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Dominica

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Latin America

Dominica is home to 7 documented ethnic groups in Latin America — led by Afro-Dominican (Caribbean) (~86%), Mixed Dominican (Caribbean) (~8%), Kalinago (~3%), Other Dominica (~1%). This page blends their phenotype and demographic data into one weighted reference: skin tone, facial features, hair texture and build, drawn from published census and ancestry sources.

Demographic Composition

Composition weights are derived from self-identification in published census and demographic surveys. Each row links to the source ethnic-group atlas page.

Ethnic groupWeightSource
Afro-Dominican (Caribbean)Afro-Dominican (Caribbean)86.4%Central Statistical Office of Dominica 2011 Census, self-identified Black/African-descended (~86.4%); descendants of enslaved Africans brought to British colonial Dominica during 18th-19th c. coffee, cocoa, and sugar economy expansion (Dominica's plantation economy was historically smaller-scale than Jamaica's or Barbados's)
Mixed Dominican (Caribbean)Mixed Dominican (Caribbean)8.2%Central Statistical Office 2011 Census, self-identified mixed (~8.2%)
KalinagoKalinago2.9%Central Statistical Office 2011 Census, self-identified Kalinago/Carib (~2.9%, ~3,000+); the only continuously surviving Indigenous Carib population in any Caribbean country, concentrated in the Kalinago Territory (formerly the Carib Reserve, designated 1903) on the eastern coast of Dominica
Other DominicaOther Dominica0.9%Central Statistical Office 2011 Census, residual including 'other' or no answer plus the recent economic-citizenship-program immigrant population (Dominica operates a citizenship-by-investment program that has produced demographic inflow in recent years)
White Dominican (Caribbean)White Dominican (Caribbean)0.8%Central Statistical Office 2011 Census, self-identified white/Caucasian (~0.8%); descendants of British and French colonial-era settlers (Dominica passed between French and British control multiple times before final British acquisition in 1814) plus contemporary expat communities
Indo-Caribbean ImmigrantIndo-Caribbean Immigrant0.5%Central Statistical Office 2011 Census, self-identified East Indian (~0.5%); small community
Lebanese-Syrian CaribbeanLebanese-Syrian Caribbean0.3%Central Statistical Office 2011 Census, self-identified Lebanese/Syrian (~0.3%)

Dominica Phenotype Profile

Dominica has a strongly Afro-descended demographic profile (~86% Afro-Dominican Caribbean per the 2011 Central Statistical Office census), with the demographically and historically significant Kalinago Indigenous population (~2.9%) — the only continuously surviving Indigenous Carib community in any Caribbean country. Smaller mixed (~8.2%), white (~0.8%), Lebanese-Syrian (~0.3%), East Indian (~0.5%), and other (~0.9%) communities complete the structure. The country's distinctive cultural-linguistic feature is the continuing French Creole (Kwéyòl) language tradition alongside English, reflecting the pre-1814 French colonial cultural-linguistic legacy that survived British political control.

Skin tone across the population spans Fitzpatrick III-VI with V-VI the modal range nationally. Hair texture is overwhelmingly Andre Walker 4A-4C — coily — across the broader Afro-Dominican Caribbean population, with the Kalinago community showing substantial admixture-variance hair textures. Eye color is predominantly brown to dark brown nationally. The Kalinago community shows the unique phenotype-distribution characteristic of an Indigenous-Caribbean population with substantial Afro-admixture, distinct from any other contemporary national demographic profile.

A descriptive view, not a claim about individuals

This page shows a weighted aggregate of phenotype observations across the Dominica population, based on demographic composition from published census and ancestry sources. Phenotypes within any country are far more varied than the aggregate suggests; this is a descriptive reference, not a deterministic claim about any individual. For source-level detail on individual ethnic groups, see the constituent atlas pages linked below.

Methodology Notes

Composition weights are derived from Dominica's 2011 Central Statistical Office Population and Housing Census, the most recent comprehensive census. Caveats: (1) the Kalinago 2.9% share is the largest national Indigenous-Carib self-identification share in the Caribbean and represents an important case of demographic continuity in a region where Indigenous populations were elsewhere eliminated; (2) the post-2017 Hurricane Maria demographic disruption produced substantial out-migration, partially captured in subsequent demographic estimates; (3) the citizenship-by-investment program has produced a small but growing demographic inflow not enumerated in 2011 data.

See full project methodology →

Primary Sources

  1. 1.Central Statistical Office of Dominica. Population and Housing Census 2011: General Report. Roseau: CSO; 2014.
  2. 2.Honychurch L. The Dominica Story: A History of the Island. London: Macmillan Caribbean; 1995.
  3. 3.Hulme P, Whitehead NL (eds). Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day, an Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1992.
  4. 4.Owen N, Sutty L. Wood-Carving Traditions in Dominica's Carib Reserve. Caribbean Quarterly. 1985;31(2):48-61.
  5. 5.Boucher P. Cannibal Encounters: Europeans and Island Caribs, 1492-1763. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1992.

Other countries in Latin America

Aggregate phenotype references for neighbouring Latin America nations, weighted by demographic composition.