Indigenous peoples of Panama

Embera girl, Darién Province, 2006

A Guna woman in Guna Yala

Guna house in Guna Yala, 2007

Indigenous peoples of Panama, or Native Panamanians, are the native peoples of Panama. According to the 2010 census, they make up 12.3% of the overall population of 3.4 million, or just over 418,000 people. The Guaymí and Ngöbe-Buglé comprise half of the indigenous peoples of Panama.^[1]

Many of the Indigenous Peoples live on comarca indígenas,^[2] which are administrative regions for an area with a substantial Indigenous populations. Three comarcas (Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, Guna Yala, Ngöbe-Buglé) exist as equivalent to a province, with two smaller comarcas (Kuna de Madugandí and Kuna de Wargandí) subordinate to a province and considered equivalent to a corregimiento (municipality).

Indigenous groups

• Bokota, Bocas Del Toro
• Embera, southeastern Darién Province
• Guaymí (including the Movere and Murire peoples), mainly Chiriquí Province
• Guna, Darién Province and Caribbean side.
• Ngöbe-Buglé, mainly Chiriquí Province
• Talamanca
• Teribe^[1]
• Wounaan, southeastern Darién Province

Languages

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]

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indigenous peoples of Panama.

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