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, Multiracial Caribbean, White Caribbean, Asian Caribbean who are mainly divided between Indo-Caribbean and Chinese Caribbean, and Indigenous Caribbean.
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.
The largest diasporas of Caribbean people outside of the Caribbean region can be found in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada.
Canada
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. Many Haitians resides in Montreal and other places in Quebec.
Netherlands
The Netherlands has approximately 850,000 people of Caribbean descent, including over 500,000 in the mainland Netherlands and over 300,000 in Dutch Caribbean. Caribbean community in the Netherlands are mainly from former Dutch colonies such as Suriname, Curaçao and Aruba. Amsterdam has the largest Surinamese community and Rotterdam has the largest Dutch Caribbean community in the Netherlands. There are many events in Dutch larger cities organised by Caribbean communities.
Culture