Here's Where LatAm's 48M Afro-Latinos Live

Afro-Latinos are people with full or mainly African ancestry living in Latin America (not to be confused with the broader term of African diaspora, which also includes people with partial African ancestry). With 16.5M, Brazil is the country with the most Afro-Latinos in the region, representing 8% of its population. The country is also home to the largest African diaspora population in the world. Also, Haiti has the highest percentage of Afro-Latinos worldwide, representing 95% of its people. On the other hand, Argentina & Guatemala are the Latin American countries with the lowest rate of Afro-Latinos in their population (less than 1%).

The first Africans arrived in Latin America during the colonial period as slaves brought by Europeans. Surprisingly to most Americans, the majority of the 12.5M enslaved people brought to the "new world" during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade arrived in the Caribbean and Latin America. Only about 388K of those were shipped directly to North America, a small percentage.

Descendants of Africans who were brought to Brazil and the Caribbean eventually spread throughout Latin America. As they began to mix with natives and Europeans during the colonial era, different ethnic groups were born, such as Zambos (African and native mix) and Mulatos (African and white).

In the last few decades, many people that would identify as African-Latinos have been largely ignored in several parts of the region. Fortunately, this is starting to change. For example, in 2015, Mexico allowed people to identify as black or Afro-Mexican in its census for the first time, and about 1.4 million people (or 1.2% of all Mexicans) self-identified as such. Estimations say that number to be much higher, up to 2% of its population.

Some notable Afro-Latinos include footballers Pele and Neymar and musicians like Celia Cruz, Kalimba, and IZA.

This week’s opportunity:

Google has over 50 positions open throughout Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina.