According to itypetravel, most of the Indian population of Paraguay at the time of the Spanish conquest was represented by Guaraní groups who lived essentially on itinerant agriculture; they welcomed without enmity the first Europeans who came to settle in their fertile lands, but the institution of the encomiendas, where the natives worked almost in a state of slavery, and the forced recruitment had disastrous consequences on them. The action of the Jesuits fits into this framework, who found in Paraguay the ideal place to carry out their programs of civilization and protection of the Indians. Asunción, founded in 1537 on the Río Paraguay, already at the beginning of the century. XVII was a lively center of colonization and from here the missionary work of the Jesuits took off, who established the reducciones, community villages where there was no private property, and each family had its home in usufruct and all members worked for the welfare of the community. The reducciones, which became approx. about thirty, within a century they managed to reach an efficient degree of organization. They were certainly one of the most singular creations of European civilization in the lands of colonization: a form of acculturation nonetheless, but based on egalitarian principles and social justice, certainly the furthest from those which inspired the Iberian predatory conquest which, right then, it recorded its greatest manifestations in America. In 1767 the suppression of the Jesuit company therefore had serious repercussions on the life of the country: the reducciones, which went against the interests of the encomenderos supported by Spain, they were destroyed and many natives were enslaved or sought refuge in the forests, where they still live. The country, passed into the hands of the Creole oligarchies and led by enterprising dictators, subsequently experienced moments of prosperity, but around the mid-nineteenth century, in an era in which the first national entities emerged with their interests, their ambitions, their borders to be safeguarded, Paraguay was thrown by the disproportionate dreams of greatness of its dictators in two bloody wars that left it exhausted and decimated. Before the war of 1865-70 against Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay the population was approx. 525,000 residents, At the end of the war there were 221,000 individuals, almost all old, women, children. Other men were lost in the war (1932-35) against Bolivia for the possession of the Chaco, where it seemed that oil abounded: Paraguay grew at the expense of Bolivia, but there were no mineral riches in the conquered territory. Starting from the twentieth century, the population began to grow at a high rate, doubling during the first half of the twentieth century and beyond, if we consider that the 650,451 residents by 1914 they had become over 1.3 million in 1950 and 2.4 million in 1970.
The immigration factor contributed little to the population of Paraguay; immigration, in fact, especially when compared with that of other Latin American states, has always been limited (it mainly involved Germans, Italians and Japanese, as well as the Spaniards of course: the Mennonites, a Protestant sect founded in the Netherlands, occupy a place unto themselves), both for the consequences of the wars themselves, and for the scarce possibilities offered by an isolated country, extraneous to the more dynamic currents of the economy of the Platense region; Since the 1970s, a substantial influx of immigrants has come from Brazil, from where farmers have come in search of cheaper lands, and from some Asian countries. Emigration has always been massive, due to the better working conditions offered by neighboring countries, especially Argentina where, since the nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of Paraguayans have flocked and, more recently, Europe and the United States. It is estimated that over 1 million Paraguayans live abroad. In recent years, population growth has reached high rates (20.1 ‰ natural increase in 2005) thanks to high birth rates and low mortality rates, although data on infant mortality are still worrying.
As a result of the high birth rates, Paraguay is the youngest country in South America: 35.9% of the residents are under the age of 15. The living conditions of this segment of the population, especially indigenous children and those who live in the countryside, are rather precarious, due to malnutrition and the difficulty of accessing drinking water; moreover, many of them are forced to work (322,000, according to data from the As a result of the high birth rates, Paraguay is the youngest country in South America: 35.9% of the residents are under the age of 15. The living conditions of this segment of the population, especially indigenous children and those who live in the countryside, are rather precarious, due to malnutrition and the difficulty of accessing drinking water; moreover, many of them are forced to work (322,000, according to data from the As a result of the high birth rates, Paraguay is the youngest country in South America: 35.9% of the residents are under the age of 15. The living conditions of this segment of the population, especially indigenous children and those who live in the countryside, are rather precarious, due to malnutrition and the difficulty of accessing drinking water; moreover, many of them are forced to work (322,000, according to data from the UNICEF, in 2004); it is believed that half of Paraguayans under the age of 18 are considered poor. Furthermore, a form of exploitation of child labor called criadzago is still widespread: it is the entrusting of a boy or girl as servants to a family with greater economic possibilities able to support them. Almost all of the population is located in E del Río Paraguay.
