Panama Census

Panama Census


 * This article is about censuses of the country of Panama. For the former U.S. Canal Zone, see Panama Canal Zone Census.

1911-2000 National Institute of Census and Statistics
A civil census was conducted in each of the following years: 1911, 1920, and subsequently every 10 years containing: Published census data consists mainly of statistics and does not include individual census data, which may be obtained from Direccion de Estadistica y Censos, Contraloria General de la Republica
 * First and last name and address of head of household
 * First and last name and relationship to the head of household living in the same house
 * Civil status, place of birth, sex, age
 * Place of residence on May 1st, 5 years prior to when ther census was conducted
 * Certificates, diplomas, titles, educational level, professional status
 * Number of living children for each individual

Open: M-F 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Location: Edificio Contraloría General, Ave. Balboa, first floor, left side

Panama City, Panama

Telephones: 011-507-510-4777, ext. 4829 - 4830 ; 011-507-510-4829

http://www.contraloria.gob.pa/inec/

1611-1808 Visitas de Tierra (Land Visits) - Real Audiencia (Royal Audience) of Santa Fe
These visits were a type of census conducted by the Real Audiencia of Santa Fe (Colombia). The visits were generally a response to reports of excess and abuse of Indians and were used to control colonial administration. Their main objective, however, was to set the basis for taxation.

These special general censuses of colonial times, include the provinces of The census data is in a microfilm available from FamilySearch and has also been digitized. You can access the images here.
 * Cocle
 * Chiriqui
 * Panama
 * Veraguas

1740-1789 Miscelaneous Colonial Censuses
The following census records are available at the National Archive of History in Bogota, Colombia. They each include first and last names, sex, and age of each member of the family:
 * 1740 Census of Nata
 * 1777 Census of Portobello
 * 1787-1789 Census of Darien

1756 General Census of Veragua
This general census of Veragua was commissioned by the Spanish crown in 1756 and can be found in the General Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain, "Estante 69, Cajón 5, Legajo 10." The Spanish historian, Maria del Carmen Mena Garcia, published in 1993 in the Annual of American Studies a paper titled "Estructura demográfica de Veragua en el siglo XVIII" which includes a full transcription of the 1756 census. At the time the census was taken, Veragua comprised the provinces of Chiriqui, Bocas del Toro, and Veraguas.
 * First Part
 * Second Part
 * Third Part

1774 Census of Los Santos
The book, La Villa de Los Santos y El Padrón de 1774, contains a history of the 1774 census of Los Santos, Cocle and explains data from this census. You can download a PDF version here.

1777-1812 Censuses of La Nueva Granada
In 1777, the viceroyalty of Nueva Granada included 14 governorships, one of which was Panama.
 * A royal census was conducted in 1777, at the municipal level, but only the census of Portobello is available for Panama. This census can be accessed online at Colombia's Archivo General de la Nacion (National Archive of the Nation). It is not indexed, but browsable images for the entire census are available here.
 * Similar censuses were conducted In 1778 and 1779 in the Darien municipality of Panama.
 * A population census was conducted in Nueva Granada in 1812.

1825-1851 Censuses of La Gran Colombia
After Colombia's independence from Spain in 1819, the Republic of Gran Colombia was established. Panama joined the Gran Colombia after its independence from Spain in 1821. While it was part of the Gran Colombia, fairly complete population census were conducted for the years 1825, 1843, and 1851.