Caribbean people

Caribbean people are the people born in or inhabitants of the Caribbean region or people of Caribbean descent living outside the Caribbean.

The Caribbean region was originally populated by Amerindians from several different Kalinago and Taino groups. These groups were largely decimated by a combination of enslavement, warfare and disease brought by the European colonizers.

Modern Caribbean people usually further identify by their own specific ethnic ancestry, therefore constituting various subgroups, of which are: Afro-Caribbean (largely descendants of bonded black African slaves), Multiracial Caribbean (descendants of two or more ethnicities, such as Mulattos, Mestizos and Douglas), Hispanic/Latino-Caribbean, Spanish-speaking Caribbean people who largely descended from solely or a mixture of Spaniards, West Africans and Taino peoples), White Caribbean (largely descendants of European colonizers), Asian Caribbean who are mainly divided between Indo-Caribbean (largely descendants of Indian jahaji indentured laborers and free immigrants) and Chinese Caribbean (largely descendants of free Chinese immigrants and indentured workers), and Indigenous Caribbean (largely descendants of the indigenous people of the Caribbean with some degree of admixture).

As of 2024, the Caribbean population is estimated to be approximately 44.8 million, with a growth rate of around 0.54% from the previous year.

Haiti has the most population in the Caribbeans with population of over 12 million. Haiti is also the fastest growing country in the Caribbeans surpassing Cuba in 2021. Over 3 million Haitians live in other countries such as France, United States and Canada due to political unrest and violence.