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Main article: Demographics of the United States
Americans, in part due to categories decided by the U.S. government, generally describe themselves as being either multi-ethnic or one of five ethnic groups: White, sometimes called European-American or Caucasian; African-American, also called Black; Hispanic, also called Latino; Asian-American, frequently specified as Korean-American, etc.; and Native American, also called American Indian.
These groups leave a great deal of room for ambiguity, as, for example, Middle Easterners are made to choose between Europe and Asia, neither of which is where they're from; the category Asian is popularly identified with East Asia, rather than Southeast Asia; Pacific Islander/Hawaiian native s, technically Native Americans, may be assigned to Asian-American because of their geographic origins in Oceania; African-American is associated with centuries-long residents, and does not make distinctions between them and, say, recent Afro-Caribbean immigrants from Jamaica or refugees from Somalia, etc. Furthermore, the categories disregard the multi-ethnic heritage of many Americans.
The majority of the 290 million people currently living in the United States descend from European immigrants who have arrived since the establishment of the first colonies. Major components of the European segment of the United States population are descended from immigrants from Germany (23 percent), Ireland (16 percent), England (13 percent), Scotland, The Netherlands and Italy (6 percent), with many immigrants also coming from Scandinavian or Slavic countries. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada; few immigrants came directly from France.
Likewise, while there were few immigrants directly from Spain, Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are considered the largest minority group in the country, comprising 13.4 percent of the population in 2002. This has brought increasing use of the Spanish language in the United States.
About 12.9 percent ( 2000 census) of the American people are African Americans, many of whom are descendants of the enslaved Africans brought to the U.S. between the 1620s and 1807. There has been in recent years a large influx of Africa immigrants to the United States due to the non-stability in political and economic opportunities in various nations in Africa.
A third significant minority is the Asian American population (4.2 percent), most of whom are concentrated on the West Coast.
The aboriginal population of Native Americans, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 1.5 percent of the population.
See also: Immigration to the United States
As of 2001, the distribution for major religions in the United States was as follows: Protestant (52 percent), Roman Catholic (24.5 percent), "none" (13.2 percent), Jewish (1.3 percent) and between 0.3 and 0.5 percent each for Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Unitarian Universalist. An additional 0.3 to 0.5 percent, each, are professed agnostics and atheists. The largest single religious denomination in the United States is the Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Southern Baptist Convention.
The United States, as a developed nation, is noteworthy for its high level of Christian religious devotion. However, the percentage of Americans calling themselves Christian has declined somewhat in recent years from 86.2 percent in 1990 to 76.5 percent in 2001.
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