Indigenous peoples of Panama

Embera girl, Darién Province, 2006 A Guna woman in Guna Yala Guna house in Guna Yala, 2007

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

[edit]

* 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

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Indigenous population of Panama according to ethnic group[3] Ethnic
group  | Census 1990 | Census 2000 | Census 2010 | Census 2023

|
|
|
|

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

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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

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

## See also

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* Panama portal
* Indigenous peoples of the Americas portal

* Indigenous peoples

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indigenous peoples of Panama.

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

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Ancestry and ethnicity in Panama

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