 According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Melipeuco spans an area of and has 5,628 inhabitants (2,906 men and 2,722 women).Of these, 2,333 (41.5%) lived in urban areas and 3,295 (58.5%) in rural areas.The population grew by 5.9% (315 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.