Panamanians

Panamanian people

Total population
3,405,813 (2010 Census)
Regions with significant populations
United States (2010)	165,456
Languages
Spanish
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism Judaism, Protestantism, Santería, Irreligion

Panamanian people or Panamanians are the inhabitants or citizens of Panama. Panama is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, some Panamanians do not treat their nationality as an ethnicity but as a citizenship with various ethnicities and national origins comprising the "Panamanian people". Nearly all Panamanians or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries.

Despite its multi-ethnic composition, the culture held in common by most Panamanians is referred to as mainstream Panamanian culture, a culture largely derived from the traditions of Indigenous peoples of Panama and Western European migrants, beginning with the early Spanish settlers, along with other Europeans arriving later such as the Italians, along with West African culture which is very influential.

Culture

The culture, customs, and language of the Panamanians are predominantly Caribbean and Spanish. Spanish is the official and dominant language. About 93% of the population speak Spanish as their first language, though many citizens speak both English and Spanish or native languages, such as Ngäbere.

Racial and ethnic group

Mestizo

Main article: Mestizos in Panama

Mestizo Panamanians are Panamanian people who are of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. Mestizos are the majority in Panama, accounting for 70% of the country's population.

Amerindian

Main article: Indigenous peoples of Panama

Population of Panama according to ethnic group

Ethnic group	Census 1990		Census 2000		Census 2010
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Non-indigenous	2,135,060	91.7	2,553,946	90.0	2,988,254	87.7
Amerindian	194,269	8.3	285,231	10.0	417,559	12.3
Total	2,329,329		2,839,177		3,405,813

Indigenous population of Panama according to ethnic group

Ethnic group	Census 1990		Census 2000		Census 2010
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Ngäbe (Guaymi)	123,626	63.6	169,130	59.3	260,058	62.3
Buglé (Bokota)	3,784	1.9	18,724	6.6	26,871	6.4
Kuna	47,298	24.3	61,707	21.6	80,526	19.3
Emberá	14,659	7.5	22,485	7.9	31,284	7.5
Wounaan	2,605	1.3	6,882	2.4	7,279	1.7
Teribe/Naso	2,194	1.1	3,305	1.2	4,046	1.0
Bribri			2,521	0.9	1,068	0.3
Other	103	0.1			460	0.1
Not declared			477	0.2	5,967	1.4

Black African

Main article: Afro-Panamanian

Afro-Panamanians played a significant role in the creation of the republic. The descendants of the Africans who arrived during the colonial era 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, 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.

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.

White

Main article: White Panamanians

White Panamanians form 10%, with the Spanish being the majority. Other ancestries includes Dutch, English, French, German, Swiss, Danish, Irish, Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Portuguese, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian. There is also a sizable and very influential Jewish community.

Asian

Panama, partly owing to its historical reliance on commerce, is an ethnically diverse society. It has considerable populations of Afro-Antillean and Chinese origin. The first Chinese immigrated to Panama from southern China to help build the Panama Railroad in the 19th century. There followed several waves of immigrants whose descendants number around 50,000. Starting in the 1970s, a further 80,000 have immigrated from other parts of China as well.

Languages

Many languages, including seven indigenous languages, are spoken in Panama, although Spanish is the official and dominant language. English is sometimes spoken by many professionals and those working in the business or governmental sectors of society.

Religion

Iglesia San Pedro, Taboga Island, Panama. The Iglesia San Pedro is the second-oldest colonial church in the Western Hemisphere.

The government of Panama does not collect statistics on the religious affiliation of citizens, but various sources estimate that 75 to 85 percent of the population identifies itself as Roman Catholic and 15 to 25 percent as evangelical Christian. The Bahá'í Faith community of Panama is estimated at 2.00% of the national population, or about 60,000 including about 10% of the Guaymí population; the Bahá'ís maintain one of the world's eight Baha'i Houses of Worship in Panama.

See also

• Panama
• Ethnic groups in Central America