birth rates strain the country's inadequate health and education systems, and the expanding population takes a heavy toll on the environment. Rapid urbanization requires expensive investment in transportation and sanitation infrastructures. Despite these problems, successive Nicaraguan governments (including the Sandinista administration) have declined to make population control a national priority. Since the 1950s, Nicaragua had a persistently high rate of population increase and rapid urban growth, both of which were expected to continue to the twenty-first century. The Sandinista revolution had little effect on these demographic trends.

In 1990 an estimated 3.87 million people lived in Nicaragua. The population had tripled in the preceding twenty-five years and was expected to double again in the following twenty-five. Nicaragua’s population reached 6 million inhabitants in 2013. Fifty-one percent are females and 49 percent are males. It is a country of young people; the median age is 23 years old. Approximately 76 percent of the population is less than 39 years old. The Nicaraguan population grows at an annual rate of 1.2 percent. Life expectancy for Nicaraguans is near 74 years.

Nicaragua is currently in a “delayed demographic transition” period as defined by the World Bank, with high to medium fertility rates which have been declining recently (6.9 births per woman in 1970 to 3.2 in 2001), population growth still high at 2.6%. 66% of married women use modern contraceptive methods, a significant increase of 17% in the 3 years 1998-2001. Currently 63% of the population are under 25 years of age. Adolescents aged 10-19 comprise 26% of the total population, and the group 10-24 years 35% (INEC, 2003). The dependency ratio has been declining over the last 10 years, and was estimated at 78 in 2001. The ratio is higher in rural areas where it reaches 92 compared with 69 in urban areas. Government institutions have recently started to interpret this age structure as a “demographic bonus”, bringing opportunities for economic growth as more young people enter the workforce.