Ethnic groups: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German,
African, indigenous people
Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2%
Languages: Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 91.1%
male: 91.8%
female: 90.3% (1995 est.)
Government
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Venezuela
conventional short form: Venezuela
local long form: Republica de Venezuela
local short form: Venezuela
Data code: VE
Government type: republic
Capital: Caracas
Administrative divisions: 22 states (estados, singular—estado),1 federal district* (distrito federal), and 1 federal dependency** (dependencia federal); Amazonas, Anzoategui, Apure, Aragua, Barinas, Bolivar, Carabobo, Cojedes, Delta Amacuro, Dependencias Federales**, Distrito Federal*, Falcon, Guarico, Lara, Merida, Miranda, Monagas, Nueva Esparta, Portuguesa, Sucre, Tachira, Trujillo, Yaracuy, Zulia note: the federal dependency consists of 11 federally controlled island groups with a total of 72 individual islands