Arica - Demography

Demography

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Arica spans an area of 4,799.4 km2 (1,853 sq mi) and has 185,268 inhabitants (91,742 men and 93,526 women). Of these, 175,441 (94.7%) lived in urban areas and 9,827 (5.3%) in rural areas. The population grew by 8.8% (14,964 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. Arica is home to 97.7% of the total population of the region.

The population is a mixture between older-residing local Indians such as the Aymara with African people or Chinese who first arrived as miners and rail workers in the 1890s, and Europeans including the Spanish, Italians, Greeks, British and French or their descendants who arrived at different times of local history. Some Ariqueanos have an affinity with the cultures of Peru and distantly, Bolivia.

The urban area of Arica has 175,441 inhabitants in an area of 41.89 km². Arica in 2007 had more than 185,000 inhabitants (not counting the inhabitants of the valleys and Lluta Azapa, with that reach almost to the 194.000 inhabitants). The growing city of AricaSegún spreads outward into the desert and the Peru-Chile border. The Azapa Valley has developed a year-round agricultural economy due to improvements in irrigation and transportation of its products.

The villages that make up the commune are Villa Frontera and San Miguel de Azapa. Some hamlets are Poconchile, Molinas, Sora, Las Maitas and Caleta Vitor.

Arica was made famous in 1970 by the spiritual master Oscar Ichazo when he held a 10 month training there for 50 Americans from the Esalen Institute in California. The Arica School, based in America, has influenced thousands of people all over the world. Information is available at Arica.org.

The commune of Arica is composed of 19 census districts.