Preliminary Results of 2023 Panama National Census: 1/3 Self Identify as Afrodescendant

Panama recently concluded its latest Census round on March 4, 2023 and the preliminary results revealed a remarkable truth hidden in plain sight. The 2023 Census demonstrated that 32.8% of the population self-identified as being of African descent.  The results proved what was known since the debacle of the 2010 Census which counted only 3-4% of the population identifying as Afrodescendant. In fact in 2014, then President Juan Carlos Varela issued a rare but limited apology acknowledging then that the population was likely greater than 14%.

Panama now sits third behind Brazil (50%) and Cuba (35%) in terms of populations that self-identity as #Afrodescendant. The success of the 2023 Census at 32.8% is a testament to the various efforts of the Black community and participants in the Black social movement to raise the level of consciousness. Panama's historic and contemporary reality reflects the larger demographic composition of Latin America as being 1/3 Afrodescendant. The intergenerational and collaborative work, the cultural affirmation, the political consciousness building and the digital outreach and communications efforts all played a key role in achieving the recent success.

Yet work remains. As the same time the census concluded, the need for protest has arisen as the school year commences. As all too often occurs during the school year, there are various crude and illegal attempts at different schools to discriminate against Afrodescendant youth wearing natural hair, afros or braids on school grounds. In response, the National Secretariat for Afro-Panamanians Development (SENADAP) and the Ombudsman's Office (Defensoria del Pueblo), with the support of a newly formed community-based watchdog group have set up hotlines for parents and students when the 2023 school year begins to file complaints of racial discrimination by school officials.