Indigenous peoples of Panama

The Indigenous peoples of Panama, also known as Native Panamanians, are the original inhabitants of Panama, are the Native peoples whose history in the territory of today's Panama predates Spanish colonization. As of the 2023 census, Indigenous peoples constitute 17.2% of Panama’s population of 4.5 million, totaling just over 698,000 individuals. The Ngäbe and Bokota comprise half of the Indigenous peoples of Panama.^[1]

Many of the Indigenous Peoples live on comarca indígenas,^[2] which are administrative regions for areas with substantial Indigenous populations. Three comarcas (Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, Guna Yala, Ngäbe-Buglé) exist as equivalent to a province, with two smaller comarcas (Guna de Madugandí and Guna de Wargandí) subordinate to a province and considered equivalent to a corregimiento (municipality).

Indigenous groups

Bokota, Bocas Del Toro
Embera, southeastern Darién Province
Ngäbe (including the Movere and Murire peoples), mainly Chiriquí Province
Guna, Darién Province and Caribbean side.
Buglé, mainly Chiriquí Province
Talamanca
Teribe^[1]
Wounaan, southeastern Darién Province
Emberá-Wounaan, mainly Emberá-Wounaan Comarca
Bribri

Population

*Indigenous population of Panama according to ethnic group^[3]*
Ethnic group	Census 1990		Census 2000		Census 2010		Census 2023
Ethnic group	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Ngäbe (Guaymi)	123,626	63.6	169,130	59.3	260,058	62.3	444,878	63.7
Buglé (Bokota)	3,784	1.9	18,724	6.6	26,871	6.4	24,488	3.5
Guna	47,298	24.3	61,707	21.6	80,526	19.3	112,319	16.1
Emberá	14,659	7.5	22,485	7.9	31,284	7.5	51,657	7.4
Wounaan	2,605	1.3	6,882	2.4	7,279	1.7	10,634	1.5
Teribe/Naso	2,194	1.1	3,305	1.2	4,046	1.0	6,899	1.0
Bribri			2,521	0.9	1,068	0.3	799	0.1
Other	103	0.1			460	0.1	45,498	6.5
Not declared			477	0.2	5,967	1.4	975	0.1

Languages

Some native peoples speak Spanish, while many more retain their traditional languages. According to the 2000 census, the following Indigenous languages are spoken in Panama:

Bokota language: 933 speakers (in Panama)
Bri-bri language: 2,521 speakers
Buglé language: 17,731 speakers
Emberá language: 22,485 speakers
Guna Language: 61,707 speakers
Naso-Teribe language: 3,305 speakers
Ngöbe language: 169,130 speakers
Wounaan language: 6,882 speakers^[2]
punjabi language: 4,500

Speakers

Notes

^ ^a ^b "Panama History: Indigenous People." Archived 2010-11-25 at the Wayback Machine Panama Experts. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)
^ ^a ^b "Indigenous Peoples in Panama." Archived 2011-03-02 at the Wayback Machine International Work Group for Indian Affairs. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)
^ https://www.inec.gob.pa Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censo (INEC)

External links

Distribution of Indigenous Populations in Panama by Province and Comarca, 2000

[ip-1] "Panama History: Indigenous People." Archived 2010-11-25 at the Wayback Machine Panama Experts. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)

[iwgia-2] "Indigenous Peoples in Panama." Archived 2011-03-02 at the Wayback Machine International Work Group for Indian Affairs. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)

[inec-3] ttps://www.inec.gob.pa Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censo (INEC)

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Ancestry and ethnicity in Panama
Indigenous	Bokota Cueva Embera Embera-Wounaan Guna Movere Naso Ngäbe Ngöbe–Buglé	Panama portal
Non-Indigenous	African Cimarron Chinese Indian Italian Jewish Mestizo Mexican White	Panama portal
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