Occidental Mindoro - Demographics

Demographics

The population of Occidental Mindoro is 452,971 in the 2010 census, making it the country's 21st least populated province. The population density is 77 persons per km². Major languages spoken are Tagalog and Mangyan. Ilokano, Visaya, Kapampangan, and Bikolano, are spoken by people who migrated from the provinces where they are spoken. Occidental Mindoro is a cultural melting pot, populated mostly by recent immigrants. Population trend:

• Population in 2010: 452,971
• Population in 2007: 421,952
• Population in 2000: 380,250
• Population in 1995: 339,605
• Population in 1990: 282,593

The indigenous people in the province are the Mangyans (Manguianes in Spanish, Mañguianes in Old Tagalog), consisting of 7 distinct tribes. They occupy the interior, specially the highlands. Mangyans have inhabited the island since pre-history. They are believed to have originally travelled from Indonesia and settled down for good in the island.

There have been many evidences, historical and geophysical, that Mangyans were formerly living near the coastlines, but they were compelled to move into the interior jungles of the island when the Spanish colonizers came, to avoid cultural altercation which brought diseases to them, and to preserve their way of life.

Today, Mangyans number to only around 80,000 (freely moving in and out in both provinces of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro). But there is no accurate accounting of them since many still live elusively in the upper regions of the island, avoiding contact with lowlanders.