Between the last two census, the Metropolitan Region grew at an annual average rate of 1,42 persons for each one hundred inhabitants, which locates it among the four regions of the country with the greatest growth, only being exceeded by the regions of Tarapacá (before the splitting of Arica and Parinacota), Antofagasta and Coquimbo, The population of the MR in 2002 was 6.061.185 inhabitants.
Regarding the growth by comuna (county), stands out Quilicura ( ayt the Province of Santiago) with an annual average growth rate of 11,24%, followed by Puente Alto (at the Province of Cordillera) and Maipú (at the Province of Santiago), with a 6,6%& and 6,02%, respectively. Contrarywise, the comunas (counties) with a negative growth rate were Peñaflor )province of Talagante) with -1,77%; Independencia ( in the Province of Santiago) with – 1,72% and san Joaquin with -1,55% (both in the Province of Santiago)
Besides, this region presents the greatest populational concentration of the country with 40%, followed by far by the Region of Biobío, with 12,3% and by the Region of Valparaiso with a participatin of 10,2%.
Regarding the composition of the regional population by gender, this confirmed the preivelance of women, but also that has been diminishing the gap between genders since it was reported that 3.123..999 (51,5%) were women and 2.937.193 were men (48,4%9. Thus, the regional masculinity index reached 94,02 men for each 100 women and in 1992 this figure was 92,28.
When comparing the 1992 census numbers with the 2002´s, regarding the age structure, the Metropolitan Region displays the following situations: a decrease of the children´s populational (0 to 14 years) from 28,5% to 24,9% and youngsters (15 to 29 years) from 27,4% to 24,7% and, an increase of the adult population (from 30 to 59 years) and elderly (above60 years old) of 34,4% to 39% and from 9,7% to 11,1%, resopectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the young generations are progresively less numerous and that the regional population is in a transitional stage to aging.
In this region, only 191.454 persons ( 3,2% of the regional total) is identified with some ethnoc group. Nevertheless, if this figure is carried to the national ambience, this region registers a 27,66% of people pwertaining to some ethni group, locating it as the second region with agreater number of persons (only after the Araucanian Region , with 29,46%). The main ethnic group concentrated in the Metropolitan Region is the mapuche with 182.918 persons.