Population: Estimated 19.7 million in 1990. Extremely high average annual growth rate of 3.4 percent from 1950-86 had declined to 2.5 percent by 1990.

Ethnic Groups: About 68 percent of population mestizo (mixed race), 21 percent unmixed Caucasian, 10 percent African, and 1 percent Indian.

Language: Spanish official language. Indian dialects spoken by isolated groups (less than 1 percent of population).

Religion: Over 90 percent nominally Roman Catholic approximately 5 percent Protestant (mainly evangelical).

Education and Literacy: Over 88 percent of population fifteen years or older considered literate in 1985. Basic education consisted of nine years of compulsory schooling. Best known and oldest university was Central University of Venezuela in Caracas.

Health: Generally good indicators by Latin American standards. In 1990 life expectancy seventy-one years for males, seventy-seven for females. Death rate only 4 per 1,000 population, birth rate 28 per 1,000 population. Average caloric intake 107 percent of minimum established by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Data as of December 1990