ESTIMATED POPULATION OF CENTRAL AMERICA BY RACE-ETHNIC GROUPS, 2000
Compiled by Clifton L. Holland, Director of PROLADES
(last revised on July 30, 2005)
COUNTRY |
TOTAL POP. (millions) |
MESTIZO % |
WHITE % |
BLACK- CREOLE % |
AMERICAN INDIAN % |
JEW % |
ARAB % |
ASIAN % |
OTHER % |
TOTAL % |
|
Guatemala |
14.7 |
55.0 |
|
1.0 |
43.0 |
(1,170) |
(100) |
|
1.0 |
100% |
|
Belize |
.279 |
46.4 |
|
34.1* |
10.0 |
(100) |
(2,500) |
|
9.5 |
100% |
|
Honduras |
7.0 |
90.0 |
|
2.0 |
7.0 |
(500) |
(150,000) |
(3,000) |
1.0 |
100% |
|
El Salvador |
6.7 |
90.0 |
9.0 |
|
1.0 |
(100) |
(100,000) |
(1,300) |
|
100% |
|
Nicaragua |
5.5 |
69.0 |
17.0 |
9.0 |
3.0 |
(100) |
(2,500) |
(7,000) |
|
100% |
|
Costa Rica |
4.0 |
95.0** |
3.0 |
1.0 |
(2,400) |
(100) |
1.0 |
|
100% |
|
|
Panama |
3.0 |
70.0 |
10.0 |
13.0 |
5.0 |
(10,000) |
(15,000) |
2.0 |
|
100% |
|
Totals |
28.179 |
70.0% |
8.7% |
8.9% |
10.0% |
- |
1.0% |
0.5% |
0.9% |
100% |
NOTES:
1.
Asian: mainly includes Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Asian-Indian.
2.
Black-Creole: most “Blacks” in
Central America are “creoles” of West Indian descent who live along the
Caribbean coast from Belize in the north to Panama in the south; the exceptions
are the Garífunas (182,000) of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua who
are mixed race: African slaves and
American Indians from the Island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean; and the
Miskito Indians who are of mixed race:
African slaves and American Indians from the Caribbean coast of
Nicaragua and Honduras who speak the Miskito language (about 183,400).
3.
Belize = 34.1% Black-Creole:
27.7% Creole (West Indians) and 6.4% Garífuna (Black and American
Indian). “Other” (9.5%) includes Asian Indians
(Hindu), 8,500; German Mennonites, 5,763; and Chinese, Japanese, Korean and
Arab.
4.
Guatemala: includes 16,700
Creoles in Livingston and Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean coast.
5.
Honduras: Black-Creole includes
50,000 West Indians; the American Indian category includes 98,000 Garífunas and
29,000 Miskitos (127,000 = 5.5% of the total population).
6.
Nicaragua: Black-Creole
includes an estimated 495,000 (9%) West Indians; American Indian (5% = 275,000)
includes an estimated 250,000 Miskitos; White includes Caucasians of mainly
Spanish, German and North American descent.
7.
Costa Rica = 95.0% Mestizo-White:
the national census combines the two, but it is estimated that about 70%
are Mestizo and 25% White (Caucasians mainly of Spanish, Italian, German and
North American descent); Costa Rica has a population of about 40,000 Asians,
mainly Chinese and Koreans.
8.
Panama: some sources have
reported a community of about 200,000 Chinese, mainly from Taiwan, which would
be about 15% of the total population; more conservative estimates put the
Chinese population at about 50,000 or 1.7% of the total population. There is also a small population of Japanese
(1,200), Asian-Indians and others from Southeast Asia in Panama.
9.
The total Arab population in Central America is estimated at
270,200: includes mainly Lebanese,
Palestinians and Syrians.
10.
The total Chinese population in Central America is estimated at
102,000.
11.
The total Jewish population in Central America is estimated at 14,370.
SOURCES:
Amaya Banegas, Jorge Alberto. Los
Judíos en Honduras. Tegucigalpa,
Honduras: Editorial Guaymuras, 2000.
Answers.com, “Jews by Country” at:
http://www.answers.com/jews-by-country?ab=t19
Cousins, Ken. “Chinese of
Panama” at: www.cidem.umd.edu/inscr/mar/data/chinpan.htm
Elazar, Daniel J. “The Jewish
Community in Costa Rica: A Peaceful
Community in a Peaceful Land” at: www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/costarica.htm
Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.). Ethnologue:
Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition.
Dallas, Texas: SIL
International, 2005. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com
Hamod, Sam. “The Arabs of Latin
and South America” at: www.inormationclearinghouse.info/article6066.htm
Hua, Vanesa. “Playing the
Panama card—The China-Taiwan connection”: www.journalismfellowships.org/stories/panama/panama_chinataiwan.htm
Marín-Gusmán, Roberto. A Century
of Palestinian Immigration into Central America: A Study of their economic and cultural contributions. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica,
2000.