Continental Chile is the name given to the Chilean territory located on the continental shelf of South America. This term serves to distinguish the South American area from the insular territories, known as Insular Chile, as from the Antarctic Chile (Chilean Antarctic Territory). The existence of this three areas of effective or claimed Chilean sovereignty is what supports the existing tricontinental principle in this country. With regard to the population, according to the 2002 census, it had a total of 15,111,881 inhabitants, corresponding to 99.97% of the national population.