Caribbean people

Caribbean people

Total population
c. 45–47 million
Haiti	12 million[1]
Dominican Republic	11.5 million
Cuba	11 million
United States	4.5 million[2]
Puerto Rico	3.4 million
Jamaica	2.7 million
Trinidad and Tobago	1.5 million
France	1.2 million[3]
United Kingdom	1.0 million[4]
Netherlands	850 thousand[5]
Guyana	790 thousand
Canada	750 thousand[6]
Suriname	633 thousand
Languages
Spanish, French, French-based creole languages (Haitian Creole, Antillean Creole), English, English-based creole languages (Jamaican Patois, Bahamian Creole, Trinidadian Creole, Guyanese Creole, Bajan Creole, Sranan Tongo), Papiamento, Dutch, Caribbean Hindustani, Chinese, Javanese
Religion
Majority: Christianity Minority: Hinduism Islam Judaism Rastafari Baháʼí Afro-American religion Traditional African religions Amerindian religions Buddhism Sikhism Jainism Zoroastrianism Taoism Confucianism Chinese folk religion Kebatinan Others
Related ethnic groups
Americans, Canadians, Latin Americans

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 initially populated by Amerindians from several different Kalinago and Taino groups. These groups were largely decimated by a combination of enslavement and disease brought by European colonizers. Descendants of the Taino and Kalinago tribes exist today in the Caribbean and elsewhere but are usually of partial Amerindian ancestry.^[7]

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 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.^[8]

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 in Cuba in 2021. Over 3 million Haitians live in other countries such as France, United States and Canada due to political unrest and violence.^[9]

The largest diasporas of Caribbean people outside of the Caribbean region can be found in the United States (4.2 million),^[10] France (1.2 million),^[11] the United Kingdom (1.0 million),^[12] the Netherlands (850 thousand),^[13] and Canada (750 thousand).^[14]

Canada has about 750,000 people of Caribbean descent. Mostly from countries like Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. Many of them migrated to Canada in the 1970s. Many Jamaicans, Guyanese and Trinidadians reside in Toronto and its suburbs. Greater Toronto Area is home to 250,000 people of Caribbean descent. The festival Caribana which take place every summer in Toronto is one of the largest Caribbean festival outside Caribbean.^[15] Many Haitians resides in Montreal and other places in Quebec.^[16]

The Netherlands has approximately 850,000 people of Caribbean descent. Over 500,000 in the mainland and over 300,000 in Dutch Caribbean. Caribbean community in the Netherlands are mainly from former Dutch colony such as Suriname and the Antilles (Aruba and Curaçao).^[17] The Surinamese population makes about 365,000 making it the largest community in Europe from a Caribbean country. Amsterdam has the largest Surinamese community (65,000) and Rotterdam has the largest Antillean community (30,000) in the Netherlands.^[18] There are many events in Dutch larger cities organised by Caribbean communities.

• List of Caribbean music genres

• Afro-Caribbean
• British African-Caribbean people
• Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean
• Caribbean region of Colombia
• Indo-Caribbean
• Asian Caribbean
• White Caribbean
• West Indian
• West Indian American
• Caribbean Canadians