Today's Native population

It's difficult to locate Native populations figures for North and South America on the Web. But from what I could find, the total for all the Americas seems to be about 50 million today.

Native Americans of North AmericaAccording to the 2000 census, about 2.5 million people in the United States reported they were Native Americans. Some 1.5 million others reported they were Native American plus another race, typically white. The two figures together represented a 26 percent increase over the 1990 census figures. Overall, Native American people accounted for about 1 percent of the total U.S. population.

The 1996 census reported there were 1,170,190 people with aboriginal ancestry in Canada, making up about 3 percent of Canada’s inhabitants. Some 867,225 reported North American Indian ancestry; 220,740 reported Métis; and 49,845 Inuit. Counts based on identity went down from the overall number: 554,000 identified as North American Indian, 210,000 as Métis, and 41,000 as Inuit. About 6,400 people were counted more than once because they claimed to be members of more than one aboriginal group. But Statistics Canada admitted its census did not catch everyone; forms were not completed on more than 75 Indian reserves.Native Americans of Middle and South AmericaIndigenous peoples in Middle and South America today make up a large majority of all Native Americans throughout the world. At least 400 different groups count themselves as culturally distinct peoples.

Recent estimates of Latin America’s total indigenous population vary from 40 million to 49 million people. Native groups are spread unevenly throughout the area. The majority of indigenous people live along the mountainous spine of Middle and South America, in densely settled villages in the Mesoamerican highlands and the Andes Mountains.

The size of indigenous populations varies widely from country to country in Latin America. In some countries, indigenous people make up almost half or more of the population. These countries include Bolivia (60 percent of the population), Peru (45 percent), Guatemala (44 to 53 percent), Ecuador (43 percent), and Mexico (8 to 30 percent). Bolivia is the only country that officially describes itself as having a Native American majority.

The countries with large indigenous populations—notably Mexico, Ecuador, and Peru—also have very large numbers of people, even majorities, who are mestizo. The term mestizo refers to people of mixed indigenous and European or African ancestry who generally do not practice indigenous lifeways. Mestizos make up between 70 and 92 percent of Mexico’s population, 40 percent of Ecuador’s population, and 37 percent of Peru’s population.Comment:  My understanding of the US's 2000 census figures is that 4.1 million people were Indian or part-Indian. That total broke down into 2.1 million who were Indian and another 2 million who were part-Indian.

The last Census report I saw estimated the population of Americans who are Indian or part-Indian has risen from 4.1 to 4.5 million.

Below:  Some of the 95% of Indians who don't live in the US or Canada.