Americans

Americans

Flag of the United States
Total population
c. 331.4 million[1] (2020 U.S. census)
Regions with significant populations
American diaspora: c. 2.996 million (by U.S. citizenship)[2][3]
Mexico	799,000+[2][3]
Colombia	790,000+[4]
Germany	324,000+[5]
Philippines	38,000–300,000[2][3][6]
Canada	273,000+[2][3]
Brazil	22,000-260,000[2][7]
United Kingdom	171,000+[2][3]
Australia	117,000+[2][3]
France	100,000+[8] – 191,930[9]
Saudi Arabia	70,000–80,000[10][11]
Israel	77,000+[2][3]
South Korea	68,000+[2][3]
Hong Kong	60,000[12]–85,000[13]
Japan	58,000+[2][3]
Spain	57,000+[2][3]
Italy	54,000+[2][3]
Bangladesh	45,000+[2][3]
Peru	41,000+[2][3]
Switzerland	39,000+[2][3]
Ireland	35,000+[2][3]
Netherlands	35,000+[2][3]
India	33,000+[2][3]
Languages
Majority: American English Minority: Spanish, Indigenous languages, and various others
Religion
Majority: Christianity (Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism and other denominations)[14] Minority: Irreligion, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, and various others[14]

Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.^[15][16] The United States is home to people of many racial and ethnic origins; consequently, American law does not equate nationality with race or ethnicity but with citizenship.^{[17][18][19][20]} The U.S. has 37 ancestry groups with more than one million individuals.^[21] White Americans with ancestry from Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa form the largest racial and ethnic group at 61.6% of the U.S. population.^[22][23] Hispanic and Latino Americans form the second-largest group and are 18.7% of the American population. Black Americans constitute the country's third-largest ancestry group and are 12.4% of the total U.S. population.^[21] Asian Americans are the country's fourth-largest group, composing 6% of the American population. The country's 3.7 million Native Americans account for about 1.1%,^[21] and some 574 native tribes are recognized by the federal government.^[24] In addition to the U.S., people of American descent can be found internationally. As many as seven million Americans are estimated to be living abroad, and make up the American diaspora.^[25][26][27]

The majority of Americans or their ancestors immigrated to the United States or are descended from people who were brought as slaves within the past five centuries, with the exception of the Native American population and people from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, Texas, and formerly the Philippines,^[28] who became American through expansion of the country in the 19th century;^[29] additionally, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands came under American sovereignty in the 20th century, although American Samoans are only nationals and not citizens of the United States.^[30][16]

Despite its multi-ethnic composition,^[31][32] the culture of the United States held in common by most Americans can also be referred to as mainstream American culture, a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Northern and Western European colonists, settlers, and immigrants.^[31] It also includes significant influences of African-American culture.^[33] Westward expansion integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought close contact with the culture of Mexico. Large-scale immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Eastern and Southern Europe introduced a variety of new customs. Immigration from Africa, Asia, and Latin America has also had impact. A cultural melting pot, or pluralistic salad bowl, describes the way in which generations of Americans have celebrated and exchanged distinctive cultural characteristics.^[31]