You've probably filled out a form recently—maybe for a job application or a doctor's visit—that asked you to check a box for your race. It seems like a simple enough question. But if you actually stop to ask, how many races of people are there in the world, the answer gets messy fast. Honestly, it depends entirely on who you ask and what year it is.
If you ask the U.S. Census Bureau, they’ll give you one number. If you ask a geneticist at a university, they might tell you "zero" or "thousands," depending on how they define a "population."
The truth is, race isn't a fixed biological reality like your blood type or your height. It’s more of a moving target.
The "Official" Count: How Governments See It
Most of us are used to the "big five" or "big six" categories. In the United States, for a long time, the federal government stuck to a specific list. But things just changed.
As of late 2024 and heading into 2026, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updated the standards for the first time in nearly three decades. We used to have separate questions for "race" and "ethnicity" (specifically for Hispanic/Latino identity). Now, they’re basically mashing them together into a single question.
According to the new federal standards, there are now seven minimum categories used to track human diversity:
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- American Indian or Alaska Native
- Asian
- Black or African American
- Hispanic or Latino
- Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) — This is the big new addition!
- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
- White
Before this change, people from the Middle East or North Africa were technically classified as "White" on government forms. If you've ever talked to someone from Lebanon or Egypt, you know they didn't always feel that label fit their lived experience.
Why the Number Changes Depending on Where You Live
Go to Brazil, and the "how many races" question becomes a totally different beast. Instead of a handful of boxes, they use a system more focused on skin tone (pardo, preto, branco, etc.). In some censuses there, people have used over 100 different terms to describe their racial identity.
Basically, race is a social construct. That doesn't mean it isn't "real"—it has huge impacts on how people are treated, health outcomes, and wealth—but it means the boundaries are drawn by humans, not by nature.
The Genetics Problem
Here is where it gets kinda wild. Biologically speaking, there is more genetic variation within a single racial group than there is between different groups.
A famous study by Richard Lewontin in 1972 found that about 85% of all human genetic variation happens within local populations (like within a single village or city). Only about 6% to 10% of the variation is what distinguishes "races" from each other.
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In fact, if you wanted to divide humans into "races" based purely on genetic diversity, you’d have to give Africa about four or five categories and lump the rest of the entire world—Europeans, Asians, Native Americans—into just one. That's because humans lived in Africa for hundreds of thousands of years before a small group migrated out, meaning there is way more "genetic time" and diversity on the African continent than everywhere else combined.
The History of the "Three Races" Myth
You might remember hearing about "Caucasoid," "Negroid," and "Mongoloid." This was the 18th and 19th-century way of looking at things. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German physician, is often blamed for popularizing the five-color scheme (White, Yellow, Brown, Black, and Red) in the late 1700s.
He wasn't trying to be a villain—he actually thought all humans belonged to the same species—but his categories stuck. They became the "scientific" justification for hierarchies that lasted for centuries.
UNESCO tried to put a nail in this coffin back in 1950 with a famous statement on race. They brought together experts from around the world to declare that "race" is more of a social myth than a biological fact. But even in 2026, we’re still using these labels because they help us track things like discrimination and representation.
How Many Are There, Really?
So, if someone asks you point-blank, what's the number?
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- For U.S. Data: 7 (The new 2024/2026 OMB standard).
- For Biology: 1 (The human race, Homo sapiens).
- For Anthropology: It’s infinite. Ethnicities and "clines" (gradual changes in traits over geography) are a better way to describe how we vary.
Breaking Down the Major Global Groups
If we look at the world through the lens of broad regional ancestry (which is what most people mean when they say "race"), the breakdown looks roughly like this:
- Asian: Roughly 60% of the world population. This is a massive "race" category that includes everyone from Tokyo to Mumbai, though their genetic histories are incredibly different.
- African: About 17-18% of the world.
- European: Roughly 10%.
- Hispanic/Latino: This is a tricky one because it’s an ethnicity that can include any race, but it represents a huge portion of the Americas.
Actionable Insights: Why This Matters to You
Understanding that race is a "human-made" category doesn't mean you should ignore it. It actually helps you navigate the world better.
1. Check your health data, not just your "race."
Because race is a social category, it’s a poor proxy for health. Instead of assuming you're at risk for something because of your "race," look at your specific ancestry. For example, Sickle Cell Anemia isn't a "Black disease"—it’s a "malaria-region" trait found in people from parts of Africa, the Mediterranean, and India.
2. Watch the 2026-2027 Census shifts.
If you live in the U.S., you'll see new options on forms soon. Don't be confused when the "Hispanic" and "White/Black" sections look different. The goal is to get better data on who is actually living here.
3. Use the right terminology.
In 2026, people are moving away from "race" and toward "ethnicity" or "heritage." Ethnicity refers to your culture, language, and where your family came from. It’s often much more accurate and less "loaded" than the broad racial buckets we've used in the past.
The number of races in the world isn't written in our DNA. It’s written in our laws, our history books, and our census forms. Whether it's 3, 5, 7, or 0, the reality is that we are a single, highly migratory species with a lot of beautiful, shallow surface variation.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Understanding:
- Review the U.S. Census Bureau's latest implementation plan for the 2026-2027 data cycle to see how your own identity is now classified.
- Explore your own genetic heritage through autosomal DNA testing to see how "ancestry" differs from the "racial" box you usually check.
- Read the AAPA (American Association of Physical Anthropologists) Statement on Race for the most current scientific consensus on human biological variation.