Panamanians
Panameños

Flag of Panama
Total population
Panama          4.279 million
Regions with significant populations
United States	99,764[1] – 260,645[2]
Costa Rica	13,711[1]
Spain	5,730[1]
Colombia	3,123[1]
Canada	2,814[1]
Mexico	1,767[1]
Italy	1,102[1]
Ecuador	1,008[1]
Venezuela	828[1]
Germany	811[1]
United Kingdom	789[1]
Dominican Republic	789[1]
Brazil	660[1]
Peru	644[1]
Switzerland	588[1]
France	582[1]
El Salvador	458[1]
Nicaragua	423[1]
Honduras	406[1]
Netherlands	390[1]
Guatemala	321[1]
Sweden	319[1]
Australia	289[1]
Belgium	211[1]
Argentina	161[1]
Greece	158[1]
Bolivia	121[1]
Denmark	101[1]
Japan	98[3]
Norway	85[1]
Jamaica	74[1]
Taiwan	40[4]
Languages
Panamanian Spanish (predominantly) Bocas del Toro Creole,Guaymí and otherAmerindian languages
Religion
PredominantlyRoman Catholicism[5] Judaism,Protestantism,Santería,Baháʼí
Related ethnic groups
Afro-Panamanians,Nicaraguans,Costa Ricans,Colombians, and otherLatin Americans

Panamanians (Spanish:panameños; femininepanameñas) are people identified withPanama, a country inCentral America (which is the central section of the American continent), and with residential, legal, historical, or cultural connections with North America. For most Panamanians, several or all of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their Panamanian identity. Panama is a multilingual and multicultural society, home to people of many different ethnicities and religions. Therefore, many Panamanians do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Panama. The overwhelming majority of Panamanians are the product of varying degrees of admixture betweenEuropean ethnic groups (predominantlySpaniards) with nativeAmerindians (who are indigenous to Panama's modern territory) andBlack Africans.

The culture held in common by most Panamanians is referred to as mainstreamPanamanian culture, a culture largely derived from the traditions of theIndigenous people and the earlySpanish settlers, along with other Europeans arriving later such asItalians, with westAfrican culture as another important component.

The culture of Panama derived from the cultures ofIndigenous peoples of Panama,art andtraditions, as well asAfrican Culture that were brought over by theSpanish toPanama.Hegemonic forces have createdhybrid forms of this by blendingAfrican andNative American culture withEuropean culture. For example, thetamborito is a Spanish dance with that was blended with Native American rhythms and dance moves. Dance is a symbol of the diverse cultures that have coupled inPanama.The culture, customs, and language of the Panamanians are predominantly Caribbean and Spanish.^{[citation needed]}

Mestizos are people who are of mixed of both European and indigenous ancestry. Mestizos are the majority in Panama, accounting for 65% of the country's population.^{[citation needed]}

Indigenous or Native Panamanians, are thenative peoples ofPanama. According to the 2010 census, they make up 12.3% of the overall population of 3.4 million, or just over 418,000 people. TheNgäbe andBuglé comprise half of the indigenous peoples of Panama.^[7]

Afro-Panamanians played a significant role in the creation of the republic. The descendants of the Africans who arrived during the colonial era are intermixed in the general population or live in small Afro-Panamanian communities along the Atlantic Coast and in villages within the Darién jungle. Most of the people in Darien are fishermen or small-scale farmers growing crops such as bananas, rice and coffee as well as raising livestock. Other Afro-Panamanians descend from later migrants from the Caribbean who came to work on railroad-construction projects, commercial agricultural enterprises, and (especially) the canal. Important Afro-Caribbean community areas include towns and cities such asColón, Cristobal and Balboa, in the former Canal Zone, as well as the Río Abajo area of Panama City. Another region with a large Afro-Caribbean population is the province of Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast just south of Costa Rica.^[9]

Most of the Panamanian population of West Indian descent owe their presence in the country to the monumental efforts to build the Panama Canal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Three-quarters of the 50,000 workers who built the canal were Afro Caribbean migrants from the British West Indies. Thousands of Afro-Caribbean workers were recruited from Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad.^[9]

White Panamanians form 6.7%,^[10] with the majority being ofSpanish descent. Other ancestries includes Dutch, English, French, German, Swiss, Danish, Irish, Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian. There is also a sizable and very influential Jewish community.

• 
  Spanish laborers during construction of the Panama Canal, early 1900s.

Panama, partly owing to its historical reliance on commerce, is an ethnically diverse society. It has considerable populations of Afro-Antillean andChinese origin. The firstChinese immigrated to Panama from southern China to help build the Panama Railroad in the 19th century. There followed several waves of immigrants whose descendants number around 50,000. Starting in the 1970s, a further 80,000 have immigrated from other parts of China as well.^[11][12]

Spanish is the official and dominant language. About 93% of the population speak Spanish as their first language, though many citizens speak both English and Spanish or native languages, such asNgäbere. Many languages, including seven indigenous languages, are also spoken in Panama. English is sometimes spoken by many professionals and those working in the business or governmental sectors of society.

The government ofPanama does not collect statistics on the religious affiliation of citizens, but various sources estimate that 75 to 85 percent of the population identifies itself asRoman Catholic and 15 to 25 percent asevangelical Christian.^[14] TheBaháʼí Faith community of Panama is estimated at 2.00% of the national population, or about 60,000^[15] including about 10% of theGuaymí population;^[16] the Baháʼís maintain one of the world's eightBaháʼí Houses of Worship in Panama.^[14]

• List of Panamanians
• Panama
• Ethnic groups in Central America
• Criollo people
• Panamanian Americans
• Hispanics

• Family life in Panama

• Panamanian people
• Central American people by nationality
• Demographics of Panama

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation
• Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters
• Articles containing Spanish-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2025