White Dominicans

White Dominicans

Dominicanos Blancos (Spanish)
Manuel Grullón Hernández, an entrepreneur and businessman, is a White Dominican
Total population
White ancestry predominates 1,611,752 (2022 census)[1] 18.70% of the Dominican population (Only 12 years and older)
Regions with significant populations
Región Ozama	546,011[2]
Región Cibao Norte	346,696[3]
Región Cibao Sur	162,303[4]
Región Cibao Nordeste	112,616[5]
Región Valdesia	103,591[6]
Región Cibao Noroeste	79,999[7]
Languages
Dominican Spanish[citation needed]
Religion
Roman Catholic[citation needed]
Related ethnic groups
White Cubans, White Puerto Ricans, Spaniards (Andalusians and Canary Islanders)

White Dominicans (Spanish: Dominicanos blancos), also known as Caucasian Dominicans (Spanish: Dominicanos Caucásicos), are Dominican people of total or predominantly European ancestry.^[8] The 2022 Dominican Republic census reported that 1,611,752 people or 18.7% of those 12 years old and above identify as white, 731,855 males and 879,897 females.^[9][10] An estimate put it at 17.8% of the Dominican Republic's population, according to a 2021 survey by the United Nations Population Fund.^[11]

The majority of white Dominicans have ancestry from the first European settlers to arrive in Hispaniola in 1492 and are descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese who settled in the island during colonial times, as well as the French who settled in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many whites in the Dominican Republic also descend from Italians,^[12][13] Dutchmen,^[12][13] Germans,^[12] Hungarians, Scandinavians, Americans^[12][13] and other nationalities who have migrated between the 19th and 20th centuries.^[12][13] About 9.2% of the Dominican population claims a European immigrant background, according to the 2021 Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas survey.^[11]

White Dominicans historically made up a larger percentage in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo and for a time were the single largest ethnic group prior to the 19th century.^[14][15] Similar to the rest of the Hispanic Caribbean, the majority of Spaniards who settled the Dominican Republic came from southern Spain, Andalusia and the Canary Islands, the latter of whom are of partial North African Guanche descent.