Editing Demographics of Panama (section)

==Ethnic groups==
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Ethnic groups in Panama (2010 est.)<ref name="cia" />
|label1 = [[Mestizo]]s (mixed [[Indigenous peoples of Panama|Amerindian]] and [[White people|European/White]])
|value1 = 65
|color1 = Red
|label2 = [[Indigenous peoples of Panama|Native Panamanians]] (Ngabe 7.6%, Kuna 2.4%, Embera 0.9%, Bugle 0.8%, other 0.4%, unspecified 0.2%)
|value2 = 12.3
|color2 = Orange
|label3 = [[Afro-Panamanians|Black or African descent]]
|value3 = 9.2
|color3 = Black
|label4 = [[Mulatto]]s
|value4 = 6.8
|color4 = Sienna
|label5 = [[White Panamanians|White or European descent]]
|value5 = 6.7
|color5 = NavajoWhite
}}

The culture, customs, and language of [[Panama]] are predominantly [[Caribbean]] [[Spain|Spanish]]. In 2010 the population was 65% [[Mestizo]] (mixed European and Amerindian), 12.3% Native Panamanians, 9.2% black, 6.8% mulattoes, and 6.7% white.<ref name=cia>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/panama/|title=CIA - The World Factbook -- Panama |access-date=2013-10-07 |publisher=CIA }}</ref> According to the 2023 census 17.2% of the population were native Panamanians, 31.7% was of (part) African descent, while the remainder (51%) were [[mestizo]] (mixed European and Amerindian) and whites.<ref name="inec">https://www.inec.gob.pa Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censo (INEC)</ref>

===Indigenous Panamanians===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
|+
''Population of Panama according to ethnic group<ref name="inec"/>''
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! width="100pt" rowspan="2" | Ethnic<br />group
! colspan="2" | Census 1990|| colspan="2" | Census 2000|| colspan="2" | Census 2010|| colspan="2" | Census 2023
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Number || % || Number || % || Number || %|| Number || %
|-
|align=left|[[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindian]]||194,269||8.3||285,231||10.0||417,559||12.3||698,114||17.2
|-
|align=left|Non-indigenous||2,135,060||91.7||2,553,946||90.0||2,988,254||87.7||3,366,666||82.8
|-
| Total  ||colspan="2"| 2,329,329||colspan="2"| 2,839,177||colspan="2"| 3,405,813||colspan="2"| 4,064,780
|}

{{Indigenous population of Panama}}

===European Panamanians===
[[European Panamanians]] or Caucasian ethnic groups in Panama include [[Spanish people|Spanish]], [[British people|British]] and [[Irish people|Irish]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]], [[French people|French]], [[Germans]], [[Italians]], [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Russians]] or [[Ukrainians]] (a large number are [[Jews]]), [[Greeks]], and [[Americans]].

===Asian Panamanians===
Panama has a considerable population of [[Asians]] origin; in particular Chinese, West Asians ([[Lebanon|Lebanese]], and [[Palestinians]] and [[Syria]]ns). The first [[Ethnic Chinese in Panama|Chinese immigrated to Panama]] from southern China in the 19th century to help build the Panama Railroad. There followed several waves of immigrants, especially after the 1970s, when the ensuing decades saw up to 80,000 immigrants from all over China. At least 50,000 Panamanians are ethnically Chinese, though some estimates count as many as 135,000. Most of the Chinese population reside in the province of Chiriquí. Some studies suggest that almost 1 million Panamanians have at least one Chinese ancestor.<ref name="Jackson">{{cite journal|title=Panama's Chinese community celebrates a birthday, meets new challenges|last=Jackson|first=Eric|volume=10|issue=9|date=May 2004|access-date=November 7, 2007|url=http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_09/community_01.html|journal=The Panama News|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916050839/http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_09/community_01.html|archive-date=September 16, 2007}}
</ref><ref name="GIO">
 {{cite web|url=http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/panama/ch_pa01.htm#3|title=President Chen's State Visit to Panama|publisher=Government Information Office, Republic of China|date=October 2003|access-date=November 7, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070814124323/http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/panama/ch_pa01.htm#3 |archive-date = August 14, 2007}}</ref>

===African Panamanians===
[[Afro-Panamanians]] first arrived during the colonial era. They are intermixed in the general population or live in small Afro-Panamanian communities along the Atlantic Coast and in villages within the Darién jungle. Most of the people in Darien are fishermen or small-scale farmers growing crops such as bananas, rice and coffee as well as raising livestock. Other Afro-Panamanians descend from later migrants from the Caribbean who came to work on railroad-construction projects, commercial agricultural enterprises, and (especially) the canal. Important Afro-Caribbean community areas include towns and cities such as [[Colón, Panama|Colón]], Cristobal and Balboa, in the former Canal Zone, as well as the Río Abajo area of Panama City. Another region with a large Afro-Caribbean population is the province of Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast just south of Costa Rica.<ref name="minorityrights.org">
{{cite web|url=http://www.minorityrights.org/4210/panama/afropanamanians.html|title=Panama : Afro-Panamanians|publisher=Minority Rights Group International|access-date=June 26, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203020951/http://www.minorityrights.org/4210/panama/afropanamanians.html|archive-date=December 3, 2012}}</ref>

Most of the Panamanian population of West Indian descent owe their presence in the country to the monumental efforts to build the Panama Canal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Three-quarters of the 50,000 workers who built the canal were Afro-Caribbean migrants from the British West Indies. Thousands of Afro-Caribbean workers were recruited from Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad.<ref name="minorityrights.org"/>