White Cubans
European Cubans

Cubanos blancos (Spanish)
Flag of Cuba, commonly used as an ethnic flag for White Cubans
Total population
White ancestry predominates 7,160,399 (2012 census)[1][2] 64.12% of the Cuban population
Regions with significant populations
All areas of Cuba
Languages
Majority:Spanish Minority:Galician · Catalan
Religion
Majority:Christianity (Catholicism), Minority:Irreligion,Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Europeans White Dominicans White Latin Americans White Puerto Ricans Others West Asians

White Cubans (Spanish:Cubanos blancos) areCubans of total or predominantlyEuropean, (especiallyIberian) ancestry, these stand out for havinglight orolive skin and self-identify aswhite.^[3] In a more official sense, the National Office of Statistics and Information, which collects demographic data on Cubans, uses the term "white".The2012 Cuban census reported that White Cubans are currently the largest group inCuba representing 64.1% of the population.^[4][5]

Aside fromSpanish—largely Asturian,Galician,Castillian andCanarian—settlers, additional Europeans of many families fromFrance, theUnited Kingdom (especially England),Portugal,Italy, among others. The Royal decree of October 21, 1817 encouraged Europeans to settle in Cuba when the island was aCaptaincy General, an administrative district of the Spanish Empire.Large flows of Northern Spaniards also occurred in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries, among other Europeans.

In 1511,Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar set out with three ships and an army of 300 men fromHispaniola to form the first Spanish settlement in Cuba, with orders from Spain to conquer the island. The settlement was atBaracoa, but the new settlers were to be greeted with stiff resistance from the localTaíno population. In 1514, a settlement was founded in what was to becomeHavana.^[6]

Cuba's white population was varied with compared to elsewhere in the Caribbean including landlesslabourers, peasants,artisans,shopkeepers,construction workers, import and export merchants,butchers, salters,tailors, professionals in thearmy andnavy,chemists, lawyers,doctors andpriests.^[7]

During the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early part of the twentieth century, large waves ofCanarians,Catalans,Andalusians,Castilians, andGalicians immigrated to Cuba. ManyEuropean Jews have also immigrated there, with some of them beingSephardic.^[8]

In 1899 the Spanish-born represented 74.9% of the total foreign-born population.^[9]

The first decades of the twentieth century immigration policies supported the migration of entire families. Between 1902 and 1907, nearly 128,000Spaniards entered Cuba, and officially in 1906, Cuba created its immigration law that funded white migrants.^[10]

However, many European immigrants did not stay in Cuba and came solely for the sugar harvest, returning to their homes during the off seasons. Although some 780,000 Spaniards migrated between 1902–1931, 250,000 stayed. By the 1920s, increasing European migration through national policy had effectively failed.^[11]

In 1907 the Spanish-born population represented 81% of the total foreign-born, increasing the share to 72.4% in 1919.^[13]

In1931, 274,303 were born in Europe, of these 257,596 were Spaniards composing 59% of all those born abroad and 6.5% of the total Cuban population. This gradually decreased by the mid 1950s.Spanish arrivals formed 63.9% of all foreign born in 1943 and half the population 74,561 (49.9%) in 1953.^[14][15]

The1953 census reported that 72.8% of Cubans identified as white of European descent, mainly of Spanish origin, 12.4% wereBlack African, 14.5% of both Black and White ancestry (mulattos), and 0.3% of the population was of Chinese and orEast Asian descent (officially called "amarilla" or "yellow" in the census).^[16]

Born in Spain[17][18]
Year	Population	% of pop.
1899	129,240	8.21
1907	185,393	9.05
1919	245,644	8.5
1931	257,596	6.5
1943	157,527	3.3
1953	74,561
1970	74,026	0.86
1981	TBD	0.04
2002	TBD
2012	TBD

Many of these and their descendants left after Castro's communistregime took power. Historically, between 1861-1887Chinese descendants in Cuba were classified as White.^[19]

According to 2020 data, the Spanish-born population in Cuba was 505 (16.7% of the total foreign-born), the next largest European groups were Italy 371 (12.2%) and Russia 343 (11.3%). Others include Ukraine 131, Germany 106, France 69, Romania 60 and United Kingdom 31.^[20]

The table shows the regions of Spanish arrivals to Cuba just in the year 1900. The three largest groups were Galicians, Austrians and Canary Islanders which constituted 68% of all Spanish immigrants.^[21]

The first wave of French immigrants to arrive in Cuba were fleeing theHaitian Revolution and the new governmental administration of Haiti after independence was declared. This immigration reached its peak between 1800 and 1809, when more than twenty-seven thousand French of all social classes arrived in the eastern part of Cuba. Many of them emigrated to the city ofSantiago de Cuba.^[23]A second wave occurred in 1814, with a third wave between 1818 and 1835 prompted by a royal order from theSpanish Crown intended to increase the proportion of white Europeans in Cuba and a fourth and last between 1836 and 1868.^[24]

The British (predominantlyEnglish andIrish) population in Cuba in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.^[25] The greatest number of British immigrants arriving between 1818 and 1819 in Havana andMatanzas were working class, due to promotion of European colonisation and settlement.^[26]In the 1840s the census showed that 1327 British nationals were in Cuba, this decade was the start of British immigration. This population increased to 16, 005 in 1847 and 21, 244 in 1862.^[27] In 1899 there were 588 people born in England, this increased to 1,252 in 1907, rising to 19,628 in 1919, declining to 3,095 in 1931, 1,887 in 1943, rising again to 14,421 in 1953.^[28]

Most White Cubans are ofSpanish,French, Portuguese, German,Italian, Irish, and Russian descent.^[29]White people in Cuba make up 64.1% of the total population according to the 2012 census^[30] being the majority predominantly of diverse Iberian ancestry with another European mix.

However, after the mass exodus resulting from theCuban Revolution in 1959, the number of white Cubans actually residing in Cuba diminished. Today various records claiming the percentage of Whites in Cuba are conflicting and uncertain; some reports (usually coming from Cuba) still report a less, but similar number of 51% and others (usually from outside observers) report a 37-45%.

The Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at theUniversity of Miami says the present Cuban population is 38% White and 62% Black/Mulatto.^[31] TheMinority Rights Group International says that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution.Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously, ranging from 33.9 percent to 62 percent".^[32][33]

Officially Cuba has had 18 population censuses, eight during the colonial period (1774-1887), six during the republic (1899-1953) and four during the revolution period. From 1861 to 1887 Asians orChinese were counted as white, due to the low population.^[34]

• Note that the 1970 census (15th) did not include data on race or ethnicity.^[35]

Table shows those who identify as white in every census since 1774 to the present.Source: ONEI Cuba^[36][37][38]

White Cubans 1774 - 2012
N.	Year	Population	% pop.
1	1774	96,440	56.19
2	1792	133,553	48.75
3	1817	238,910	43.20
4	1827	311,051	44.15
5	1841	418,291	41.51
6	1861	793,484	58.08
7	1877	981,039	65.00
8	1887	1,102,889	68.54
9	1899	1,052,397	66.91
10	1907	1,428,176	69.70
11	1919	2,088,047	72.28
12	1931	2,856,956	72.10
13	1943	3,553,312	74.36
14	1953	4,243,956	72.81
16	1981	6,415,468	66.00
17	2002	7,271,926	65.06
18	2012	7,160,399	64.12

Below is the official and most recent 2012 census figures for white Cubans as a percentage of the total population and their distribution in each province.^[39]

The top 10 municipalities with the highest proportion of the local population.^[41]

However, after theCuban revolution, due to mainly massexodus toMiami orFlorida in general as the main destination, a drastic decrease in immigration to the island, Cuba's demography changed. During the 1960s 97% of Cubans who arrived to the United States identified as white. At a time when according to the 1953 census, 73% of Cuba's population was white.During the 1970s, 80% of Cuban arrivals were white, 81% in the 1980s and 86% of those in the 1990s.^[44]

As a result, those who identify as white and those of pure Black African ancestry have decreased, the mixed population has increased, and the Chinese (or East Asian) population has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared.^{[45][contradictory]}

Many notable people of European descent left Cuba at various intervals, for example actorDesi Arnaz (descended fromCuban nobility), actressGina Romand, actorAndy Garcia,^[46] television hostDaisy Fuentes^[47] and journalist and talk show hostCristina Saralegui.^[48]

An autosomal study from 2014 found the genetic makeup in Cuba to be 72% White, 20% Black African, and 8% Native American with different proportions depending on the self-reported ancestry (White,Mixed andBlack). According to this study Whites are on average 86% White, 6.7% Black African and 7.8% Native American with European ancestry ranging from 65% to 99%. 75% of whites are over 80% European and 50% are over 88% European^[49] According to a study in 2011 Whites are on average 5.8% African with African ancestry ranging from 0% to 13%. 75% of whites are under 8% African and 50% are under 5% African.^[50] A study from 2009 analyzed the genetic structure of the three principal ethnic groups fromHavana City (209 individuals), and the contribution of parental populations to its genetic pool.

A contribution fromIndigenous peoples was not detectable in the studied sample.^[51]

• Cubans
• European Diaspora
• Culture of Cuba
• Colonial caste system

• Ethnic groups in Cuba
• European diaspora in Cuba
• Spanish diaspora in Cuba
• Jews and Judaism in Cuba

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