Latin Americans

Total population
680,000,000 or more (in 2021)[1][2][3]
Regions with significant populations
Latin America 656,098,097[1][2]
Brazil	214,326,223
Mexico	126,705,138
Colombia	51,516,562
Argentina	45,276,780
Peru	33,715,471
Venezuela	28,199,867
Chile	19,493,184
Guatemala	17,608,483
Ecuador	17,797,737
Bolivia	12,079,472
Cuba	11,256,372
Dominican Republic	11,117,873
Honduras	10,278,345
Nicaragua	6,850,540
Paraguay	6,703,799
El Salvador	6,314,167
Costa Rica	5,153,957
Panama	4,351,267
Uruguay	3,426,260
Puerto Rico	3,256,028
United States	+62,000,000[4][5]
Spain	+1,700,000[6]
France	1,333,000[7][8]
Canada	+1,000,000[9]
Italy	354,180[10]
Japan	+345,000[11]
Germany	206,094[12]
United Kingdom	186,500[13]
Portugal	~100,000[14]
Australia	93,795[15]
Sweden	88,175[16]
New Zealand	38,742[17]
Languages
PrimarilySpanish andPortuguese RegionallyQuechua,Mayan languages,Guaraní,Aymara,Nahuatl andothers
Religion
Roman Catholic 69% Protestant 19% Irreligious 8% Other 4% [18]

Latin Americans (Spanish:Latinoamericanos;Portuguese:Latino-americanos) are thecitizens ofLatin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral ornational origins in Latin America).

Latin American countries and theirdiasporas aremulti-ethnic andmulti-racial. Latin Americans are apan-ethnicity consisting of people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, many Latin Americans do not take their nationality as anethnicity, but identify themselves with a combination of theirnationality, ethnicity and their ancestral origins.^[19] In addition to theindigenous population, Latin Americans include people withOld World ancestors who arrived since 1492. Latin America has the largest diasporas ofSpaniards,Portuguese,Africans,Italians,Lebanese andJapanese in the world.^[20][21][22] The region also has largeGerman (second largest after the United States),^[23]French,Palestinian (largest outside the Arab states),^[24]Chinese andJewish diasporas.

The specificethnic and/orracial composition varies from country to country and diaspora community to diaspora community: many have a predominance of mixed indigenous and European descent ormestizo, population; in others,Indigenous Amerindians are a majority; some are mostly inhabited by people ofEuropean ancestry; others are primarilymulatto.^[19][25] The largest single group arewhite Latin Americans.^[19] Together with the people of part European ancestry, they combine for almost the totality of the population.^[19]

Latin Americans and their descendants can be found almost everywhere in the world, particularly in densely populated urban areas. The most important migratory destinations for Latin Americans are found in theUnited States,Spain,France,Canada,Italy andJapan.

Latin America (Spanish:América Latina orLatinoamérica;Portuguese:América Latina) is theregion of theAmericas whereRomance languages (i.e., those derived fromLatin)—particularlySpanish andPortuguese—are primarily spoken.^[26][27]

It includes 20 countries or territories:Mexico inNorth America;Guatemala,Honduras,El Salvador,Nicaragua,Costa Rica andPanama inCentral America;Colombia,Venezuela,Ecuador,Peru,Bolivia,Brazil,Paraguay,Chile,Argentina andUruguay inSouth America; andCuba, theDominican Republic andPuerto Rico in theCaribbean—in summary,Hispanic America plusBrazil.Canada and theUnited States, despite having sizeable Romance-speaking communities, are almost never included in the definition, primarily for being predominantly English-speakingAnglosphere countries. TheABC islands (Leeward Antilles), where the primary language isPapiamento, aPortuguese Creole, may or may not be considered part of Latin America.^[28]

Latin America, therefore, can be defined as all those parts of theAmericas that were once part of theSpanish orPortuguese colonial empires,^[29] namelySpanish America andColonial Brazil.

The population of Latin America comprises a variety of ancestries, ethnic groups and races, making the region one of the most diverse in the world. The specific composition varies from country to country: many have a predominance of mixed European and Amerindian, ormestizo, population; in others,Amerindians are a majority; some are dominated by inhabitants ofEuropean ancestry; and some countries' populations are primarilymulatto.White Latin Americans are the largest single group, accounting for more than one-third of the population.Black,Asian, andzambo (mixed black and Amerindian) minorities are also identified regularly.^[19][32]

• Mestizos: Intermixing between Europeans and Amerindians began early in the colonial period and was extensive. The resulting people, known as mestizos, make up the majority of the population in half of the countries of Latin America. Additionally, mestizos comprise large minorities in nearly all the other mainland countries.
• Whites: Beginning in the late15th century, large numbers^[19] ofIberian colonists settled in what becameLatin America (Portuguese inBrazil and Spaniards elsewhere in the region), and at present mostwhite Latin Americans are ofSpanish,Portuguese andItalian ancestry. Iberians brought the Spanish and Portuguese languages, theCatholic faith, and many Iberian traditions.Brazil,Mexico,Argentina,Colombia andVenezuela contain the largest numbers of Europeans in Latin America in pure numbers.^[19] They make up the majority of the population ofArgentina,Chile,Costa Rica,Cuba andUruguay and roughly half ofBrazil's andVenezuela's population.^[19][33] Of the millions of immigrants since most of Latin America gained independence in the 1810s–1820s,Italians formed the largest group, and next wereSpaniards andPortuguese.^[34] Many others arrived, such asFrench,Germans,Greeks,Poles,Ukrainians,Russians,Croats,Serbs,Latvians,Lithuanians,English,Jews,Irish andWelsh. Most Latin Americans have some degree of European ancestry, when talking into account those of either mixed or full European descent.^[35]
• Amerindians: The indigenous population of Latin America arrived during theLithic stage. In post-Columbian times, they experienced tremendous population decline, particularly in the early decades ofcolonization. They have since recovered in numbers, surpassing sixty million (by some estimates^[32]), though, with the growth of the other groups, they now comprise a majority only inBolivia. InGuatemala, Amerindians are a large minority that comprises 41% of the population.^[36]Mexico's 21% (9.8% in the official 2005 census) is the next largest ratio, and one of the largest indigenous population in the Americas in absolute numbers. Most of the remaining countries have Amerindians minorities, in every case making up less than one-tenth of the respective country's population. In many countries, people of mixed indigenous and European ancestry, known asmestizos, make up the majority of the population.
• Asians: People of Asian descent number several million in Latin America. The majority of Asian descendants in the country are either of West Asian (such as Lebanese or Syrian) or East Asian (like Chinese or Japanese) descent.^[37] The first Asians to settle in the region wereFilipino, as a result of Spain's trade involving Asia and the Americas. TheBrazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics states that the country's largest Asian communities are from West Asia and East Asia.^[38] It is estimated that 7 to 10 million Brazilians are of Lebanese descent.^[39][40] Around 2 million Brazilians self-identify as being "Yellow" (amarela or of East Asian descent) according to the 2010 census.^[41] The country is home to the largest ethnicJapanese community outsideJapan itself, estimated as high as 1.5 million, and circa 200,000 ethnic Chinese and 100,000 ethnicKoreans.^[42][43] Ethnic Koreans also number tens of thousands of individuals in Argentina and Mexico.^[44] The 2017 census stated that under 40,000 Peruvians self-identified as having Chinese or Japanese ancestry.^[45] Though other estimates claim as much as 1.47 million people of East Asian descent reside in the country.^[46][47] Lebanese and Syrian descendants have also formed notable communities in countries like Mexico and Argentina.^[48] TheMartiniquais population includes a mixed African, European and Amerindian descent, and an East Indian (Asian Indian) population is also present inMartinique.^[49] InGuadeloupe, an estimated 14% of the population is of East Asian descent.
• Mulattoes: Mulattoes are people of mixed European and African ancestry, mostly descended from Spanish, Portuguese, or French settlers on one side and African slaves on the other, during the colonial period. Brazil is home to Latin America's largest mulatto population. Mulattoes form a majority in the Dominican Republic and are also numerous in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. Smaller populations of mulattoes are found in other Latin American countries.^[32]
• Blacks: Millions of African slaves were brought to Latin America from the 16th century onward, most of whom were sent to theCaribbean region andBrazil. Today, people identified as "black" are most numerous in Brazil (more than 20 million).^[50] Significant populations are also found inCuba,Dominican Republic,Puerto Rico,Panama andColombia. Latin Americans of mixed black and white ancestry, called mulattoes, are far more numerous than blacks.
• Zambos: Intermixing between blacks and Amerindians was especially prevalent inColombia andBrazil, often due to slaves running away (becomingcimarrones: maroons) and being taken in by indigenous villagers. In Spanish-speaking nations, people of this mixed ancestry are known as zambos,^[51] and they are also known ascafuzos in Brazil.
• Multi-ethnic/Multi-racials: In addition to the foregoing groups, Latin America also has millions of peoples who belong to multiracial backgrounds.^{[citation needed]}

Racial distribution, in 2005^[19] -Population estimates, as of 2021^[1][2]

Country	Population[1][2]	Mestizos	Whites	Amerindians	Mulattoes	Blacks	Zambos	Asians
Argentina	45,276,780	11.1%	85.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	2.9%
Bolivia	12,079,472	28.0%	15.0%	55.0%	2.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Brazil	214,326,223	19.4%	47.7%	0.4%	19.1%	6.2%	0.0%	1.1%[52]
Chile	19,493,184	44.0%	53.0%	3.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Colombia	51,516,562	53.2%	20.0%	1.8%	21%	3.9%	0.1%	0.0%
Costa Rica	5,153,957	15.0%	82.0%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	2.0%	0.2%
Cuba	11,256,372	0.0%	62.0%	0.0%	27.6%	11.0%	0.0%	1.0%
Dominican Republic	11,117,873	0.0%	14.6%	0.0%	75.0%	7.7%	2.3%	0.4%
Ecuador	17,797,737	41.0%	9.9%	39.0%	5.0%	5.0%	0.0%	0.1%
El Salvador	6,314,167	86.0%	12.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Guatemala	17,608,483	41.0%	6.9%	50.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.8%
Honduras	10,278,345	85.1%	1.9%	7.7%	1.6%	0.0%	3.9%	0.7%
Mexico	126,705,138	70%	15%	14%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
Nicaragua	6,850,540	69%	17%	5%	6%	3%	0.6%	0.2%
Panama	4,351,267	32.0%	10.0%	8.0%	27.0%	5.0%	14.0%	4.0%
Paraguay	6,703,799	90.5%	3.5%	1.5%	3.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
Peru	33,715,471	32.0%	12.0%	45.5%	9.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%
Puerto Rico[sn 1]	3,285,874[53]	2.3%	17.1%	0.5%	10.5%	7.0%	0.0%	0.1%
Uruguay	3,426,260	4.0%	88.0%	0.0%	8.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Venezuela	28,199,867	42.9%	42.2%	2.7%	0.7%	2.8%	0.0%	2.2%
Total	635,457,371	30.3%	36.1%	9.2%	20.3%	3.2%	0.2%	0.7%

TheLatinobarómetro surveys have asked respondents in 18 Latin American countries what race they considered themselves to belong to. The figures shown below are averages for 2007 through 2011.^[54]

Country	Mestizo	White	Amerindian	Mulatto	Black	Asian	Other	DK/NR1
Argentina	15%	73%	1%	1%	1%	0%	3%	7%
Bolivia	40%	6%	47%	1%	0%	0%	1%	4%
Brazil	18%	45%	2%	15%	15%	2%	0%	2%
Chile	26%	60%	7%	0%	0%	1%	1%	5%
Colombia	43%	29%	5%	5%	7%	0%	1%	9%
Costa Rica	16%	66%	3%	9%	2%	1%	1%	5%
Dominican Republic	28%	16%	5%	23%	25%	2%	0%	2%
Ecuador	78%	5%	7%	3%	3%	1%	0%	3%
El Salvador	62%	14%	5%	3%	2%	1%	2%	11%
Guatemala	29%	17%	44%	2%	1%	1%	2%	6%
Honduras	61%	9%	12%	3%	3%	2%	1%	10%
Mexico	60%	15%	15%	2%	0%	1%	3%	4%
Nicaragua	54%	19%	7%	3%	4%	1%	1%	11%
Panama	55%	15%	5%	5%	11%	4%	1%	4%
Paraguay	36%	35%	2%	1%	1%	0%	4%	20%
Peru	72%	12%	7%	2%	1%	0%	1%	5%
Uruguay	6%	80%	1%	3%	2%	0%	2%	6%
Venezuela	45%	40%	4%	3%	2%	1%	0%	5%
Weighted average2	34%	33%	11%	8%	6%	0%	2%	7%

¹Don't know/No response.
²Weighted using 2011 population.

Average proportions of West Eurasian (European andMENA), Native American and African admixtures in each Latin American country:

Population estimates, as of 1 July 2023^[55]

Country	Population[55]	West Eurasian %	Native American %	African %	Source
Argentina	45,538,000	72.3%	25.2%	2.5%	Toscanini et al. 2011[56]
Bolivia	12,244,000	16.2%	82.2%	1.6%	Heinz et al. 2013[57]
Brazil	211,141,000	62.0%	17.0%	21.0%	Moura et al. 2015[58]
Chile	19,659,000	49.0%	48.0%	3.0%	Bermejo et al. 2017[59]
Colombia	52,321,000	52.2%	32.5%	15.3%	Ossa et al. 2016[60]
Costa Rica	5,106,000	49.2%	37.9%	12.9%	Campos-Sánchez et al. 2013[61]
Cuba	11,020,000	71.0%	8.0%	21.0%	Fortes-Lima et al. 2018[62]
Dominican Republic	11,331,000	52.0%	10.0%	38.0%	Mathias et al. 2016[63]
Ecuador	17,980,000	32.9%	61.5%	5.6%	Rodrigues-Soares et al. 2019[64]
El Salvador	6,310,000	46.7%	48.8%	4.5%	Salazar-Flores et al. 2015[65]
Guatemala	18,125,000	26.5%	71.2%	2.3%	Söchtig et al. 2015[66] (weighted average of Ladinos & Mayas)
Honduras	10,645,000	58.4%	36.2%	5.4%	Salazar-Flores et al. 2015[65]
Mexico	129,740,000	42.3%	54.0%	3.7%	Salzano & Sans 2014[67] (average of three "General" studies)
Nicaragua	6,824,000	43.0%	41.0%	16.0%	Arrieta-Bolaños et al. 2018[68]
Panama	4,459,000	25.0%	51.0%	24.0%	Castro-Perez et al. 2016[69]
Paraguay	6,844,000	55.4%	33.8%	10.8%	Simão et al. 2021[70]
Peru	33,846,000	18.0%	78.0%	4.0%	Marker et al. 2020[71]
Puerto Rico[sn 1]	3,242,000	61.0%	18.0%	21.0%	Pérez-Mayoral et al. 2019[72]
Uruguay	3,388,000	76.6%	14.0%	9.4%	Bonilla et al. 2015[73]
Venezuela	28,301,000	58.8%	28.6%	12.6%	Larralde et al. 2001[74]
Weighted average	638,064,000	51.54%	36.32%	12.14%

Spanish andPortuguese are the predominant languages of Latin America.Spanish is the official language of most of the countries on the Latin American mainland, as well as inPuerto Rico (where it is co-official with English),Cuba and theDominican Republic.Portuguese is spoken only inBrazil, the biggest and most populous country in the region.French is spoken inHaiti, as well as in theFrench overseas departments ofFrench Guiana in South America andGuadeloupe andMartinique in the Caribbean.Dutch is the official language of some Caribbean islands and inSuriname on the continent; however, as Dutch is aGermanic language, these territories are not considered part of Latin America.

Indigenous languages are widely spoken inPeru,Guatemala,Bolivia andParaguay, and, to a lesser degree, inMexico,Chile andEcuador. In Latin American countries not named above, the population of speakers of indigenous languages is small or non-existent.

InPeru,Quechua is an official language, alongside Spanish and any other indigenous language in the areas where they predominate. InEcuador, while holding no official status, the closely relatedQuichua is a recognized language of the indigenous people under the country's constitution; however, it is only spoken by a few groups in the country's highlands. InBolivia,Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní hold official status alongside Spanish.Guarani is, along with Spanish, an official language ofParaguay, and is spoken by a majority of the population (who are, for the most part, bilingual), and it is co-official with Spanish in theArgentine province ofCorrientes. InNicaragua, Spanish is the official language, but, on the country's Caribbean coastEnglish and indigenous languages such asMiskito,Sumo, andRama also hold official status.Colombia recognizes all indigenous languages spoken within its territory as official, though fewer than 1% of its population are native speakers of these.Nahuatl is one of the 62 native languages spoken by indigenous people inMexico that are officially recognized by the government as "national languages" along with Spanish.

Other European languages spoken in Latin America include:English, by some groups inArgentina,Chile,Costa Rica,Nicaragua,Panama andPuerto Rico, as well as in nearby countries that may or may not be considered Latin American, such asBelize andGuyana; English is also used as a major foreign language in Latin American commerce and education. Other languages spoken in parts of Latin America includeGerman in southernBrazil, southernChile, Argentina, portions of northernVenezuela and Paraguay;Italian in Brazil, Argentina,Uruguay and Venezuela;Polish,Ukrainian andRussian in southern Brazil; andWelsh^{[75][76][77][78][79][80]} in southern Argentina. Hebrew and Yiddish are used by Jewish diasporas in Argentina and Brazil.

In several nations, especially in theCaribbean region,creole languages are spoken. The most widely spoken creole language in the Caribbean in general isHaitian Creole, the predominant language ofHaiti; it is derived primarily from French and certainWest African tongues with indigenous, English, Portuguese and Spanish influences as well. The other most spoken Creole isAntillean Creole French that is primarily spoken in the Lesser Antilles. It is a French-based creole, that is the local language spoken among the natives of the Caribbean islands ofSaint Lucia andDominica and also inMartinique andGuadeloupe. Creole languages of mainland Latin America, similarly, are derived from European languages and various African tongues.

The vast majority of Latin Americans areChristians (90%),^[81] mostlyRoman Catholics.^[82] About 71% of the Latin American population consider themselves Catholic.^[83] Membership inProtestant denominations is increasing, particularly inBrazil,Guatemala andPuerto Rico.Argentina hosts the largest communities of bothJews^[84][85][86] andMuslims^[87][88][89] in Latin America.Indigenous religions and rituals are practiced in countries with large indigenous populations, especially Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, and Afro-Latin American religions such asSantería,Candomblé,Umbanda, andMacumba are practiced in countries with large Afro-Latin American populations, especially Cuba, Brazil, and Dominican Republic. Latin America constitutes, in absolute terms, theworld's second largest Christian population, afterEurope.^[90]

According to the 2005 Colombian census or DANE, about 3,331,107 Colombians currently live abroad.^[91] The number of Brazilians living overseas is estimated at 2 million people.^[92] An estimated 1.5 to two million Salvadorians reside in the United States.^[93] At least 1.5 million Ecuadorians have gone abroad, mainly to the United States and Spain.^[94] Approximately 1.5 million Dominicans live abroad, mostly in the United States.^[95] More than 1.3 million Cubans live abroad, most of them in the United States.^[96] It is estimated that over 800,000 Chileans live abroad, mainly in Argentina, Canada, United States and Spain. Other Chilean nationals may be located in countries like Costa Rica, Mexico and Sweden.^[97] An estimated 700,000 Bolivians were living in Argentina as of 2006 and another 33,000 in the United States.^[98] Central Americans living abroad in 2005 were 3,314,300,^[99] of which 1,128,701 wereSalvadorans,^[100] 685,713 wereGuatemalans,^[101] 683,520 wereNicaraguans,^[102] 414,955 wereHondurans,^[103] 215,240 werePanamanians^[104] and 127,061 wereCosta Rica.^[105]

As of 2006,Costa Rica andChile were the only two countries with global positive migration rates.^[106]

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