Between 2018 and 2025, Colombia went from having 15,403,000 homes to 18,952,000, an increase of 23.04 percent. Of them, 46.4 percent are managed by female leaders, 9.1 percent more than what was recorded six years ago. That is to say that almost half of the households were headed by women.
Internet access in the national territory also increased in the last seven years. While in 2018, 52.3 percent of registered households had this service, In 2025, coverage became 73.9 percent.
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These data correspond to the most recent quality of life survey carried out by the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), which groups the results from 2018 to 2025. This includes and characterizes the living conditions of households in Colombia. With the information, It allows “monitoring the variables necessary for the design and implementation of public policies,” the entity said in a statement.
Female-headed households in Colombia
In the survey, it was identified that of the 18,952,000 households surveyed nationwide in 2025, 8,788,000 acknowledged having a female head (46.4 percent). Regarding households headed by men, 10,165,000 were registered, which represented 53.6 percent.
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Of the households headed by women, 6,063,000 are headed by single women (69 percent). From that group, 2,009,000 have children under 18 years of age (33.1 percent).
Regarding male heads, 3,225,000 households acknowledged being led by men without a partner (31.7 percent) and 241 thousand of them have minor children.
In four of the 33 departments analyzed—including Bogotá—households headed by women exceeded those headed by men. In the case of In La Guajira, 341 thousand homes were identified, of which 188 thousand (55.1 percent) were headed by women. In Chocó, of 190 thousand households, 101 thousand were led by women (53.1 percent).
The same trend was seen in the Valley, in which of 1,646,000 homes, 851 thousand were managed by women (51.7 percent) and in Antioquia, which registered 2,642,000 households, with 1,339,000 led by women (50.7 percent).
The departments with the lowest incidence of female leaders were Vaupés, Vichada, Guainía and Amazonas. In the first, of a total of 15 thousand households, only three thousand were headed by women (22.3 percent). In the second, Of the 35 thousand homes identified, nine thousand were led by women (25.9 percent).
In the case of Guainía, where 16 thousand households were registered, five thousand were headed by women (29.8 percent) and, in the Amazonas, of 28 thousand households, 10 thousand had female heads (35.7 percent).
This is how household heads changed in Colombia in the last seven years
According to the information collected by Dane, while households headed by women increased annually, those led by men decreased in the same way.
In 2018, 15,403,000 homes were registered, divided into 9,652,000 headed by men (62.7 percent) and 5,751,000 headed by women (37.3 percent).
The following year, the total number of households was 15,999,000, an increase of 3.8 percent. Of those, 9,851,000 were led by men, which represented a lower percentage than in 2018 with 61.6 percent. Those directed by women increased to 6,148,000. That is to say, the percentage increased to 38.4 percent.
For 2020, there were 16,417,000 households surveyed (2.61 percent more than the previous year). 9,881,000 acknowledged being led by a man (60.2 percent), while 6,536,000 were led by women (39.8 percent).
A year later, the number of homes increased to 17,068,000, an increase of 3.9 percent. That year, 9,718,000 were headed by men (56.9 percent) and 7,350,000 (43.1 percent) were headed by women.
In 2022, the increase in households was 2.6 percent, with a total of 17,526,000. Of those, 9,773,000 were led by men (55.8 percent) and 7,753,000 were led by women (44.2 percent).
By 2023, 18,010,000 homes will be registered in the country—2.76 percent more than the previous year. Of these, 9,840,000 were headed by men (54.6 percent), while 8,170,000 had female heads (45.4 percent).
The following year, the total number of households was 18,489,000, which represented an increase of 2.65 percent. Households headed by men were 9,896,000 (53.5 percent) and by women, 8,593,000 (46.5 percent).
Access to public and private services and the internet in Colombian homes
The survey also accounts for household access to public and private services such as energy, natural gas, water supply, sewage, garbage collection and landline telephones in the national territory. In 2025, it was identified that 18,744,000 homes had access to energy (98.9 percent), 13,485,000 to natural gas (71.15 percent), 16,997 to aqueduct (89.6 percent), 14,430,000 to sewage (76.13 percent), 15,917,000 to garbage collection (83.9 percent) and 1,726,000 on a landline (9.1 percent). In addition, 173 thousand homes did not have access to any services.
During the period analyzed, the services that presented the greatest variations were natural gas and landline telephones. In the first case, coverage went from 64 percent to 71 percent. On the contrary, access to landline telephone decreased steadily and went from 28.8 percent in 2018 to 9.1 percent in 2025.
Regarding internet access, coverage went from 52.3 percent in 2018 to 73.9 percent in 2025. With respect to headwaters, it went from 63.2 percent of households with access to the service to 78.8 percent in the period analyzed. The most drastic increase was seen in populated and dispersed rural centers, which went from 17.1 percent coverage to 56.9 percent.
Last year, the departments with the highest percentage of connectivity were San Andrés (90 percent), Valle (86.9 percent), Bogotá (82.9 percent), Risaralda (82.6 percent) and Norte de Santander (79.5 percent). Besides, Those with the lowest internet connection were Vaupés (18.6 percent), Vichada (23.3 percent), Guainía (41.5 percent) and La Guajira (52.6 percent).
DATA UNIT
SABRINA BASTIDAS IGUARAN
