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Because of epidemics of measles and influenza during the twentieth century, the population of the Kalapalo greatly diminished, and it was not until the 1970s that it began to recover. In 1968, they numbered 110 persons living in six houses, but by 1982, they had increased to 185 persons living in thirteen houses. In 1999, the population of the Kalapalo villages was estimated to be approximately 362.

The present Kalapalo population includes descendants of an important Karib group, called Anagafïtï, who joined them after a flu epidemic in the 1940s. People from other ethnic groups – the Kuikuru, Matipu, Nahuquá, Mehinaku, Kamayura, and Waura – also live in their villages, due to intermarriages with the Kalapalo.