How many racial groups are there in the world

European Palauan Micronesian with Malayan and Melanesian admixtures Palestinian State proposed. Tagalog Romanian Russian So Tom and Prncipe. Wolof Slovak Sinhalese Bush Negroes? Ukrainian English White: ,, The U. Asian population was predominately Japanese, Filipino, and Chinese just two decades ago. Minorities have also become more diverse socioeconomically. The number of minorities in the highest income brackets has more than doubled since , for example, yet minorities still account for a disproportionate share of the poor.

More minority politicians are being elected to public office, but minorities are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to serve time in prison. More minorities are earning graduate and professional degrees, yet a disproportionately large percentage never finish high school.

Many businesses target their products to specific minorities because they recognize that minorities are an expanding market. Aspects of black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian culture—including art, food, music, and styles of dress—are being adopted throughout American society.

Americans are divided in their beliefs about the long-term effects of the growing diversity. Discussions on this topic sometimes become heated because the increase in the minority populations is closely linked to important policy issues relating to immigration, affirmative action, welfare, and education reform. Few Americans have a good grasp of how large the different minority groups are. A survey by the Gallup organization found that just 8 percent of Americans knew that African Americans make up between 10 percent and 15 percent of the U.

In a Gallup poll, respondents estimated that Hispanics made up about 20 percent of the U. The United States is a diverse country, racially and ethnically.

The immigrants to the New World of the Americas came largely from ethnically diverse regions of the European Old World. In the Americas, the immigrant populations began to mix among themselves and with the indigenous inhabitants of the continent, as well as the enslaved Africans. From the beginning of U. This changed in the late nineteenth century.

Jablonski NG, Chaplin G. Human skin pigmentation as an adaptation to UV radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. Race vs. The United States Census Bureau. Problems With Categorization. Race Narrow Based on similar physical and biological attributes. Ethnicity Broad Based on cultural expression and place of origin. Was this page helpful?