Minority action groups
Main languages: Spanish (Castilian) 98,7 per cent (official), indigenous languages 3,9 per cent, foreign 2.8 per cent. (Quichua and Shuar are official languages of intercultural relations; other indigenous languages are in official use by indigenous peoples in the areas they inhabit.)
Main religions: Christianity (majority Roman Catholic, with Evangelical Protestantism gaining numbers, including in indigenous communities), indigenous religions.
Minority and indigenous groups include 18 indigenous peoples and 14 distinct indigenous nationalities – including Quichua, Shuar, Chachi, Achuar, Awa, Tsáchila, Epera, Shiwiar, Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Sapara, Andoa y Waorani (7.7 per cent); Afro-Ecuadorians (4,8 per cent); and Montubios, who are mestizo people of the countryside of coastal Ecuador (7,7 per cent) . According to the most recent census in 2022, 1.302.057 people of Ecuador self-identify as indigenous. Yet many other estimates of the indigenous population are considerably higher: for instance, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (La Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, CONAIE) believes that indigenous peoples comprise somewhere between 25 and 30 per cent of the total population.
Similarly, there is a large gap between the official figures for Afro-Ecuadorians as NGOs estimate that their population reaches 10 per cent. These differences have to do with questions of classification of Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples, including the self-identification of those who have intermarried with non-black or non-indigenous people, and those who live in urban areas.
Main religions: Christianity (majority Roman Catholic, with Evangelical Protestantism gaining numbers, including in indigenous communities), indigenous religions.
Minority and indigenous groups include 18 indigenous peoples and 14 distinct indigenous nationalities – including Quichua, Shuar, Chachi, Achuar, Awa, Tsáchila, Epera, Shiwiar, Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Sapara, Andoa y Waorani (7.7 per cent); Afro-Ecuadorians (4,8 per cent); and Montubios, who are mestizo people of the countryside of coastal Ecuador (7,7 per cent) . According to the most recent census in 2022, 1.302.057 people of Ecuador self-identify as indigenous. Yet many other estimates of the indigenous population are considerably higher: for instance, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (La Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, CONAIE) believes that indigenous peoples comprise somewhere between 25 and 30 per cent of the total population.
Similarly, there is a large gap between the official figures for Afro-Ecuadorians as NGOs estimate that their population reaches 10 per cent. These differences have to do with questions of classification of Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples, including the self-identification of those who have intermarried with non-black or non-indigenous people, and those who live in urban areas.
26-30, F