This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2023) |
Total population | |
---|---|
133 million European-diaspora Americans 41% of total U.S. population (2017) [1] [lower-alpha 1] (as opposed to 235.4 million Americans identifying as White in combination with other races and 204.3 million self-identifying as white) [2] 61.6% of the total U.S. population (2020) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Contiguous United States and Alaska smaller populations in Hawaii and the territories | |
Languages | |
Predominantly English, but also other languages of Europe | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Christianity (Mainly Protestantism and Roman Catholicism); Minority religions: Judaism, Mormonism, Islam, Neo-Paganism, Irreligion, Atheism |
European Americans (also referred to as White Americans ) are Americans of European ancestry. [3] [4] This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since the 17th century, European Americans have been the largest panethnic group in what are now the United States.
The Spaniards are thought to have been the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the contiguous United States, with Martín de Argüelles (b. 1566) in St. Augustine, then a part of Spanish Florida, [5] [6] and the Russians were the first Europeans to settle in Alaska, establishing Russian America. The first English child born in the Americas was Virginia Dare, born August 18, 1587. She was born in Roanoke Colony, located in present-day North Carolina, which was the first attempt, made during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, to establish a permanent English settlement in North America.
In the 2020 United States census, Engliish Americans (46.5 million), German Americans (45 million), Irish Americans (38.6 million), Italian Americans (16.8 million) and Polish Americans (8.6 million) were the five largest self-reported European ancestry groups in the United States. [7] However, the number of people with British ancestry is considered to be significantly under-counted, as many people in that demographic tend to identify themselves simply as Americans (20,151,829 or 7.2%). [8] [9] [10] [11] The same applies to Americans of Spanish ancestry, as many people in that demographic tend to identify themselves as Hispanic and Latino Americans (58,846,134 or 16.6%), even though they carry a mean of 65.1% European genetic ancestry, mainly from Spain. [12]
An increasing number of people ignored the ancestry question or chose no specific ancestral group such as "American or United States". In the 2000 census this represented over 56.1 million or 19.9% of the United States population, an increase from 26.2 million (10.5%) in 1990 and 38.2 million (16.9%) in 1980 and are specified as "unclassified" and "not reported". [13] [14]
Number of European Americans From 1800 To 2010 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Population | % of the United States | Ref(s) | |
1800 | 4,306,446 | 81.1% | ||
1850 | 19,553,068 | 84.3% | ||
1900 | 66,809,196 | 87.9% | ||
1950 | 134,942,028 | 89.5% | ||
2000 | 211,460,626 | 75.1% | ||
2010 | 223,553,265 | 72.4% | ||
In 1995, as part of a review of the Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting), a survey was conducted of census recipients to determine their preferred terminology for the racial/ethnic groups defined in the Directive. For the White group, European American came a distant third, preferred by only 2.35% of panel interviewees, as opposed to White, which was preferred by 61.66%. [15]
The term is sometimes used interchangeably with Caucasian American, White American, and Anglo American in many places around the United States. [16]
In contexts such as medical research, terms such as "white" and "European" have been criticized for vagueness and blurring important distinctions between different groups that happen to fit within the label. [17] Margo Adair suggests that viewing Americans of European descent as a single group contributes to the "Wonder breading" of the United States, eradicating the cultural heritage of individual European ethnicities. [18]
There are a number of subgroupings of European Americans. [19] While these categories may be approximately defined, often due to the imprecise or cultural regionalization of Europe, the subgroups are nevertheless used widely in cultural or ethnic identification. [20] This is particularly the case in diasporic populations, as with European people in the United States generally. [21] In alphabetical order, some of the subgroups are:
Historical immigration estimates [22] [23] | ||
---|---|---|
Country | Immigration before 1790 | Ancestry 1790 |
England* | 230,000 | 1,900,000 |
Ulster Scotch-Irish* | 135,000 | 320,000 |
Germany [lower-alpha 2] | 103,000 | 280,000 |
Scotland* | 48,500 | 160,000 |
Ireland | 8,000 | 200,000 |
Netherlands | 6,000 | 100,000 |
Wales* | 4,000 | 120,000 |
France | 3,000 | 80,000 |
Sweden and Other [lower-alpha 3] | 500 | 20,000 |
*Totals, British | 417,500 | 2,500,000+ |
United States [lower-alpha 4] | 950,000 | 3,929,214 |
Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans predominantly inhabited the United States. The earliest Europeans to colonize North America were the Spaniards. The first Spanish colonization was in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida. [24] One of the most significant Spanish explorers was Hernando De Soto, a conquistador who accompanied Francisco Pizzaro during his conquest of the Inca Empire.
Leaving Havana, Cuba in 1539, De Soto's expedition landed in the state of Florida and explored the southeastern area of the United States. They reached as far as the Mississippi River in search of riches and fortune. Another Spaniard who explored the United States, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, set out from New Spain in 1540 in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. Coronado's expedition traveled to Kansas and the Grand Canyon, but failed to discover gold or treasure. However, Coronado left a gift of horses to the Plains Indians. Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano and Frenchman Jacques Cartier are other Europeans who explored the United States. The Spaniards viewed the French as a threat to their trade route along the Gulf Stream. [25]
Since 1607, some 57 million immigrants have come to the United States from other lands. Approximately 10 million passed through on their way to some other place or returned to their original homelands, leaving a net gain of some 47 million people. [26]
Before 1881, the vast majority of immigrants, almost 86% of the total, arrived from Northwestern Europe, principally Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia, known as "Old Immigration". The years between 1881 and 1893 the pattern shifted, in the sources of U.S. "New Immigration". Between 1894 and 1914, immigrants from Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe accounted for 69% of the total. [27] [28] [29] Prior to 1960, the overwhelming majority came from Europe or of European descent from Canada. Immigration from Europe as a proportion of new arrivals has been in decline since the mid-20th century, with 75.0% of the total foreign-born population born in Europe compared to 12.1% recorded in the 2010 census. [30]
European immigration to the U.S. 1820–1970 [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Years | Arrivals | Years | Arrivals | Years | Arrivals |
1820–1830 | 98,816 | 1901–1910 | 8,136,016 | 1981–1990 | |
1831–1840 | 495,688 | 1911–1920 | 4,376,564 | 1991–2000 | |
1841–1850 | 1,597,502 | 1921–1930 | 2,477,853 | ||
1851–1860 | 2,452,657 | 1931–1940 | 348,289 | ||
1861–1870 | 2,064,407 | 1941–1950 | 621,704 | ||
1871–1880 | 2,261,904 | 1951–1960 | 1,328,293 | ||
1881–1890 | 4,731,607 | 1961–1970 | 1,129,670 | ||
1891–1900 | 3,558,793 | 1971–1980 | |||
Arrivals | Total | 35,679,763 | |||
Country of origin 1820–1978 [36] [37] [38] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Arrivals | % of total | Country | Arrivals | % of total |
Germany 1 | 6,978,000 | 14.3% | Norway | 856,000 | 1.8% |
Italy | 5,294,000 | 10.9% | France | 751,000 | 1.5% |
Great Britain | 4,898,000 | 10.01% | Greece | 655,000 | 1.3% |
Ireland | 4,723,000 | 9.7% | Portugal | 446,000 | 0.9% |
Austria-Hungary 1,2 | 4,315,000 | 8.9% | Denmark | 364,000 | 0.7% |
Russia 1,2 | 3,374,000 | 6.9% | Netherlands | 359,000 | 0.7% |
Sweden | 1,272,000 | 2.6% | Finland | 33,000 | 0.1% |
Total | 34,318,000 | ||||
The figures below show that of the total population of specified birthplace in the United States. A total of 11.1% were born-overseas of the total population.
Population / Proportion born in Europe in 1850–2016 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Population | % of foreign-born | |
1850 | 2,031,867 | 92.2% | |
1860 | 3,807,062 | 92.1% | |
1870 | 4,941,049 | 88.8% | |
1880 | 5,751,823 | 86.2% | |
1890 | 8,030,347 | 86.9% | |
1900 | 8,881,548 | 86.0% | |
1910 | 11,810,115 | 87.4% | |
1920 | 11,916,048 | 85.7% | |
1930 | 11,784,010 | 83.0% | |
1960 | 7,256,311 | 75.0% | |
1970 | 5,740,891 | 61.7% | |
1980 | 5,149,572 | 39.0% | |
1990 | 4,350,403 | 22.9% | |
2000 | 4,915,557 | 15.8% | |
2010 | 4,817,437 | 12.1% | |
2016 | 4,785,267 | 10.9% | |
Source: [39] [30] [40] [41] |
Birthplace | Population in 2010 | Percent in 2010 | Population in 2016 | Percent in 2016 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Totals, European-born | 4,817,437 | 12.0% | 4,785,267 | 10.9% | |
Northern Europe | 923,564 | 2.3% | 950,872 | 2.2% | |
United Kingdom | 669,794 | 1.7% | 696,896 | 1.6% | |
Ireland | 124,457 | 0.3% | 125,840 | 0.3% | |
Other Northern Europe | 129,313 | 0.3% | 128,136 | 0.3% | |
Western Europe | 961,791 | 2.4% | 939,383 | 2.1% | |
Germany | 604,616 | 1.5% | 563,985 | 1.3% | |
France | 147,959 | 0.4% | 175,250 | 0.4% | |
Other Western Europe | 209,216 | 0.5% | 200,148 | 0.4% | |
Southern Europe | 779,294 | 2.0% | 760,352 | 1.7% | |
Italy | 364,972 | 0.9% | 335,763 | 0.8% | |
Portugal | 189,333 | 0.5% | 176,638 | 0.4% | |
Other Southern Europe | 224,989 | 0.6% | 247,951 | 0.5% | |
Eastern Europe | 2,143,055 | 5.4% | 2,122,951 | 4.9% | |
Poland | 475,503 | 1.2% | 424,928 | 1.0% | |
Russia | 383,166 | 1.0% | 397,236 | 0.9% | |
Other Eastern Europe | 1,284,286 | 3.2% | 1,300,787 | 3.0% | |
Other Europe (no country specified) | 9,733 | 0.0% | 11,709 | 0.0% | |
Source: 2010 and 2016 [42] |
This section needs additional citations for verification .(May 2024) |
Breakdowns of the European American population into sub-components is a difficult and rather arbitrary exercise. Farley (1991) argues that "because of ethnic intermarriage, the numerous generations that separate respondents from their forebears and the apparent unimportance to many whites of European origin, responses appear quite inconsistent". [44]
Ethnic origin | 1980 / % [45] | 1990 / % [46] [47] | 2000 / % [48] | 2020 / % [49] [50] | change 2000–2020 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States pop. | 226,545,805 | 100.0 | 248,709,873 | 100.0 | 281,421,906 | 100.0 | 331,449,281 | 100.0 | 7.4% |
At least one ancestry reported | 188,302,438 | 83.1 | 224,788,502 | 90.4 | 225,310,411 | 80.1 | TBA | TBA | |
Acadian/Cajun | — | — | 668,271 | 0.3 | 85,414 | 0.0 | 132,624 | 0.1 | |
Albanian | 38,658 | 0.02 | 47,710 | 0.0 | 113,661 | 0.0 | 236,635 | 0.1 | |
Alsatian | 42,390 | 0.02 | 16,465 | 0.0 | 15,601 | 0.0 | 12,056 | 0.00 | |
American [lower-alpha 5] | 13,298,761 | 5.9 | 12,395,999 | 5.0 | 20,625,093 | 7.3 | - | - | |
Austrian | 948,558 | 0.42 | 864,783 | 0.3 | 735,128 | 0.3 | 697,425 | 0.3 | |
Basque | 43,140 | 0.0 | 47,956 | 0.0 | 57,793 | 0.0 | 52,559 | 0.0 | |
Bavarian | — | — | 4,348 | 0.0 | - | - | - | - | - |
Belarusian | 7,381 | 0.00 | 4,277 | 0.0 | - | - | 67,599 | 0.0 | |
Belgian | 360,277 | 0.16 | 380,498 [lower-alpha 6] | 0.2 | 360,642 | 0.1 | 384,224 | 0.2 | |
British | — | — | 1,119,154 | 0.4 | 1,085,720 | 0.4 | 860,315 | 0.4 | |
British Islander | — | — | — | — | — | — | 43,654 | 0.0 | |
Bulgarian | 42,504 | 0.02 | 29,595 | 0.0 | 55,489 | 0.0 | 102,968 | 0.0 | |
Carpatho Rusyn | — | — | 7,602 | 0.0 | 9,747 | 0.00 | |||
Celtic | — | — | 29,652 | 0.0 | 65,638 | 0.0 | 30,630 | 0.0 | |
Cornish | — | — | 3,991 | 0.0 | - | - | 6,257 | 0.0 | |
Croatian | 252,970 | 0.11 | 544,270 | 0.2 | 374,241 | 0.1 | 448,479 | 0.2 | |
Cypriot | 6,053 | 0.00 | 4,897 | 0.0 | 7,663 | 0.0 | 10,384 | 0.00 | |
Czech | 1,892,456 | 0.84 | 1,296,411 [lower-alpha 7] | 0.5 | 1,262,527 | 0.4 | 1,397,780 | 0.6 | |
Czechoslovakian | — | — | 315,285 | 0.1 | 441,403 | 0.2 | - | - | |
Danish | 1,518,273 | 0.67 | 1,634,669 | 0.7 | 1,430,897 | 0.5 | 1,314,209 | 0.6 | |
Dutch | 6,304,499 | 2.78 | 6,227,089 | 2.5 | 4,542,494 | 1.6 | 3,649,179 | 1.6 | |
Eastern European [lower-alpha 8] | 62,404 | 0.03 | 132,332 | 0.1 | - | - | - | - | |
English | 49,598,035 | 21.89 | 32,651,788 | 13.1 | 24,515,138 | 8.7 | 46,550,968 | 19.8 | |
Estonian | 25,994 | 0.01 | 26,762 | 0.0 | 25,034 | 0.0 | 30,054 | 0.0 | |
European [lower-alpha 8] | 175,461 | 0.08 | 466,718 | 0.2 | 1,968,696 | 0.7 | - | - | |
Finnish | 615,872 | 0.27 | 658,870 | 0.3 | 623,573 | 0.2 | 684,373 | 0.3 | |
Flemish | — | — | 14,157 | 0.0 | 384,224 | 0.2 | |||
French | 12,892,246 | 5.69 | 10,320,935 | 4.1 | 8,309,908 | 3.0 | 7,994,088 | 3.4 | |
French Canadian | 780,488 | 0.34 | 2,167,127 | 0.9 | 2,349,684 | 0.8 | 933,740 | 0.4 | |
German | 49,224,146 | 21.73 | 57,947,171 [lower-alpha 9] | 23.3 | 42,885,162 | 15.2 | 44,978,546 | 19.1 | |
German Russian | — | — | 10,153 | 0.0 | 10,535 | 0.0 | |||
Greek | 959,856 | 0.42 | 1,110,373 | 0.4 | 1,153,307 | 0.4 | 568,564 | 0.2 | |
Hungarian | 1,776,902 | 0.78 | 1,582,302 | 0.6 | 1,398,724 | 0.5 | 684,373 | 0.3 | |
Icelandic | 32,586 | 0.01 | 40,529 | 0.0 | 42,716 | 0.0 | 55,602 | 0.0 | |
Irish | 40,165,702 | 17.73 | 38,735,539 [lower-alpha 10] | 15.6 | 30,528,492 | 10.8 | 38,597,428 | 16.4 | |
Italian | 12,183,692 | 5.38 | 14,664,550 [lower-alpha 11] | 5.9 | 15,723,555 | 5.6 | 16,813,235 | 7.1 | |
Latvian | 92,141 | 0.04 | 100,331 | 0.0 | 87,564 | 0.0 | 92,944 | 0.0 | |
Lithuanian | 742,776 | 0.33 | 811,865 | 0.3 | 659,992 | 0.2 | 711,089 | 0.3 | |
Luxemburger | 49,994 | 0.02 | 49,061 | 0.0 | 45,139 | 0.0 | 57,359 | 0.0 | |
Macedonian | — | — | 20,365 | 0.0 | 38,051 | 0.0 | 51,401 | 0.0 | |
Maltese | 31,645 | 0.01 | 39,600 | 0.0 | 40,159 | 0.0 | 44,874 | 0.0 | |
Manx | 9,220 | 0.00 | 6,317 | 0.0 | 6,955 | 0.0 | 8,704 | 0.0 | |
Moravian | — | — | 3,781 | 0.0 | - | - | - | - | |
Northern Irelander | 16,418 | 0.01 | 4,009 | 0.0 | 3,693 | 0.0 | 5,181 | 0.0 | |
Norwegian | 3,453,839 | 1.52 | 3,869,395 | 1.6 | 4,477,725 | 1.6 | 3,836,884 | 1.6 | |
Pennsylvania German | — | — | 305,841 | 0.1 | 255,807 | 0.1 | 169,821 | 0.1 | |
Polish | 8,228,037 | 3.63 | 9,366,106 | 3.8 | 8,977,444 | 3.2 | 8,599,601 | 3.7 | |
Portuguese | 1,024,351 | 0.45 | 1,153,351 | 0.5 | 1,177,112 | 0.4 | 1,454,262 | 0.6 | |
Prussian | — | — | 25,469 | 0.0 | - | - | - | - | |
Romanian | 315,258 | 0.14 | 365,544 | 0.1 | 367,310 | 0.1 | 416,545 | 0.2 | |
Russian | 2,781,432 | 1.23 | 2,952,987 | 1.2 | 2,652,214 | 0.9 | 2,412,131 | 1.0 | |
Saxon | — | — | 4,519 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | |
Scandinavian | 475,007 | 0.21 | 678,880 | 0.3 | 425,099 | 0.2 | 1,217,333 | 0.5 | |
Scots-Irish | — | — | 5,617,773 | 2.3 | 4,319,232 | 1.5 | 794,478 | 0.3 | |
Scottish | 10,048,816 | 4.44 | 5,393,581 | 2.2 | 4,890,581 | 1.7 | 8,422,613 | 3.6 | |
Serbian | 100,941 | 0.04 | 116,795 | 0.0 | 140,337 | 0.0 | 204,380 | 0.1 | |
Sicilian | — | — | 50,389 | 0.0 | - | - | - | - | |
Slavic | 172,696 | 0.08 | 76,931 | 0.0 | 127,137 | 0.0 | 180,316 | 0.1 | |
Slovak | 776,806 | 0.34 | 1,882,897 | 0.8 | 797,764 | 0.3 | 691,455 | 0.3 | |
Slovenian | 126,463 | 0.06 | 124,437 | 0.1 | 176,691 | 0.1 | 196,513 | 0.1 | |
Soviet | — | — | 7,729 | 0.0 | - | - | - | - | |
Spaniard | 94,528 | 0.04 | 360,935 | 0.1 | 299,948 | 0.1 | 978,978 | 0.4 | |
Spanish | 2,686,680 | - | 2,024,004 | 0.8 | 2,187,144 | 0.8 | 866,356 | 0.4 | |
Swedish | 4,345,392 | 1.92 | 4,680,863 | 1.9 | 3,998,310 | 1.4 | 3,839,796 | 1.6 | |
Swiss | 981,543 | 0.43 | 1,045,495 | 0.4 | 911,502 | 0.3 | 946,179 | 0.4 | |
Ukrainian | 730,056 | 0.32 | 740,723 | 0.3 | 892,922 | 0.3 | 953,509 | 0.4 | |
Welsh | 1,664,598 | 0.73 | 2,033,893 | 0.8 | 1,753,794 | 0.6 | 1,977,383 | 0.8 | |
West German | — | — | 3,885 | 0.0 | - | - | - | - | |
Yugoslav | 360,174 | 0.16 | 257,994 | 0.1 | 328,547 | 0.1 | - | - | |
As the largest component of the American population, the overall American culture deeply reflects the European-influenced culture that predates the United States of America as an independent state. Much of American culture shows influences from the diverse nations of the United Kingdom and Ireland, such as the English, Irish, Cornish, Manx, Scotch-Irish, Scottish and Welsh. Colonial ties to the United Kingdom spread the English language, legal system and other cultural attributes. [4]
Scholar David Hackett Fischer asserts in Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America that the folkways of four groups of people who moved from distinct regions of the United Kingdom to the United States persisted and provide a substantial cultural basis for much of the modern United States. [51] Fischer explains "the origins and stability of a social system which for two centuries has remained stubbornly democratic in its politics, capitalist in its economy, libertarian in its laws and individualist in its society and pluralistic in its culture." [52]
Much of the European-American cultural lineage can be traced back to Western and Northern Europe, which is institutionalized in the government, traditions, and civic education in the United States. [53] Since most later European Americans have assimilated into American culture, many Americans of European ancestry now generally express their personal ethnic ties sporadically and symbolically and do not consider their specific ethnic origins to be essential to their identity; however, European American ethnic expression has been revived since the 1960s. [54] Some European Americans such as Italians, Greeks, Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Irish, and others have maintained high levels of ethnic identity. In the 1960s, the melting pot ideal to some extent gave way to increased interest in cultural pluralism, strengthening affirmations of ethnic identity among various American ethnic groups, European as well as others. [54]
The American legal system also has its roots in French philosophy with the separation of powers and the federal system [55] along with English law in common law. [56]
Another area of cultural influence are American Patriotic songs:
Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom.
Some European Americans have varying amounts of Native American and Native African ancestry. In a recent study, Gonçalves et al. 2007 reported Native African and Native American mtDna lineages at a frequency of 3.1% (respectively 0.9% and 2.2%) in European Americans, although that frequency may be scattered by region. [73]
DNA analysis on native European Americans by geneticist Mark D. Shriver showed an average of 0.7% Native African admixture and 3.2% Native American admixture. [74] The same author, in another study, claimed that about 30% of all European Americans, approximately 66 million people, have a median of 2.3% of native African admixture. [75] Later, Shriver retracted his statement, saying that actually around 5% of European Americans exhibit some detectable level of native African ancestry. [76]
From the 23andMe database, about 5 to at least 13 percent of self-identified European American Southerners have greater than 1 percent native African ancestry. [77] Southern states with the highest African American populations tended to have the highest percentages of hidden African ancestry. [78] European Americans on average are: "98.6 percent Native European, 0.19 percent Native African and 0.18 percent Native American." Inferred British/Irish ancestry is found in European Americans from all states at mean proportions of above 20%, and represents a majority of ancestry, above 50% mean proportion, in states such as Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Scandinavian ancestry in European Americans is highly localized; most states show only trace mean proportions of Scandinavian ancestry, while it comprises a significant proportion, upwards of 10%, of ancestry in European Americans from Minnesota and the Dakotas. [77] [78]
The population of Puerto Rico has been shaped by native American settlement, European colonization especially under the Spanish Empire, slavery and economic migration. Demographic features of the population of Puerto Rico include population density, ethnicity, education of the populace, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The United States had an official estimated resident population of 334,914,895 on July 1, 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This figure includes the 50 states and Washington, D.C. but excludes the population of five unincorporated U.S. territories as well as several minor island possessions. The United States is the third most populous country in the world, and the most populous in the Americas and the Western Hemisphere. The Census Bureau showed a population increase of 0.4% for the twelve-month period ending in July 2022, below the world average annual rate of 0.9%. The total fertility rate in the United States estimated for 2022 is 1.665 children per woman, which is below the replacement fertility rate of approximately 2.1. By several metrics, including racial and ethnic background, religious affiliation, and percentage of rural and urban divide, Illinois is the most representative of the larger demography of the United States.
White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of mostly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view.
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican heritage. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United States. Mexicans born outside the US make up 53% of the total population of foreign-born Hispanic Americans and 25% of the total foreign-born population. Chicano is a term used by some to describe the unique identity held by Mexican-Americans. The United States is home to the second-largest Mexican community in the world, behind only Mexico.
The terms multiracial people or mixed-race people refer to people who are of more than one races, and the terms multi-ethnic people or ethnically mixed people refer to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed-race people in a variety of contexts, including multiethnic, polyethnic, occasionally bi-ethnic, Métis, Muwallad, Melezi, Coloured, Dougla, half-caste, ʻafakasi, mestizo, mutt, Melungeon, quadroon, octoroon, sambo/zambo, Eurasian, hapa, hāfu, Garifuna, pardo, and Gurans. A number of these once-acceptable terms are now considered offensive, in addition to those that were initially coined for pejorative use.
In the United States census, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) define a set of self-identified categories of race and ethnicity chosen by residents, with which they most closely identify. Residents can indicate their origins alongside their race, and are asked specifically whether they are of Hispanic or Latino origin in a separate question.
British Americans usually refers to Americans whose ancestral origin originates wholly or partly in the United Kingdom. It is primarily a demographic or historical research category for people who have at least partial descent from peoples of Great Britain and the modern United Kingdom, i.e. English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Scotch-Irish, Orcadian, Manx, Cornish Americans and those from the Channel Islands and Gibraltar.
White Americans, also known as Caucasian Americans, are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the U.S. Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa." This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. According to the 2020 census, 71%, or 235,411,507 people, were White alone or in combination, and 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were White alone. This represented a national white demographic decline from a 72.4% white alone share of the U.S. population in 2010.
The United States has a racially and ethnically diverse population. At the federal level, race and ethnicity have been categorized separately. The most recent United States census recognized five racial categories, as well as people who belong to two or more of the racial categories. The United States also recognizes the broader notion of ethnicity. The 2000 census and 2010 American Community Survey inquired about the "ancestry" of residents, while the 2020 census allowed people to enter their "origins". The Census Bureau also classified respondents as either Hispanic or Latino, identifying as an ethnicity, which comprises the minority group in the nation.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2023, New York was the fourth largest state in population after California, Texas, and Florida, with a population of 19,571,216, a decrease of over 600,000 people, or −3.1%, since the 2020 census. The population change between 2000–2006 includes a natural increase of 601,779 people and a decrease due to net migration of 422,481 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 820,388 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of about 800,213.
White Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Euro-Hispanics, Euro-Latinos, White Hispanics, or White Latinos, are Americans of white ancestry and ancestry from Latin America. It also refers to people of European ancestry from Latin America that speak Spanish natively and immigrated to the United States.
Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time mostly to Africa, as well as Asia, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and to Europe. As of 2016, about 13 million — about 4% of the total U.S. population — have Caribbean ancestry.
The legal and social strictures that define White Americans, and distinguish them from persons who are not considered white by the government and society, have varied throughout the history of the United States. Race is defined as a social and political category within society based on hierarchy.
European emigration is the successive emigration waves from the European continent to other continents. The origins of the various European diasporas can be traced to the people who left the European nation states or stateless ethnic communities on the European continent.
Asian people are the people of the continent of Asia. The term may also refer to their descendants.
Brazil had an official resident population of 203 million in 2022, according to IBGE. Brazil is the seventh most populous country in the world and the second most populous in the Americas and Western Hemisphere.
Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States. The United States is home to people of many racial and ethnic origins; consequently, American law does not equate nationality with race or ethnicity but with citizenship. The majority of Americans or their ancestors immigrated to the United States or are descended from people who were brought as slaves within the past five centuries, with the exception of the Native American population and people from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, who became American through expansion of the country in the 19th century; additionally, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands came under American sovereignty in the 20th century, although American Samoans are only nationals and not citizens of the United States.
Multiracial Americans, also known as Mixed Americans, are Americans who have mixed ancestry of two or more races. The term may also include Americans of mixed-race ancestry who self-identify with just one group culturally and socially. In the 2020 United States census, 33.8 million individuals or 10.2% of the population, self-identified as multiracial. There is evidence that an accounting by genetic ancestry would produce a higher number.
American ancestry refers to people in the United States who self-identify their ancestral origin or descent as "American", rather than the more common officially recognized racial and ethnic groups that make up the bulk of the American people. The majority of these respondents are visibly white and do not identify with their ancestral European ethnic origins. The latter response is attributed to a multitude of generational distance from ancestral lineages, and these tend be Anglo-Americans of English, Scotch-Irish, Welsh, Scottish or other British ancestries, as demographers have observed that those ancestries tend to be recently undercounted in U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey ancestry self-reporting estimates.
Non-Hispanic Whites or Non-Latino Whites are White Americans classified by the United States census as "white" and not Hispanic. According to the United States Census Bureau yearly estimates, as of July 1, 2023, Non-Hispanic whites make up about 58.4% of the U.S. population. The United States Census Bureau defines white to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, and North African Americans. Americans of European ancestry are divided into various ethnic groups. More than half of the white population are German, Irish, English, French and Polish Americans. Many Americans are also the product of other European groups that migrated to parts of the US in the 19th and 20th centuries, as the bulk of immigrants from various countries in Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as the Caucasus region, migrated to the United States.
The 1924 act also sought to curtail the large number of eastern and southern European migrants who began entering the United States in 1890. Through the National Origins Quota formula, the act pegged future immigration at up to 2 percent of the number of foreign-born persons from a particular country already in the United States as of the 1890 census. Through race-neutral in language, the formula favored northwestern Europeans by using the 1890 census as its referent
Although many histories of immigration describe this period from the 1870s to the 1920s as one when the sources of migrants shifted from Northwest Europe to Southern and Eastern Europe - "Old Immigration" versus the "New Immigration," Northwest Europeans continued to come and stay in very large numbers.
During the heightened immigration associated with the 1880-1920 period, many doubted that the largely Southern and Eastern European newcomers would ever assimilate to the culture of the dominant groups, who were of predominantly Northwestern European origin ... Social differences between these immigrants and European Americans who were already in America were perceived as insurmountable.
(excludes African population)