Yesterday Venezuela’s Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Institute of Statistics—INE) presented the preliminary results of its 2011 Census, revealing an estimated population of 28,946,101—a 25-percent increase from the previous demographic measure in 2001.

In presenting some of the preliminary results, INE director Elias Eljuri noted that the population under the age of 15 had diminished, while the population of women—especially above the age of 64—had increased. The average age in Venezuela today is 27 years, compared with 18 years in 1950.

In reporting the findings, Eljuri also highlighted that 50.3 percent of Venezuela’s population is female and 49.7 percent is male, and that the majority of Venezuelan households are headed by men.

Even with most households still being headed by men, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s May 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) indicates that women’s role in Venezuelan households has changed due to economic necessity and a shift of attitudes toward gender equality. For instance, the percentage of women aged 15 or over who did not work outside the home fell from 46 percent to 31 percent between 1994 and 2007.

Costa Ricans are a small population to begin with, but now there are even fewer of them than previously thought. At the current growth rate, their numbers could one day start to shrink.

For years, expert projections had put the population of this country—the size of West Virginia—at 4.5 million and higher. But the new national census—the first in 11 years—counted just 4,301,712 people, according to preliminary data released this week by Costa Rica’s Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, or INEC).

Annual population growth from 1984 to 2000—the last two census years—averaged 2.8 percent. But between 2000 and this year’s census, this rate plummeted to 1.1 percent.

In an interview, Costa Rica’s communications minister, Roberto Gallardo, said he was very surprised by the figure. Jorge Barquero, a leading demography expert at the Universidad de Costa Rica, said that, pending on the final results of the census, his team may have to rework years of projections and analysis that had been based on previous INEC studies.