Demographic composition of Latin America

The ethnic composition of Latin American population is extremely complex. They come from all three basic races of human beings today, namely Mongolian, European and Black Australian.

According to textual research, the indigenous Indians in Latin America belong to Mongolian race; Colonists (mainly Spanish and Portuguese) who arrived in Latin America after the American continent was "discovered" and European immigrants (including Italians, French, Germans, Ukrainians and Balkans) who went to America later belonged to the Europa race.

From17th century to19th century, blacks were brought in from Africa as slaves. However, there are only a few pure-blood residents who really belong to these three races, and more than half of them are hybrids of the above three races. In addition, there are quite a number of Japanese, Indians, China and other Asian immigrants.

Overseas Chinese are mainly concentrated in Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Cuba and Panama. After 1950s, overseas Chinese in Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay gradually increased.

The population composition of countries in Latin America basically depends on the migration between continents, that is, the source and quantity of immigrants, and also depends on the degree of racial integration. Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica and other countries with European immigrants as the main source of population in history, today's residents are mainly white.

Among them, whites in Argentina account for 97% of the total population and whites in Uruguay account for 90%; Caribbean island countries such as Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica and Saint Lucia, which absorbed more slaves, have mainly black residents.

In the historical Indian cultural centers, such as Peru and Bolivia, Indians still occupy the majority; Mexico and Central American countries are mainly mixed-race, accounting for 80% ~ 90%.

Extended data:

Population:

According to 1998 Global Population Status of the United Nations Population Fund, the total population of Latin America and the Caribbean in 1998 was 499.5 million, accounting for 8.4% of the world's total population. Life expectancy in Latin America is 65 years for men and 7 1 year for women. The proportion of urban population is relatively high, and the urbanization rate of 1995 is 73.4%, which is equivalent to the European level. It is predicted that the urbanization rate will reach 85% in the next 10 year.

Among the 499.5 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean are 65.438+74.6 million, and the South American continent is 324.9 million. Among Latin American countries, Brazil has the largest population, with 1998 of16.52 million, ranking fifth in the world after China, India, the United States and Indonesia.

Latin America is a continent with extremely uneven population distribution. Compared with its vast land area, the population density is small. The densely populated areas are the West Indies, eastern Brazil and the coast of Argentina, and the rainforest areas with harsh natural conditions are sparsely populated. The population of tropical countries is distributed in the plateau with mild climate; The city is fast; The population of important cities such as the capital is concentrated.

The distribution of population is a long historical formation process, which is the result of long-term effects of various factors such as social and economic conditions, natural geographical environment and natural population growth and migration in various regions.

The development of productive forces and the progress of human society, especially the development of science and technology, have improved the ability of human beings to resist unfavorable living environment. However, due to various reasons, the reasonable spatial distribution of population is still difficult to achieve. Latin America is one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Latin America