page_title: Ivatan people
section_title: Demographics
hierarchical_section_title: Ivatan people / Demographics
caption_attribution_description: An Ivatan woman
context_page_description: The Ivatans are a Filipino ethnolinguistic group predominant in the islands of Batanes of the Philippines. Their ethnogenesis is unclear; their origins remain untraced among scholars, but they are believed to be an Austronesian group, related to neighboring Ilocanos on purely linguistic basis.
  The culture of the Ivatans is partly influenced by the environmental condition of Batanes. Unlike the old-type nipa huts common in the Philippines, Ivatans have adopted their now-famous stone houses made of coral and limestone, designed to protect against the hostile climate.
context_section_description: In 1990, population of the Ivatans was 15,026, an increase of 24% over the 1980 population of 12,091. These were distributed to the six municipalities, with 38% residing in Basco, 23% in Itbayat, 12% in Sabtang, 11% in Mahatao and 8% for Uyugan and Ivana. In the 2000 census, 15,834 Ivatans were among the 16,421 population in Batanes.
  The mother tongue of the Ivatans is the Chirin nu Ibatan, but is commonly known as Ivatan. A distinct Austronesian language, the Ivatan has two dialects includingBasco, the Itbayáten and possibly Yami. The  Ivatans widely speak and understand the Ilocano, Tagalog, and English languages.
  Today, most Ivatans are Catholics, like the rest of the country, although some have not converted and practice ancestral worship to their anitos. However, there are growing Protestant denominations specially in Basco, the capital town of Batanes.
caption: An Ivatan woman wearing a vakul, a headgear for sunlight and rain protection made from vuyavuy palm fiber.[6]
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