Venezuelan ethnography

The ethnography of Venezuela is characterized by being the result of the mixture of three main ethnic groups: Amerindians, Europeans and sub-Saharan Africans. According to the 2011 Census, people of mixed race make up half the population, followed by whites, blacks, and American Indians. Other groups, such as the Asians, have recently been incorporated into Venezuelan ethnography.

Ethnic groups in Venezuela

2011 Census

According to the 2011 census, when people were asked about their ethnic or racial status, with the options: "brown", "white", "black", "Afro-descendant" or "other", a 51.6% of the population said they were brown, 43.6% identified themselves as white, 2.8% said they were black, 0.7% said they were Afro-descendant and the rest (1.2%) said they were from another race. Indigenous people were counted independently, regardless of skin color, and 2.7% of Venezuelans identified themselves as such.

Dark-haired

Distribution of the population in Venezuela by municipalities, according to the population and housing census of 2011, INE.

In the 2011 census, Morena/Moreno is defined as "any person whose phenotypic characteristics are less marked or pronounced than the person defined as black or black. It is a term that in some contexts can be used to soften the discriminatory implications of being a black person."

The term moreno is applied to people with an appearance intermediate between indigenous, European and African stereotypes. Morenos are distributed throughout Venezuela. Miscegenation in Venezuela began in the XVI when the Spanish conquistadors and colonists joined with indigenous or African women, due to the scarcity of Spanish women in the country. There were also links between African slaves and indigenous women, giving rise to the zambos.

Whites

Distribution of the white population in Venezuela by municipalities, according to the population and housing census of 2011. INE

European immigrants were originally Spanish settlers. During the 19th century some 50,000 Europeans arrived in Venezuela, mostly immigrants from the Canary Islands. Due to the Second World War, the Spanish Civil War and the economic growth of the country, in the XX century thousands of people arrived from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe. Most of the Europeans who migrated after World War II were concentrated in the metropolitan area of Caracas.

Blacks

The black African population was brought in as slaves, mostly in the coastal lowlands, beginning in the early 16th century, and continuing until the 19th century. During the XIX century, an important Afro-Caribbean migration occurred to the current Bolívar State in towns such as El Callao and Tumeremo. Between 1950-1980 thousands of Dominican, Haitian, Cuban, Colombian and other Caribbean immigrants arrived. According to the 2011 Census, blacks represent 3.5% of the Venezuelan population.

Indigenous

Many of the indigenous peoples were absorbed by miscegenation, but there are still indigenous groups that maintain their own culture and languages. According to the 2011 census, the country's indigenous population numbered &&&&&&&&&0725128.&&& &&0725,128 people, which represents 2.7% of the national total. 36.74% of indigenous people still lived in rural indigenous communities, especially in the states of Zulia, Bolívar, Amazonas and Delta Amacuro. Within the population that self-recognized as native, 57.3% said they were of the Wayúu ethnic group; 6.7% Warao, 4.7% Kariña, 4.2% Pemón; 3% each, jivi, cumanagoto, añu and piaroa; 2% chaima, pume and yukpa and 1.3% yanomami.

Other groups

Among the population of Asian origin, Chinese are the largest group, with about &&&&&&&&&0200000.&&&&&0200,000 living in Venezuelan territory.

Venezuelan Jews have fled the country en masse since the start of the Bolivarian Revolution. It is estimated that there are currently &&&&&&&&&&&09000.&&&&&0 9000 Jews in Venezuela, compared to &&&&&&&&&&025000.&&& &&025,000 living in the country in 1998.

Other sources

According to the Federal Research Division, 68% of Venezuelans are mestizos (mixed races), 21% are white, 10% are Afro-descendants and 1% indigenous.

Mexican anthropologist Francisco Lizcano Fernández estimates that 37.7% of Venezuelans are mestizo, 37.7% mulatto, 16.9% white, 2.8% black, 2.7% indigenous and 2.2% Asian.

In the 2016 Latinobarómetro survey, 33% of Venezuelans identified as mestizo, 32% as white, 21% as mulatto, 8% as black, and 4% as indigenous.

Ethnic self-recognition by state

According to the 2011 Census, the self-recognized ethnic composition by state was as follows:

State	% Moreno	% White	% Black	% Afrodescendant	%
Amazon	60.6	34.4	3.3	0.8	0.9
Anzoátegui	54.9	40.0	3.5	0.4	1.2
Apure	63.5	30.2	5.3	0.2	0.8
Aragua	51.9	43.4	2.4	1.2	1.1
Barrels	54.1	41.9	2.4	0.2	1.4
Bolívar	55.1	39.2	3.7	0.4	1.6
Carabobobo	53.0	42.7	2.5	1.0	0.8
Cojedes	59.2	35.6	3.8	0.4	1.0
Delta Amacuro	54.8	36.5	6.2	0.8	1.7
Federal units	51.7	42.9	3.6	0.8	1.0
Capital District	44.3	51.2	2.3	1.0	1.2
Falcon	55.7	38.9	4.1	0.7	0.6
Guárico	60.4	32.8	5.5	0.3	1.0
Lara	54.8	41.9	2.0	0.3	1.0
Merida	42.5	53.7	0.8	0.3	2.7
Miranda	48.0	45.8	3.6	1.6	1.0
Monagas	54.8	38.8	3.8	0.8	1.8
New Sparta	49.1	47.1	2.0	0.5	1.3
Portuguesa	58.4	37.0	3.3	0.2	1.1
Sucre	54.7	38.5	4.4	0.5	1.9
Tachira	38.6	58.8	0.6	0.2	1.8
Trujillo	49.6	48.3	1.1	0.2	0.8
La Guaira	48.1	44.7	3.8	1.8	1.6
Yaracuy	58.4	35.5	4.0	0.9	1.2
Zulia	50.3	46.3	2.3	0.5	0.6
Venezuela Venezuela	51.6	43.6	2.8	0.7	1.2

Indigenous

In the 2011 Census, indigenous people were counted as a separate category of skin color. The results by State were the following:

State	Indigenous population	% Indigenous
Amazon	76 314	52.1
Anzoátegui	33 848	2.3
Apure	11 559	2.5
Aragua	1 453	0.1
Barrels	1095	0.1
Bolívar	54 686	3.9
Carabobobo	2 198	0.1
Cojedes	289	0.1
Delta Amacuro	41 543	25.1
Federal units	1	0.0
Capital District	2 888	0.1
Falcon	1 377	0.2
Guárico	948	0.1
Lara	2 112	0.1
Merida	2 103	0.3
Miranda	348	0.1
Monagas	17 898	2.0
New Sparta	2 200	0.4
Portuguesa	666	0.1
Sucre	22 213	2.5
Tachira	589	0.1
Trujillo	888	0.1
La Guaira	336	0.1
Yaracuy	496	0.1
Zulia	443 544	12.0
Venezuela Venezuela	724 592	2.7

Genetic makeup

Some genetic and biological studies have been carried out to determine the ethnic composition of the Venezuelan individual, which have yielded the following results:

Regions

Territorial division

(Simmons et al, 2007) defined the genetic composition in two regions of Venezuela:

(Castro de Guerra et al, 2011) collects data from previous research, so that the following genetic composition of the Venezuelan regions is recorded:

It also included racial mixtures in two Venezuelan regions:

And in the northeast of the country, he found that the racial composition was distributed as follows:

Cities

Ethnic groups

According to the compilation by (Castro de Guerra et al, 2011), the racial mix of the ethnic groups in Venezuela is as follows:

Afro-descendants

According to some research compiled in (Castro de Guerra et al, 2011), the genetic composition in localities with an Afro-Venezuelan majority is distributed as follows:

Whites

Other investigations inquired about the racial mix of towns with a white majority, finding the following results (Castro de Guerra et al, 2011):

Indigenous

According to a study carried out by (Galanter et al, 2012) on mestizo and indigenous populations of Venezuela, the genetic mix is as follows:

Socioeconomic levels

(Martínez et al, 2007) found that the racial mix in Caracas, according to socioeconomic level, was the following: