Concept Building:

What You Need to Know

Learning Outcomes
In this lesson, students are expected to have:
1. explained the status of the indigenous people in the world;
2. identified indigenous communities all over the world; and
3. presented views on why indigenous people live in poverty.

Lesson 2- IP Status in the World

IP Status in the World

• Indigenous peoples live in all regions of the world and own, occupy or use some 22%
of global land area. Numbering at least 370-500 million, indigenous peoples represent the
greater part of the world’s cultural diversity, and have created and speak the major share
of the world’s almost 7000 languages.
• Every day, indigenous communities all over the world face issues of violence and
brutality. Indigenous peoples are stewards of some of the most biologically diverse areas of
the globe, and their biological and cultural wealth has allowed indigenous peoples to gather
a wealth of traditional knowledge which is of immense value to all humankind. Many
indigenous peoples continue to be confronted with marginalization, extreme poverty and
other human rights violations.
• Through partnerships with indigenous peoples, UNESCO seeks to support them in
addressing the multiple challenges they face, while acknowledging their significant role in
sustaining the diversity of the world’s cultural and biological landscape. UNESCO places the
needs of indigenous peoples amongst its priority areas for response
• By resolution 49/214 (link is external)of 23 December 1994, the United Nations
General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
shall be observed on 9 August every year. The date marks the day of the first meeting, in
1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on the
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. In 1990, the UN General Assembly proclaimed
1993 the International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

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 • According to a report by the International Work Group For Indigenous Affairs
released yesterday, there are an estimated 370 million indigenous people living in the
world. They call 90 countries home and represent around 5,000 different cultures,
according to the UN.
• An analysis of the 63 countries featured in the International Work Group for
Indigenous Affairs’ publication, The Indigenous World 2020, shows that out of all the
countries and territories featured, Greenland was the territory with the most indigenous
people as a share of the total population. Almost 88 percent of the population are
Greenlandic Inuit who call themselves Kalaallit and their homeland Kalaallit Nunaát.
• Countries with large shares of indigenous people are scattered all over the world. In
South and Central America, Quechua, Aymara and countless other American Indian tribes
are making up large swaths of the population, while in Africa Berbers inhabit countries in
the North and Twa (also known as Pygmies) and Maasai, among many others, live in Central
and East Africa.
• French Polynesia is comprised of 80 percent indigenous Polynesian people. In the
tiny island nation, this only amounts to 275,000 people in total. Indigenous populations in
Asia are much larger by comparison. China is the country with the biggest indigenous
population in absolute terms. Almost 112 million indigenous people – Tibetans, Uyghurs,
Zhuang and 52 other recognized groups – still make up only 8.5 percent of the total
population. India has 104 million indigenous people (8.6 percent of the population), 60
million are estimated to live in Indonesia (24 percent), 15.7 million in Ethiopia (15 percent)
and 15 million in the Philippines (15 percent).
• By comparison, the U.S. indigenous population, which is between 2.5 million and 6
million people strong, makes up 0.8 percent to 1.8 percent of the population. Canada’s
share of indigenous people is slightly higher at 4.9 percent (1.7 million people).
• While more and more countries formally recognize the rights of indigenous people,
the living conditions of many of them are still dire. While indigenous people make up 5
percent of the world population, they also account for 15 percent of the extreme.

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 Testing Your Brain Power:
How Much Have You Learned?

Fact Finding. Direction: Answer the questions below:

1. What countries have indigenous people?
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2. Which country has the highest percentage of indigenous population?

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 Developing Your Higher Order Thinking

Expand your horizon of understanding and appreciation of the lesson by

answering the following questions.
1. As a citizen of the country, present your views on the reasons why indigenous people
live in poverty?
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2. Explain what UNESCO does with indigenous peoples.

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“The indigenous peoples never had, and still do not

have, the place that they should have occupied in the
progress and benefits of science and technology,
although they represented an important basis for this
development.”

- RIGOBERTA MENCHU

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 Learning Resources
CHAPTER 1

Print Media

Buchhloz, K. Where the world's indigenous people live. May 27, 2020. Retrieved
from https://www.statista.com/chart/18981/countries-with-the-largest-
share-of indigenous-people/
The Indigenous world 2018, p. 281

Online Retrievals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples
https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/indigenous-peoples/
https://www.arcticcentre.org/EN/arcticregion/Arctic-Indigenous
Peoples/Definitions
https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/5session_factsheet1.pdf
https://www.goredelosrios.cl/cultura2/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A-Global-
History-of-Indigenous-Peoples-Ken-Coates.pdf
https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP/en/SOWIP_web.pdf
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/indigenouspeoplesday
http://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/386057/
https://www.statista.com/chart/18981/countries-with-the-largest-share-of-
indigenous-people/
http://iwgia.org/images/yearbook/2020/IWGIA_The_Indigenous_World_2020.pdf
https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP/en/SOWIP_web.pdf
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/indigenouspeoples