III.

The People

North America was sparsely populated until relatively recent times. With the conspicuous exception of the inhabitants of the Mexican heartland (the plateaus and valleys around present-day Mexico City), the indigenous peoples of the continent were geographically scattered and culturally diverse. The settlement of the continent by Europeans began an almost total change in its human geography; Europeans decimated and displaced the indigenous peoples, and the living patterns of most were greatly altered. The contemporary population of North America is mostly European in background, but the continent's population also contains many other important groups.

A.

Ethnography

At least 35 percent of Canada's inhabitants trace their ancestry to the British Isles, and another 25 percent are of French background; the latter live mostly in Québec Province. The country also has significant numbers of people of German, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Chinese, Dutch, and Scandinavian descent. The population of the United States is more diverse than Canada's. In 1990, people of at least part British or part Irish background formed the largest group, with approximately 29 percent of the country's inhabitants. Blacks, who trace their ancestry to Africa, make up 12 percent of the population, Germans 23 percent, and people of Hispanic background 9 percent. The country also has large numbers of people of Italian, Polish, French, Russian, Dutch, and Scandinavian ancestry. Persons of Asian origin—primarily Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Asian Indians, Koreans, and Vietnamese—make up only 2.9 percent of the population of the United States, but since the 1970s the number of Asians increased significantly through immigration.

Indigenous peoples, including Inuit and Eskimo, number 1.9 million in the United States and 800,000 in Canada. It is believed that the ancestors of the Native Americans migrated from northeastern Asia to North America via a prehistoric land bridge across the modern Bering Strait, off Alaska, that existed from about 25,000 to nearly 10,000 years ago. The forebears of the Inuit migrated from Asia by boat some 6,000 years ago. Some 30,000 Inuit live in Greenland.

Some 60 percent of the people of Mexico are mestizos, persons of mixed Native American and European (mainly Spanish) descent. Approximately 30 percent of the population is of relatively pure Native American ancestry, and some 10 percent is of unmixed European descent.

B.

Demography

In 2007 the United States had 301,139,950 inhabitants; Mexico 108,700,890; Canada 33,390,141; and Greenland 56,344. Most of the population was concentrated in the eastern half of the United States and adjacent parts of Ontario and Québec, the U.S. Pacific coast, and the central plateau of Mexico. In the late 1990s more than 76 percent of the inhabitants of Canada, the United States, and Greenland were defined as urban, as were 74 percent of all Mexicans. The principal urban areas were on the U.S. Atlantic coast from Boston to Washington, D.C., around the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario, at the southern end of Lake Michigan, in northern and southern California, and greater Mexico City. The largest cities included Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, in Mexico; New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Diego, in the United States; and Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Edmonton, in Canada. Away from the metropolitan areas, most of North America had only a sparse to moderate population density. In Mexico the overall population density was 56.5 persons per sq km (146.3 per sq mi); in the United States, 32.9 per sq km (85.2 per sq mi); and in Canada, 3.7 per sq km (9.6 per sq mi). The great majority of Canadians lived in a relatively narrow band along the southern boundary.

In both Canada and the United States the rate of population increase has declined since the 1950s. The Canadian population increased by about 1 percent per year from 1980 to 1990, when the annual growth rate for the United States was also 1 percent and for Greenland, 1.2 percent. Mexico, however, had one of the hemisphere's highest rates of population increase, 2.2 percent per year, and its birth rate (20.4 per 1,000 people in 2007) was about double that of the rest of the continent. The death rate was 5 per 1,000 people in Mexico, 8 in Canada, and 8 in the United States

Intercontinental migration to North America was significant in the 1980s and 1990s, with large numbers of Asians and Europeans going to the United States and Canada. In addition, many people moved from South American and Caribbean countries to the United States. The largest population movements, however, occurred within North America itself, from Mexico to the United States and from the northeastern United States to southern and western parts of the country.

C.

Languages

English is the principal language for some 90 percent of the people of the United States and for about two-thirds of all Canadians. Spanish is spoken by the majority of Hispanic people in the United States, and French is the chief tongue for about one-quarter of the Canadian population. Many of the indigenous peoples and Inuit of the United States, Canada, and Greenland use their traditional languages. Spanish is the dominant language of Mexico, but several million Mexicans speak a Native American language.

D.

Religion

Christianity is the major religion of North America. The great majority of Mexicans are Roman Catholics, and some 45 percent of Canadians and 26 percent of U.S. inhabitants profess Roman Catholicism. Some 28 percent of Canada's people are Protestants and 8 percent are Anglicans. In the United States, Protestants make up 58 percent of the population. Canada and the United States also have substantial communities of Jews and Eastern Orthodox Christians.

E.

Cultural Activity

Cultural life in the United States and Canada is highly developed and diversified, with the mass media (radio, television, motion pictures, and newspapers) playing an important role. Almost all North American cities support theatrical organizations and art museums, and musical groups are widespread. Traditional cultural patterns are more evident in the rural areas of Mexico, but its cities have a variety of modern cultural institutions.