Definitions of White have changed over the years, including the official definitions used in many countries, such as the
United States and
Brazil. Through the mid to late twentieth century, numerous countries had formal legal standards or procedures defining racial categories (see
cleanliness of blood,
casta,
apartheid in South Africa,
hypodescent). Some countries do not ask questions about race or colour at all in their census. Numeric
White demographic decline as proportion of population has been observed in Australia, Canada, United States, and some European countries including United Kingdom.
Africa South Africa White
Dutch people first arrived in South Africa around 1652. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, some 2,000 Europeans and their descendants were established in the region. Although these early
Afrikaners represented various nationalities, including German peasants and French
Huguenots, the community retained a thoroughly Dutch character. The
Kingdom of Great Britain captured
Cape Town in 1795 during the
Napoleonic Wars and
permanently acquired South Africa from Amsterdam in 1814. The
first British immigrants numbered about 4,000 and were introduced in 1820. They represented groups from
England,
Ireland,
Scotland, or
Wales and were typically more literate than the Dutch. down from an all-time high of 5.2 million in 1995 following a wave of emigration commencing in the late twentieth century. However, many returned over time.
Asia Philippines In the
Far East at
Southeast Asia, in the
Philippines, a genetic study by the
National Geographic, shows 5% of the ancestry of Filipinos can be traced to
Southern Europeans that had arrived due to the Spanish colonization of the archipelago, most of which were
Spanish Filipinos, who, according to the tribute-census data, correspond exactly to the 5% of the population-statistics, cited earlier. In addition to the Spanish-Filipinos, there is also a small percentage of the Philippine population which are
Mexican Filipinos and they have white ancestry via
Mexican descent, a nationality that is ethnically diverse, and includes:
White Mexicans,
Native American Mexicans, and
Mestizo Mexicans, as according to historical censuses,
Mexicans form 2.33% of the Philippines' population. There is also the presence of about 300,000 mostly White
American citizens in the country . The number of
Americans (of mostly of White descent) living in the Philippines increased to at least 750,000 as of year 2025. In addition to these
American-Filipinos scattered across the cities of
Clark,
Angeles, Manila, and
Olongapo Australia and Oceania Australia From 1788, when the
first British colony in Australia was founded, until the early nineteenth century, most immigrants to Australia were
English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish convicts. These were augmented by small numbers of free settlers from the
British Isles and other European countries. However, until the mid-nineteenth century, there were few restrictions on immigration, although members of ethnic minorities tended to be assimilated into the
Anglo-Celtic populations. People of many nationalities, including many non-White people, emigrated to Australia during the
gold rushes of the 1850s. However, the vast majority was still White and the gold rushes inspired the
first racist activism and policy, directed mainly at
Chinese immigrants. From the late nineteenth century, the
Colonial/State and later
federal governments of Australia restricted all permanent immigration to the country by non-Europeans. These policies became known as the "
White Australia policy", which was consolidated and enabled by the
Immigration Restriction Act 1901, but was never universally applied. Immigration inspectors were empowered to ask immigrants to take dictation from any
European language as a test for admittance, a test used in practice to exclude people from Asia, Africa, and some European and South American countries, depending on the political climate. Although they were not the prime targets of the policy, it was not until after
World War II that large numbers of southern European and eastern European immigrants were admitted for the first time. Following this, the White Australia Policy was relaxed in stages: non-European nationals who could demonstrate European descent were admitted (e.g., descendants of European colonizers and settlers from
Latin America or
Africa), as were
autochthonous inhabitants (such as
Maronites,
Assyrians and
Mandeans) of various nations from the Middle East, most significantly from
Lebanon and to a lesser degree
Iraq,
Syria and
Iran. In 1973, all immigration restrictions based on race and geographic origin were officially terminated. Australia enumerated its population by race between 1911 and 1966, by racial origin in 1971 and 1976, and by self-declared ancestry alone since 1981, meaning no attempt is now made to classify people according to skin colour. As at the 2016 census, it was estimated by the
Australian Human Rights Commission that around 58% of the Australian population were Anglo-Celtic Australians with 18% being of other European origins, a total of 76% for European ancestries as a whole. The
2021 Australian census form does not use the term "white". The federal and state police forces use the descriptor Caucasian, along with four others:
Aboriginal, Asian, and Other.
New Zealand The establishment of British colonies in Australia from 1788 and the boom in whaling and sealing in the Southern Ocean brought many Europeans to the vicinity of
New Zealand. Whalers and sealers were often itinerant, and the first real settlers were missionaries and traders in the Bay of Islands area from 1809. Early visitors to New Zealand included whalers, sealers, missionaries, mariners, and merchants, attracted to natural resources in abundance. They came from the Australian colonies, Great Britain and Ireland, Germany (forming the next biggest immigrant group after the British and Irish), France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, and Canada. In the 1860s, the discovery of gold started a gold rush in Otago. By 1860 more than 100,000 British and Irish settlers lived throughout New Zealand. The
Otago Association actively recruited settlers from Scotland, creating a definite Scottish influence in that region, while the
Canterbury Association recruited settlers from the south of England, creating a definite English influence over that region. In the 1870s, MP
Julius Vogel borrowed millions of pounds from Britain to help fund capital development such as a nationwide rail system, lighthouses, ports, and bridges, and encouraged mass migration from Britain. By 1870 the non-Māori population reached over 250,000. Other smaller groups of settlers came from Germany, Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe as well as from China and India, but British and Irish settlers made up the vast majority and did so for the next 150 years. The
2023 New Zealand census form doesn't use the term "white", referring to
European New Zealanders instead. and issued rulings, which have identified White people as a demographic group within the country. White people in France are defined, or discussed, as a racial or social grouping, from a diverse and often conflicting range of political and cultural perspectives; in anti-racism activism in France, from right-wing political dialogue or propaganda, and other sources.
Background Whites in France have been studied with regard the group's historical involvement in
French colonialism; how "whites in France have played a major international role in colonizing areas of the globe such as the
African continent." They have been described as a privileged social class within the country, comparatively sheltered from racism and poverty. has reported how "most white people in France only know the banlieues as a kind of caricature".
Banlieues, outer-city regions across the country that are increasingly identified with minority groups, often have residents who are disproportionately affected by unemployment and poverty. The lack of census data collected by the
INED and
INSEE for Whites in France has been analyzed, from some academic perspectives, as masking racial issues within the country, or a form of false
racial color blindness. Writing for
Al Jazeera, French journalist
Rokhaya Diallo suggests that "a large portion of White people in France are not used to having frank conversations about race and racism." According to political sociologist
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, "whites in France lie to themselves and the world by proclaiming that they do not have institutional racism in their nation." Sociologist
Crystal Marie Fleming has written; "While many whites in France refuse to acknowledge institutionalized racism and
white supremacy, there is widespread belief in the specter of 'anti-white racism'".
Use in right-wing politics Accusations of anti-White racism, In 2006, French politician
Jean-Marie Le Pen suggested there were too many "players of colour" in the
France national football team after he suggested that 7 of the 23-player squad were White. In 2020, French politician
Nadine Morano stated that French actress
Aïssa Maïga, who was born in
Senegal, should "go back to
Africa" if she "was not happy with seeing so many white people in France".
Republic of Ireland According to the 2022 Irish census, 4,444,145 or 87.4% of the total population declared their race as "
White Irish" and Other White, People who identified as "White Irish" in 2022 were 3,893,056 or 76.5% of the total population, a decline from 87.4% in 2006.
Malta As of the 2021 census, 89.1% self-identified as white racial origin.
Maltese-born natives make up the majority of the island with 386,280 people out of a total population of 519,562. Those who identified “without immigrant background” were 81.5% of the total population and 18.5% with an immigrant background. Those classified without an immigrant background were people born in Portugal and whose parents and grandparents were born in Portugal and those with an immigrant background were people born outside Portugal or people born in Portugal with at least one parent or grandparent (three generations) born outside Portugal. Of the white ethnic group, 86.1% identified “without” immigrant background and 13.9% “with” an immigrant background.
United Kingdom Historical White identities Before the
Industrial Revolutions in Europe, whiteness may have been associated with social status. Aristocrats may have had less exposure to the sun and therefore a pale complexion may have been associated with status and wealth. This may be the origin of "blue blood" as a description of royalty, the skin being so lightly pigmented that the blueness of the veins could be clearly seen. The change in the meaning of White that occurred in the colonies (see
above) to distinguish Europeans from non-Europeans did not apply to the '
home land' countries (England, Ireland,
Scotland and
Wales). Whiteness therefore retained a meaning associated with social status for the time being, and, during the nineteenth century, when the
British Empire was at its peak, many of the
bourgeoisie and
aristocracy developed
extremely negative attitudes to those of lower social rank.
Edward Lhuyd discovered that
Welsh,
Gaelic,
Cornish and
Breton are all part of the same language family, which he termed the "
Celtic family", and was distinct from the
Germanic English; this can be seen in context of the emerging
romantic nationalism, which was also
prevalent among those of Celtic descent. Just as race reified whiteness in America, Africa, and Asia, capitalism without social welfare reified whiteness with regard to social class in nineteenth-century Britain and Ireland; this social distinction of whiteness became, over time, associated with racial differences. For example, George Sims in his 1883 book
How the poor live wrote of "a dark continent that is within easy reach of the General Post Office ... the wild races who inhabit it will, I trust, gain public sympathy as easily as [other] savage tribes". The oldest
Chinese community in Britain (as well as in Europe) dates from the nineteenth century. Since the end of World War II, a substantial immigration from the
African,
Caribbean and
South Asian (namely the
British Raj)
colonies changed the picture more radically, Today the
Office for National Statistics uses the term
White as an ethnic category. The terms
White British,
White Irish,
White Scottish and
White Other are used. These classifications rely on individuals' self-identification, since it is recognised that ethnic identity is not an objective category. Socially, in the UK
White usually refers only to people of native British, Irish and European origin. As a result of the
2011 census the White population stood at 85.5% in
England (White British: 79.8%), at 96% in
Scotland (White British: 91.8%), at 95.6% in
Wales (White British: 93.2%), amounting to a total of 87.2% White population (or White British and Irish).
North America Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Bermuda (U.K.) At the 2016 census the number of Bermudians who identify as white was 19,466 or 31 percent of the total population. from settlement (which began accidentally in 1609 with the wreck of the Sea Venture) until the middle of the 17th century, and the majority until some point in the 18th century. In 2010, census data found that White Bermudians accounted for 31% including 10% native Bermudians and 21% foreign-born.
Canada Of the over 36 million
Canadians enumerated in 2021 approximately 24 million reported being "White", representing 67.4 percent of the population. A separate census question on "cultural or ethnic origin" (question 17) does not refer to
skin color.
Costa Rica The 2022 census counted a total population of 5,044,197 people. In 2022, the census also recorded ethnic or racial identity for all groups separately for the first time in more than ninety-five years since the 1927 census. Options included indigenous, Black or Afro-descendant, Mulatto, Chinese,
Mestizo, white and other on section IV: question 7. People identifying either as White or Mestizo make up 94% of the population, with these two groups not being differentiated. 3% are
black people, 1% are Amerindians, and 1% are Chinese. White Costa Ricans are mostly of Spanish ancestry, but there are also significant numbers of Costa Ricans descended from British,
Italian,
German, English,
Dutch, French, Irish,
Portuguese and
Polish families, as well a sizable Jewish (namely Ashkenazi and Sephardic) community.
Cuba White people in Cuba make up 64.1% of the total population according to the 2012 census with the majority being of diverse Spanish descent. However, after the mass exodus resulting from the
Cuban 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, pre-1959 number of 65% and others (usually from outside observers) report a 40–45%. Despite most White Cubans being of Spanish descent, many others are of French, Portuguese, German, Italian and Russian descent. During the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early part of the twentieth century, large waves of
Canarians,
Catalans,
Andalusians,
Castilians, and
Galicians emigrated to Cuba. Many
European Jews have also immigrated there, with some of them being
Sephardic. Between 1901 and 1958, more than a million Spaniards arrived to Cuba from Spain; many of these and their descendants left after Castro's communist
regime took power. Historically, Chinese descendants in Cuba were classified as White. In 1953, it was estimated that 72.8% of Cubans were of European ancestry, mainly of Spanish origin, 12.4% of African ancestry, 14.5% of both African and European ancestry (mulattos), and 0.3% of the population was of Chinese and or East Asian descent (officially called "amarilla" or "yellow" in the census). However, after the
Cuban revolution, due to a combination of factors, mainly mass
exodus to Miami, United States, a drastic decrease in immigration, and interracial reproduction, Cuba's demography changed. As a result, those of complete European ancestry and those of pure African ancestry have decreased, the mixed population has increased, and the Chinese (or East Asian) population has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. The Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the
University of Miami says the present Cuban population is 38% White and 62% Black/Mulatto. The
Minority 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 per cent to 62 per cent".
Dominica Dominican Republic They are 18.7% or 1,611,752 of the
Dominican Republic's population, according to the 2022 census of those aged 12 years old and above conducted by the
National Statistics Office. An earlier estimate put it at 17.8% of the
Dominican Republic's population, according to a 2021 survey by the
United Nations Population Fund. About 9.2% of the Dominican population claims a
European immigrant background, according to the 2021 Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas survey.
Guatemala In 2010, 18.5% of Guatemalans belonged to the White ethnic group, with 41.7% of the population being Mestizo, and 39.8% of the population belonging to the 23
Indigenous groups. It is difficult to make an accurate census of Whites in
Guatemala, because the country categorizes all non-indigenous people are mestizo or
ladino and a large majority of White Guatemalans consider themselves as mestizos or ladinos. By the nineteenth century the majority of immigrants were
Germans, many who were bestowed
fincas and coffee plantations in
Cobán, while others went to
Quetzaltenango and
Guatemala City. Many young Germans married
mestiza and
indigenous Q'eqchi' women, which caused a gradual whitening. There was also immigration of
Belgians to
Santo Tomas and this contributed to the mixture of
black and
mestiza women in that region.
Haiti Honduras The
World Factbook reports that white people are 1% of the population of Honduras.
Jamaica Mexico Mexico's national census doesn't categorize people by race. The
Mexican government has conducted some ethnic censuses that allow individuals to identify as "White", but the specific results of these censuses are not made public. The government has surveyed skin-tone in the country to study
discrimination based on skin tone, with results varying depending on methodology and which scale is used. Europeans began arriving in Mexico during the
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. During the colonial period, most European immigration was Spanish (mostly from northern provinces such as
Cantabria,
Navarra,
Galicia and the
Basque Country), Intermixing between the European immigrants and the native
Indigenous peoples resulted in
Mestizos becoming the majority of Mexico's population in the modern era. One study has shown that the European or Indigenous genetic ancestry of Mestizo people in Mexico can be higher than 90%. Formal definitions of Mestizo vary from study to study. After the
Mexican Revolution, the Mexican government began defining ethnicity on cultural standards (mainly the language spoken) rather than racial ones, in an effort to unite all Mexicans under a single racial identity.
Encyclopædia Britannica estimated 15% in 2000. A 2010 study from
American Sociological Association estimated percentage of 18.8% for the country. According to
Howard F. Cline writing in 1963, Mexico's northern and western regions have the highest percentages of white population, with the majority of the people not having native admixture or being of predominantly European ancestry.
Nicaragua The
World Factbook reports white people being 17% of the Nicaragua's population, with an additional 69% of the population being
Mestizo, which is described as mixed indigenous and white. In the nineteenth century,
Nicaragua was the subject of
central European immigration, mostly from
Germany,
England and the
United States, who often married native Nicaraguan women. Some
Germans were given land to grow coffee in
Matagalpa,
Jinotega and
Esteli, although most Europeans settled in
San Juan del Norte. In the late seventeenth century, pirates from
England,
France and
Holland mixed with the indigenous population and started a settlement at Bluefields (
Mosquito Coast).
Puerto Rico (U.S.) Puerto Rico had a small stream of predominantly European immigration. Puerto Ricans of
Spanish,
Italian and French descent comprise the majority. According to the most recent
2020 census, the number of people who identified as "White alone" was 536,044 with an additional non-Hispanic 24,548, for a total of 560,592 or 17.1% of the population. Previously in 1899, one year after the United States acquired the island, 61.8% or 589,426 people self-identified as White. due to a change of race perceptions, mainly because of Puerto Rican elites to portray Puerto Rico's image as the "White island of the Antilles", partly as a response to scientific racism. Hundreds are from
Corsica,
France,
Italy,
Portugal,
Ireland,
Scotland, and
Germany, along with large numbers of immigrants from Spain. This was the result of granted land from Spain during the
Real Cedula de Gracias de 1815 (
Royal Decree of Graces of 1815), which allowed European Catholics to settle on the island with a certain amount of free land. Between 1960 and 1990, the census questionnaire in Puerto Rico did not ask about race or color. Racial categories therefore disappeared from the dominant discourse on the Puerto Rican nation. However, the
2000 census included a racial self-identification question in Puerto Rico and, for the first time since 1950, allowed respondents to choose more than one racial category to indicate mixed ancestry. (Only 4.2% chose two or more races.) With few variations, the census of Puerto Rico used the same questionnaire as in the U.S. mainland. According to census reports, most islanders responded to the new federally mandated categories on race and ethnicity by declaring themselves "White"; few declared themselves to be Black or some other race. However, it was estimated that 20% of White Puerto Ricans may have Black ancestry.
Trinidad and Tobago United States The cultural boundaries separating
White Americans from other racial or ethnic categories are contested and always changing. Professor
David R. Roediger of the
University of Illinois, suggests that the construction of the White race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves.
Historical White identities By the eighteenth century,
White had become well established as a racial term. Author John Tehranian has noted the changing classifications of immigrant ethnic groups in American history. At various times each of the following groups has been allegedly excluded from being considered White, despite generally having been considered legally White under the US census and US naturalization law:
Germans,
Greeks,
White Hispanics,
Arabs,
Iranians,
Afghans,
Irish,
Italians,
Jews of
European and
Mizrahi descent, Slavs, and
Spaniards. and not considered European but "Asian". Some believed that they were of
Mongolian ancestry rather than "native"
European origin due to the Finnish language belonging to the
Uralic and not the Indo-European language family. During American history, the process of officially being defined as
White by law often came about in court disputes over the pursuit of
citizenship. The Immigration Act of 1790 offered
naturalization only to "any alien, being a free white person". In at least 52 cases, people denied the status of White by immigration officials sued in court for status as White people. By 1923, courts had vindicated a "common-knowledge" standard, concluding that "scientific evidence" was incoherent. Legal scholar John Tehranian says that this was a "performance-based" standard, relating to religious practices, education, intermarriage, and a community's role in the United States. In 1923, the
Supreme Court decided in
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that people of
Indian descent were not White men, and thus not eligible for citizenship. While Thind was a high caste
Hindu born in the northern
Punjab region and classified by certain scientific authorities as of the Aryan race, the court conceded that he was not White or
Caucasian since the word Aryan "has to do with linguistic and not at all with physical characteristics" and "the average man knows perfectly well that there are unmistakable and profound differences" between Indians and White people. According to Frank Sweet, "various sources agree that, on average, people with 12 percent or less admixture appear White to the average American and those with up to 25 percent look ambiguous (with a Mediterranean skin tone)". The current
U.S. Census definition includes as White "a person having origins in any of
Europe, the
Middle East or
North Africa." The "White" category in the UCR includes all Hispanics who do not identify as black, Asian, or Native American, as the "
some other race" designation used to classify most nonwhite or mestizo Hispanics is not officially recognized or included. White Americans made up nearly 90% of the population in 1950. According to a study on the genetic ancestry of Americans, White Americans (stated "European Americans") on average are 98.6% European, 0.2% African and 0.2% Native American. Whites born in those
Southern states with higher proportions of African-American populations, tend to have higher percentages of African ancestry. For instance, according to the
23andMe database, up to 13% of self-identified White American Southerners have greater than 1% African ancestry. Robert P. Stuckert, member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at
Ohio State University, has said that today the majority of the descendants of African slaves are White. Black author
Rich Benjamin, in his book,
Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America, reveals how racial divides and White decline, both real and perceived, shape democratic and economic urgencies in America. The book examines how White flight, and the fear of White decline, affects the country's political debates and policy-making, including housing, lifestyle, social psychology, gun control, and community. Benjamin says that such issues as fiscal policy or immigration or "Best Place to Live" lists, which might be considered race-neutral, are also defined by racial anxiety over perceived White decline. As noted in the scholar-and-educator-coauthored ''Editors' Note
section of Rooted Jazz Dance
, which dealt with the U.S. African diaspora, the U.S.-based, national, non-profit organization Center for the Study of Social Policy'' uses the proper noun White when "referring to people who are racialized as White in the United States, including those who identify with ethnicities and nationalities that can be traced back to Europe" and frames the issue as follows:
One-drop rule The "
one-drop rule" – that a person with any amount of known black African ancestry (however small or invisible) is considered black – is a classification that was used in parts of the United States. It is a colloquial term for a set of laws passed by 18 U.S. states between 1910 and 1931. Such laws were declared unconstitutional in 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled on
anti-miscegenation laws while hearing
Loving v. Virginia; it also found that
Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924, based on enforcing the one-drop rule in classifying vital records, was unconstitutional. The one-drop rule attempted to create a binary system, classifying all persons as either Black or White regardless of a person's physical appearance. Previously persons had sometimes been classified as mulatto or
mixed-race, including on censuses up to 1930. They were also recorded as Indian. Some people with a high proportion of European ancestry could
pass as "White", as noted above. This binary approach contrasts with the more flexible social structures present in Latin America (derived from the
Spanish colonial era system), where there were less clear-cut divisions between various ethnicities. People are often classified not only by their appearance but by their class. As a result of centuries of having children with White people, the majority of African Americans have some European admixture, and many people long accepted as White also have some African ancestry. Among the most notable examples of the latter is President
Barack Obama, who is believed to have been descended from an early African enslaved in America, recorded as "John Punch", through his mother's apparently White line. In the twenty-first century, writer and editor
Debra Dickerson renewed questions about the one-drop rule, saying that "easily one-third of black people have White DNA". She says that, in ignoring their European ancestry, African Americans are denying their full
multi-racial identities. Singer
Mariah Carey, who is multi-racial, was publicly described as "another White girl trying to sing black". But in an interview with
Larry King, she said that, despite her physical appearance and having been raised primarily by her White mother, she did not "feel White". Since the late twentieth century,
genetic testing has provided many Americans, both those who identify as White and those who identify as black, with more nuanced and complex information about their genetic backgrounds.
Other Caribbean South America Argentina Argentina, along with other areas of new settlement like Canada, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the United States or Uruguay, is considered a country of immigrants where the vast majority originated from Europe. White people can be found in all areas of the country, but especially in the central-eastern region (
Pampas), the central-western region (
Cuyo), the southern region (
Patagonia) and the north-eastern region (
Litoral). Genetic studies have found that European ancestry predominates in all regions of Argentina except for the
northwest, with the highest level of European ancestry being found in
Buenos Aires. White Argentines are mainly descendants of
immigrants who came from Europe and the Middle East in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After the regimented Spanish colonists, waves of European settlers came to Argentina from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Major contributors included
Italy (initially from
Piedmont, Veneto and
Lombardy, later from
Campania, Calabria, and
Sicily), and
Spain (most are
Galicians and
Basques, but there are
Asturians,
Cantabrians,
Catalans, and
Andalusians). Smaller but significant numbers of immigrants include Germans, primarily
Volga Germans from
Russia, but also Germans from Germany, Switzerland, and
Austria; French which mainly came from the
Occitania region of France;
Portuguese, which already conformed an important community since colonial times; Slavic groups, most of which were
Croats,
Bosniaks,
Poles, but also
Ukrainians,
Belarusians,
Russians,
Bulgarians,
Serbs and
Montenegrins; Britons, mainly from England and
Wales; Irish who migrated due to the
Great Irish Famine or prior famines and Scandinavians from
Sweden, Denmark,
Finland, and
Norway. Smaller waves of settlers from Australia and South Africa, and the United States can be traced in Argentine immigration records. By the 1910s, after immigration rates peaked, over 30 percent of the country's population was from outside Argentina, and over half of
Buenos Aires' population was foreign-born. However, the 1914 National Census revealed that around 80% of the national population were either European immigrants, their children or grandchildren. Among the remaining 20 percent (those descended from the population residing locally before this immigrant wave took shape in the 1870s), around a third were White. European immigration continued to account for over half the nation's population growth during the 1920s and was again significant (albeit in a smaller wave) following
World War II. Several genetic studies found that the European ancestry in Argentina comes mainly from the
Iberian Peninsula and
Italian Peninsula with a much lower contribution from
Central Europe and
Northern Europe. The Italian component appears strongest in the East and Center-West, while Spanish influence dominates in the North East and North West. Since the 1960s, increasing immigration from bordering countries to the north (especially from
Bolivia and
Paraguay, which have
Amerindian and
Mestizo majorities) has lessened that majority somewhat. (Living Africa) is a black rights group in
Buenos Aires with the support of the
Organization of American States, financial aid from the
World Bank and Argentina's census bureau is working to add an "Afro-descendants" category to the 2010 census. The 1887 national census was the final year where blacks were included as a separate category before it was eliminated by the government.
Bolivia There is no present-day data as the Bolivian census does not count racial identity for white people. However, past census data showed that in 1900, people who self-identified as "Blanco" (white) composed 12.7% or 231,088 of the total population. This was the last time data on race was collected. There were 529 Italians, 420 Spaniards, 295 Germans, 279 French, 177 Austrians, 141 English and 23 Belgians living in Bolivia.
Brazil Recent censuses in Brazil are conducted on the basis of self-identification. According to the 2022 Census, they totaled 88,252,121 people and made up 43.5% of the Brazilian population. As a term, "White" in Brazil is generally applied to people based on skin color and phenotype. The term may also encompass other people, such as Brazilians of
West Asian descent, and in some contexts, East Asians. Though Brazilians of East Asian descent are, in other contexts, classified as "Yellow" (amarela). The census shows a trend of fewer Brazilians of a different descent (most likely mixed) identifying as White people as their social status increases. Nevertheless, light-skinned
Mulattoes and Mestizos with European features were also historically deemed as more closely related to "whiteness" than unmixed Blacks. to 52%. According to a study by the
University of Chile about 30% of the Chilean population is Caucasian, while the 2011
Latinobarómetro survey shows that some 60% of Chileans consider themselves White. During colonial times in the eighteenth century, an important flux of emigrants from Spain populated Chile, mostly Basques, who vitalized the Chilean economy and rose rapidly in the social hierarchy and became the political elite that still dominates the country. An estimated 1.6 million (10%) to 3.2 million (20%) Chileans have a surname (one or both) of Basque origin. The Basques liked Chile because of its great similarity to their native land: similar geography, cool climate, and the presence of fruits, seafood, and wine. Chile was not an attractive place for European migrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries simply because it was far from Europe and difficult to reach. Chile experienced a tiny but steady arrival of Spanish,
Italians, Irish,
French,
Greeks,
Germans, English,
Scots,
Croats and
Ashkenazi Jews, in addition to immigration from other Latin American countries. The original arrival of Spaniards was the most radical change in demographics due to the arrival of Europeans in Chile, After the failed
liberal revolution of 1848 in the German states, a significant German immigration took place, laying the foundation for the
German-Chilean community. Sponsored by the Chilean government to "civilize" and colonize the southern region, The Chilean Embassy in Germany estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Chileans are
of German origin. Another historically significant immigrant group were Croatian immigrants. The
Croatian Chileans, their descendants today, number at an estimated 380,000 persons, the equivalent of 2.4% of the population. Other authors claim on the other hand, that close to 4.6% of the Chilean population have some
Croatian ancestry. Over 700,000 Chileans may have British (English, Scottish or
Welsh) origin, 4.5% of Chile's population. Chileans of
Greek descent are estimated 90,000 to 120,000. Most of them live either in the
Santiago area or in the
Antofagasta area, and
Chile is one of the 5 countries with the most descendants of Greeks in the world. and it is estimated that about 5% of the
Chilean population has some
French ancestry. 184,000–800,000 (estimates) are
descendants of Italians. Other groups of European descendants are found in smaller numbers.
Colombia The Colombian government does not carry out official racial censuses, nor does it carry out self-identification racial censuses as is the case in
Argentina, so the figures shown are usually based on data from populations considered "non-ethnic", which are those (Whites and Mestizos). According to the 2018 census, approximately 87.6% of the Colombian population are White or Mestizo. Many Spanish began their explorations searching for gold, while other Spanish established themselves as leaders of the native social organizations teaching natives the
Christian faith and the ways of their
civilization. Catholic priests would provide education for Native Americans that otherwise was unavailable. 100 years after the first Spanish settlement, 90 percent of all Native Americans in Colombia had died. The majority of the deaths of Native Americans were the cause of diseases such as measles and smallpox, which were spread by European settlers. Many Native Americans were also killed by armed conflicts with European settlers. Few Colombians of distant Basque descent are aware of their Basque ethnic heritage. Basque immigrants in Colombia were devoted to teaching and public administration. There were some Nazi agitators in Colombia, such as Barranquilla businessman Emil Prufurt. The Italians arrived on the Colombian coast and quickly moved towards the expanding agricultural areas. There, some of them achieved success in the commercialization of livestock, agricultural products, and imported goods, which later led to the transfer of their lucrative activities to Barranquilla. Some important buildings were created by Italians in the nineteenth century, like the famous
Colón Theater of the capital. It is one of the most representative theatres of Colombia, with neoclassic architecture: was built by the Italian architect Pietro Cantini and founded in 1892; has more than 2,400 square metres (26,000 sq ft) for 900 people. This famous Italian architect also contributed to the construction of the
Capitolio Nacional of the capital. Oreste Sindici was an Italian-born Colombian musician and composer, who composed the music for the Colombian national anthem in 1887. Oreste Sindici died in Bogotá on 12 January 1904, due to severe arteriosclerosis. In 1937 the Colombian government honored his memory. After the Second World War, Italian emigration to Colombia was directed primarily toward
Bogota,
Cali and
Medellin. They have Italian schools in
Bogota (Institutes "
Leonardo da Vinci" and "
Alessandro Volta"),
Medellín ("Leonardo da Vinci") &
Barranquilla ("Galileo Galilei"). The Italian migration government estimates that there are at least 2 million Colombians of Italian descent, making them the second largest and most numerous European group in the country after the
Spanish. The first and largest wave of immigration from the Middle East began around 1880 and remained during the first two decades of the twentieth century. They were mainly Maronite Christians from Greater Syria (Syria and Lebanon) and Palestine, fleeing the then colonized Ottoman territories. Syrians, Palestinians, and Lebanese continued since then to settle in Colombia. Due to poor existing information it is impossible to know the exact number of Lebanese and Syrians that immigrated to Colombia. A figure of 5,000–10,000 from 1880 to 1930 may be reliable.
Guyana In 2016, 0.3% of Guyana were of European descent, predominantly
Portuguese Guyanese.
Paraguay Peru According to the
2017 census 5.9% or 1.3 million (1,336,931) people 12 years of age and above self-identified as White. There were 619,402 (5.5%) males and 747,528 (6.3%) females. This was the first time a question for ethnic origins had been asked. The regions with the highest proportion of self-identified Whites were in
La Libertad (10.5%),
Tumbes and
Lambayeque (9.0% each),
Piura (8.1%),
Callao (7.7%),
Cajamarca (7.5%),
Lima Province (7.2%) and
Lima Region (6.0%).
Uruguay Different estimates state that Uruguay's population of 3.4 million is composed of 88% to 93% White Uruguayans. Though Uruguay has welcomed immigrants from around the world, its population largely consists of people of
European origin, mainly
Spaniards and
Italians. Other European immigrants include Jews from Eastern and Central Europe. According to the 2006 National Survey of Homes by the Uruguayan National Institute of Statistics: 94.6% self-identified as having a White background, 9.1% chose black ancestry, and 4.5% chose an Amerindian ancestry (people surveyed were allowed to choose more than one option).
Venezuela According to the official Venezuelan census, the term "White" involves external issues such as light skin, shape, and color of hair and eyes, among other factors. Though the meaning and usage of the term "White" has varied in different ways depending on the time period and area, leaving its precise definition as somewhat confusing. The 2011 Venezuelan Census states that "White" in Venezuela is used to describe Venezuelans of European origin.
Genetic research by the
University of Brasília shows an average admixture of 60.6% European, 23.0% Amerindian and 16.3% African ancestry in Venezuelan populations. The majority of White Venezuelans are of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German descent. Nearly half a million European immigrants, mostly from Spain (as a consequence of the
Spanish Civil War), Italy, and Portugal, entered the country during and after World War II, attracted by a prosperous, rapidly developing country where educated and skilled immigrants were welcomed. Spaniards were introduced into
Venezuela during the colonial period. Most of them were from
Andalusia,
Galicia,
Basque Country and from the
Canary Islands. Until the last years of World War II, a large part of the European immigrants to Venezuela came from the Canary Islands, and its cultural impact was significant, influencing the development of Castilian in the country, its gastronomy, and customs. With the beginning of oil operations during the first decades of the twentieth century, citizens and companies from the United States, United Kingdom, and
Netherlands established themselves in Venezuela. Later, in the middle of the century, there was a new wave of originating immigrants from
Spain (mainly from Galicia, Andalucia and the Basque Country),
Italy (mainly from southern Italy and Venice) and
Portugal (from Madeira) and new immigrants from
Germany,
France,
England,
Croatia,
Netherlands, and other European countries, among others, animated simultaneously by the program of immigration and colonization implanted by the government. == See also ==